Firm Faith whispers hope to the world

FIRM Faith Zimbabwe, an accapella gospel music outfit, will in August launch their 12-track album titled “Whispering Hope” in America.

They were invited by Zimbabweans based there for a performance.

The group, which rose to fame in 2011 after winning the third edition of Harare Got Talent, is taking accapella music to greater heights and to date, they have released five albums that produced several hits which include “Wanyanya”, “Mune nyasha”, and “Maria”, among others.

Group music director, Mr Marshal Matshilele, said their forthcoming album is lyrically rich, hence the decision to carry it abroad.

The group will tour southern Africa, conducting concerts and performing at church conferences.

“We are preparing our tours dubbed ‘Whispering Hope to the world’. If everything goes according to plan we will take this album to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Kenya. But our grand stop will be in US in August where we will perform for the first time.

“Our fellow Seventh-Day Adventist Church members invited us to sing at their camp-meeting in August this year and we saw an opportunity to launch our album there,” Matsilele said.

Matsilele said locally, ‘Whispering Hope’ will be launched at the Rainbow Towers in Harare on April 1 with the support of a church choir and the Breeze and High Achievers School Choir.

“We worked very hard on this project and I am confident that it meets international standards. I am sure many people will appreciate accapella music because of this album.

“We also featured Zimpraise soloist Sharon Manyonganise, whom we also worked with on the album ‘Munenyasha’.

He added, “The album is a fusion of old and new hymnals, this was done to make it appeal to all generations. Our aim remains to share and minister the word of God to everyone through music.

“Our group has human resources practitioners, quantity surveyors, medical doctors and accountants. But still we have time for the ministry. This shows how committed we are to the work of God,” said Mastilele.

“In our previous projects, we gave all our proceeds to children who live in the streets of Harare. We were touched by the response and this year our thrust is to try and buy a vehicle to lessen the group’s mobility challenges. We also have plans to assist an old people’s home but we are yet to identify it,” he said.

“Whispering Hope’songs are in four languages - Ndebele, Shona, English and Zulu. It carries tracks that include ‘Little is much when God is in it’, ‘Baba ndiri mwana wenyu’ featuring Sharon Manyonganise, ‘Whispering Hope’, ‘One day Jesus will call my name’, ‘Wawanirwa nyasha’ featuring Sharon Manyonganise and ‘If we never meet again’, among others.”

Firm Faith has been a guest group at the International Peace Day.

The group has done charity work at various orphanages, churches and hospitals in line with its mission of spreading hope to those afflicted.