Homing with Supermoon Blues
Drea returns with new poetry and stage name
Award winning poet, Andreattah ‘ Drea’ Chuma has rebranded and returns to the music- poetry scene with a new alias, ‘ Supermoon Blues’. Even more remarkable is the fact that she returns after a hiatus of several years with what promises to be one of the best works in the music- poetry space.
Starting the new year on an exceptionally good note, Supermoon Blues has released her second music- poetry project dubbed, Homing. Homing, which comprises of ten tracks was released on February 25th. The sophomore album has been touted as her dedication to her journey of what she terms, ‘ finding and creating nurturing cradles in the spaces she maneuvers’’. A teaser of the album, to the title song, Homing, recently shared on social media takes those who have a better understanding of poetry into an enchanting journey of what seems like a lifetime. The cover of the album is a lone woman, sitting in what appears to be a mystical forest. The beauty of this particular song is how the words hit each and every nerve in the listener’s body. You just cannot sit there and listen to it for the seconds or minutes that it plays, and not feel any emotion. A very powerful composition, the words perfectly sculpted by a genuinely talented wordsmith, this right here is the future of music- poetry. Offering one with an alternative space of mindfully and intentionally finding your inner peace and that which sets your heart on fire, it is truly incredible to be able to listen and experience the works of this magnitude, especially in the present and everything that is swirling around every day.
According to her spokesperson, Angie Thato Chuma- Mogotsi, Homing is the sophomore music and poetry album by Supermoon Blues, which follows the release of her debut album titled 1981 Was A Good Year. Supermoon Blues had a very colorful and beautiful journey in the Botswana poetry scene. She was one of the talents who set fire to the Exodus Live Poetry Collective. And her two years of Glastonbury appearances added to the whole signature of her works. “The effortless equilibrium she has found between poetry and music makes her creative project something new. The Homing of the album title roots in the one place where she has always felt seen: her parents’ house in Gaborone. The album title also speaks to the importance of returning to and homing in one’s body. In a world that tries to tell her who she is, this music laced on poems is how she affirms herself,” says Chuma in a press release. This album has been five years in the making, as she started writing the album in 2017. The duration of this particular album is testament that the artist wanted to take time to really deliver a world class project that will enchant and be delivered in spectacular fashion. “The trigger was missing, creating and not finding more of this music- poetry genre that I operate in.
I also took part in an event in Brussels around that time and had such a profound response to my work from the audience that it made me realize, ‘ You need to stop hoarding these poems.
They are not just for you,” explains Supermoon in the release.
All of the poems on Homing were written over her eight- year sojourn in Belgium except for ‘ You Heard Me’, which was the final addition to the album and was written in Amsterdam, where she currently resides as well as ‘ Crayons’, which was written in Gaborone back in 2009. A glimpse into the creative process of Supermoon, Chuma explains that the first piece of the album puzzle was the beats. “My first love is music. I spent my whole childhood writing songs and fighting over verses with my older sister,” Supermoon recollects. Guided by her ear, Supermoon Blues reached out to a number of producers that she discovered after deep- diving for musical treasures on the internet.
It was during that expedition that she uncovered an impressive haul of beats for the album, ranging from the work of relatively unknown production talents such as 1995 ( Crayons, In The Breaking, Warm Suns) to the Grammy- nominated singer and producer Muhsinah ( In The Silence). Chuma shares that half of the album was recorded over “four magical days” at St Mary’s Space, a deconsecrated church turned residential recording studio in the Scottish West Highlands where she worked with sound engineer and composer Jamie Smith. The other half of the album, she explains was recorded in Amsterdam, Supermoon’s home since 2020, mixed by Smith in Scotland and mastered by Frederik Dejongh at Jerboa Mastering in Ghent, Belgium. The result is a glittering; genre- defying tapestry of what Supermoon Blues calls her “diaspora diary”. Here is a brief look into some of the songs:
On the jazzy broken beat of Crayons she hops, skips and jumps through a tale of finding, feeding and keeping creativity alive. Amazingly, the title track, Homing, is a collaboration between Supermoon and her younger sister, Angie Chuma, a celebrated poet and singer in her own right. “It is the track that best exemplifies the elemental nature of the album – as the music takes listeners on a journey through fire, water and wind. One is grounded and earthed in Supermoon’s words, which feel like incantations. In a world that tries to tell her who she is, this music laced on poems is how she affirms herself,” explains Chuma. Another song to look forward to happens to be, Dancing Standing Still which is what Supermoon describes as
“my grieving poem”. Written on the cusp of the coronavirus pandemic, just as she was leaving Brussels, she explains: “It is about being in a place where you have to be still, but there is also movement and change happening, which is a weird experience.” The music at the end of the song is a recording of the brass band from Supermoon’s mother’s church, the St John’s Apostolic Faith Mission. The sample represents her connection to home and her love for brass instruments, as well as acknowledging the role that faith plays as the source of her art. You Heard Me, Supermoon’s ‘ struggle- breakthrough psalm’, is produced by artistic collaborator Bonolo ‘ B- Note’ Mogotsi, while Return, one of the most powerful songs on the album, sees adult Supermoon seek out her seven- year- old self – not to advise her but to seek her guidance. The music, atmospheric and sparse enough to let the words take centre stage, also marks Supermoon’s first foray into production. For Supermoon, Homing is more than just a music album. “I use my poetry to explore other mediums,” she says. As such, she has plans to go beyond the music. “I want to explore how to present it visually. Listening to it, is one thing but what happens when I put another layer to it whether it is via an art installation or a discussion. I wonder how it will evolve.” Homing is currently available on all digital streaming platforms.