!Sooks raises bar on charts
MBABANE - At a time when fresh quality homegrown music is very thin on the ground, !Sooks remains one of the few local artists worth their salt.
For five weeks in a row, the DJ, producer has been holding his own at the top three of the country’s flagship musical show the Top 20 Chart Show with his latest single ‘Musa’ which features the kingdom’s queen of soul Velemseni.
Standing at an imposing six minutes and 20 seconds, the single is a slow burner, yet captivating and enchanting at the same time.
Taken from the siSwati word umusa, meaning grace, it is a very spiritual recording that conveys gratitude for the gift of life.
The lyrics ‘Wavela ngemusa’ is a recurring theme which is a wordplay around enigmatic Velemseni’s name and glides ‘gracefully’ over an alluring melody composed by !Sooks himself in what is the first collaboration between the two. And certainly not the last.
Born Sukoluhle Dlamini, !Sooks describes working with Velemseni as an honour, pointing out that their artistic chemistry was palpable when they worked on the song.
Recorded
This Week
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“What many people don’t know is that the song was actually recorded in 2019, and I kept it under wraps all this time because I did not want to rush things.
“The richness of Veli’s voice made me want everything to come out just right.
“It’s a really special song to me and it’s currently doing well in South
Last Week
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New
New
New
Song
All in you
Hayii
Musa
Spirit
Overflow
Makukhanye
A Thou’nyana
Buka (lo lo lo)
Break my soul
Still we rise
Oxy
Wait for you
Jimmy Cooks
Mamatseka
Amagents
We are the eyes
Ungowami
For my hand
Numb
Bad
Artist
Senior Oat x Kemy Chienda
Mzux Maen x Yasmin Levy !Sooks x Velemseni
Dearson x Uncle R
DJ Cup x Mvelo
Audiology
Oriiginelle x Swis
Kizz Daniel & Tekno
Beyonce
DJ Laschem & Nutownsoul (CocoSa, Komplexity remix)
Amari
Future x Drake & Tems
Drake x 21 Savage
Popzin
Samthing Soweto
M.E.T.A.N.O.I.A
Sha Sha x Soa Mattrix
Burna Boy Ed Sheeran
Tendaness x Mzwaa
Chris Brown x Tony Lanez
Africa and abroad” said the award winning DJ who recently partnered with Ballantine’s South Africa (SA), as their brand ambassador.
“His star continues to shine as he recently clinched a residency DJ deal at Kitchener’s Bar in Johannesburg.
“It’s a ‘dry season’ for a show that prides itself as the standard bearer for local music, as only about 30 per cent of its content is local currently.
Peak Position
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Weeks on charts
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2
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2
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“The amount of music that has been coming in on a weekly basis hasn’t changed.
“What has changed or rather declined is the quality.
Attention
“Not enough quality stuff has been finding its way to our attention and this is a huge cause for concern.
“Credit must go to the few artists who have remained shining beacons of hope throughout the years, including Suku who has really raised the flag even beyond our borders,” said show host Bongani Bobo Dlamini.
DJ Tendaness, Popzin, Amarri, Originelle and DJ Cup complete the list of the few locals who currently have songs making it to the weekly chart show, the Eswatini Top 20 which airs every Friday at 8pm on EBIS 2 FM.