‘ I AM AFRIKA’
New offering from Sereetsi & the Natives
The latest album offering by Sereetsi & Natives, titled ‘ I am Afrika’ is something of a treasure. The nine- track collection can best be summed as the best album to come from the country and the continent this year. A masterpiece, everything in the album is effortlessly clean and polished. All of the nine tracks have their own magic. The distinctive Sereetsi & the Natives touch and magic is evident. The lyrics are true to what Tomeletso Sereetsi is best known for through out his album releases. He has that quality to transform the listeners on a journey. His lyrical punch, is just brilliant. His is not a rushed piece, as he takes time to craft each song.
Beyond the array of talents that are featured in the album, many years from today, this album will still be very relevant. You have the likes of Brymo, a Nigerian singer/ songwriter, who recently won converted Best Recording of the Year Award for his song, Ozymandias at Nigeria’s premier Headies Music Awards 2021. He is featured on a song titled Thelela.
Brymo brings that Nigerian influence and is effortlessly jelling with the Sereetsi magic. There is also the Oscar Soul Experience bringing a completely new sound on the song, Mathombo. The Swedish singer, Oscar is just amazing. Having had this masterpiece for a couple of days, every day it feels like a discovery of a new gem in the album. The album was produced by Tomeletso Sereetsi & Rosen. It was mostly recorded at Lab in the Loop and Light House Studios. To get the best of the album, one needs to listen to all the songs in order to get a full appreciation of what this masterpiece really holds. Songs such as Mathombo, Koma, Heelang, Tshaba ft HanC, are out of this world. The album was co- produced by Mikael Rosen, who also plays drums on seven of the songs. Credit must be given to the producers, composers and everyone who worked on the album for doing such a sterling job, seeing as most of the work in the album was done digitally. Other features include the likes of South African multi award winner, Berita, Bokani Dyer, Zambian stars Wezi and James Sakala.
Some of the names that make the album comprise of the likes of Kagiso Mangole, who has previously engineered his unique Keyboard skills on previous projects by Sereetsi & the Natives; his fingerprints can be seen on songs such as Robete, Mpompela, Ke boletsa mongwe, as well as Maitsetsepelo.
Also making an appearance in this new offering is Motlotlegi Elijah Koboto from Machaneng. Initially, Sereetsi was eyeing another Keyboardist by the name Jonathan Mokotedi, who somehow got stranded in the US. Motlotlegi has played in three songs:
Heelang! The Afrika Song, It’s our Time Now,
Masheleng. Mokotedi plays the keyboard on two songs, Thelela and Mathombo. He is the Musical Director of ‘ We Must Praise Choir’, and has worked with a number of artists that include Rose Marie, Omega Khunou, and Minister Spokes.
And then there is the Zimbabwean born, Sandi Ncube, who is lending his guitar skills to songs such as Rato Lame, Tshaba and
Ga o Yo. Other artists include Bomb Bom Mafayette on acoustic guitar, the talented Gomotsegang Gee Rapoo, credited for being part of Burna Boys live band, Mia Ismi Halida who arranged the violin string section of The Afrika Song: It’s our time now, drummer Wynton Senwelo, Bassist Jim Dunlop and many others. Giving a brief background about the album recently, Sereetsi explained that when it came to putting the music together from the diverse artists, he sent the artists the music he composed and the lyrical content he was going for. The artists on their end would work within what he described as a sort of architecture that he had already welded into place. “I invited them into my world and they made it theirs and ours in a very special way,” says Sereetsi.
The album was mostly recorded last year. Luckily, when Covid- 19 hit, he had already set up his studio at home, which meant that he could record at his own studio. But on the downside, his engineer, Rosen has relocated from Mahalapye to Maun. With the new normal, they mostly relied on sharing large files of recorded work through technology. The process was frustrating on some days, but they did it. This meant that they would send a file to Rosen, he would do his part, and send it back to Sereetsi. This required a reliable network provider, and patience.
In an interview with this publication, Sereetsi explains that he has personally performed at festivals in the home countries of most of the artists he featured in the project. Only a few, such as Jackie Venson, they have not met physically. “The energy was right,” he says. He also says that he loved what they were doing with their musical projects hence he brought them on board. The fact that for these artists, there was no monetary compensation, meant that they were genuine in their intentions to breathe life into the album. The only people who were remunerated in the album are session musicians.
“It came naturally,” he says talking about the energy. Quizzed on the reaction from the Natives about this new offering, he explains that the response has been amazing. This Sunday evening, he had a 1 hour interview with Nicky B on the World show on Kaya FM. He explains that reaction from the presenter echoes what the Natives feel. “They are telling me that the album is balanced, and that every day you are discovering a new song. They also say that you never know what to expect,” he says, adding that the album is a mixed bag of goodies, according to the feedback he gets.