Mono part of SAMA winning team

TOP music producer Clive “Mono” Mukundu (pictured) was among producers who worked on South African reggae artiste Bongo Riot Zungu's album, True Stories, which scooped the Best Reggae Album of the Year gong at the South African Music Awards (SAMA) held on Tuesday night.

Mono produced some tracks on the album alongside fellow producers Casmo

Marsiano from

South Africa and

Joel from

Nigeria.

“Sometime in

2019,

Bongo

Riot’s manager Don

Power

Rudebwoyshuffla came across one of my production videos on which

I was explaining my reggae production process and asked me to produce tracks for his artiste,” Mono wrote on his Facebook wall.

“We worked over the internet, so we never met in person but we created a bond and this has resulted in this award.”

Mono said local artiste, Nicholar Mutuwa, was a backing vocalist on one of the songs. He described the album as a “Pan Africanist effort”.

The awards ceremony was held virtually and broadcast on television with no live audience and the usual glamour, pomp and fanfare due to the lockdown protocols in South Africa following the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Bongo

Riot was pitted against Botanist’s Sniper From Afar, Fruity Star's Skeleton Blazer and Jeremiah Fyah's Ises. According to South African music critics, Bongo Riot won courtesy of his high popularity ratings, music delivery and catalogue as well as his experience.

He was also nominated in the Artiste of the Year and Album of the Year categories.