After disappearing from music circles for about two years, well-known local artist Mercy Masakona Madzivhandila made a comeback last week. Her brand-new album, Tshihwilili tshanga, was released last Wednesday.
The album was recorded at the Winman Recoding Studios in Sibasa towards the end of last year. Tshihwilili tshanga is a Venda disco album containing four tracks, with Tshihwilili tshanga as the title song. The other three songs are Shango lashu, Farela and Lili nwananwananga.
Madzivhandila's music career dates back about three decades. Like many artists, her love of music became clear when she was a Sunday-school child. She later joined the ICC Ministry Band under the leadership of Apostle Maxwell Masakona. The band released two albums with Madzivhandila as a leading vocalist in most of the songs.
In her music career, Madzivhandila has accompanied several musicians, including Naledzani Netshirembe, Mbilu Rapson Rambuwani, Itani Madima and Lufuno Dagada, in recording their albums. After realizing that she was mature enough to stand on her own, Madzivhandila went solo in 1997. Her debut album as a soloist, Yesu wa vhuthu, was released the following year. Yesu wa vhuthu was a huge success and releasing her second and third albums, Haho and Haho 2 in 2003 and 2005 respectively, was easy for her.
Her fourth album, Dzina lawe, followed in 2009. Dzina lawe was followed by Hashanduki in 2015. Her first Tshivenda traditional album, A ri edeli, followed suit in August 2019. In 2020, Madzivhandila became one of the artists who decided to combat the coronavirus through music. She released a single song, Ndi lamulelwa nga nnyi, which translates into Who will come to my rescue.
The new album is available on CD and online platforms, including Google Play, iTunes, Amazon and Youtube.