Reggae music lovers who have been suffering from reggae depravation of late will get a reggae-music injection when the godfather of reggae music in the country, Colbert Mukwevho, releases his much-anticipated album.
Mukwevho, the only reggae artist in the world who is regarded as the heir to Bob Marley's throne, missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica in the late 1980s, when the former Venda Bantustan refused him a passport to go to Jamaica.
Reports around the musical world indicated that after listening to songs from his international debut album, Lord is my rock, Bob Marley's wife Rita and her crew sent messages to South African music producers to locate him and asked him to attend the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica, at their cost.
When asked about his feelings regarding the incident, Mukwevho said the matter had been heart-breaking but was now water under the bridge.
Mukwevho, who hails from Tshitomboni tsha ha Mmbubana, started singing in a family band in the 1970s. He started as a vocalist for the band called The Thrilling Artists. He then started his own band, called The Comforters, and released many albums.
He made his breakthrough in the music industry with his blockbuster album called Month End Lover. One of the songs on the album, Immortal Words, had reggae lovers in the country going bananas.
In 1992, he released an album called I do nela rothe. One of the songs on that album, Kha tambe na thanga dzawe, almost became a national anthem. The song, literally translated as "Play with your age mates", warns young girls to refrain from frolicking with sugar daddies.
Speaking to Limpopo Mirror on Tuesday (23rd), Mukwevho said his main aim was to contribute to getting Africa to unite. "Africa will know no peace until Africa unites. We are one as a people. One goal, one God, one destiny," he said.
When asked about his much-awaited album, to be released in October, he said he did not want to talk much about the forthcoming album but promised his fans that the offering would be one of his best so far. "Me say, the message is the same, Africa Unite, ahooi rastafari," he concluded.