Thebe Mabanga
CDs OFTHEWEEK
Two of South Africa’s most loved female artists have recently released their party- season albums and look set to consolidate their status as the wild icon and the graceful idol respectively. Brenda Fassie and Yvonne Chaka Chaka have just released the 25th album between them, with Fassie providing 14. Both in their 30s, they have been among us since the mid-Eighties; they have grown to achieve acclaim on the continent and have even dabbled in Swahili. That though, is where the similarity ends. These women have taken contrasting routes marked by a lot of sacrifice to reach the top of their game.
Two festive seasons ago, Fassie inscribed her name in South African music history when her album Memeza sold 500 000 copies. Last year, she followed this up with another 525 000 copies of Nomakanjani. This remarkable feat erased memories of a tumultuous episode in her chequered past. And now Fassie is back with her signature font on a new album, Amadlozi (Ancestors). The best thing about this album is the cover design. It features the recently unveiled gigantic portrait of this talented artist that formed part of the South African Musicians Wall of Fame in Rosebank, Johannesburg.
The music relies heavily on Fassie’s magical voice. The title track has a very Chicco Twala beat, the one I heard on Amen, a track performed by Twala and Fassie’s children as the group New Age. A brave experiment is Nakupenda. It’s Swahili for “I love you” – a language she picked up on her continental jaunts, which also brought her two romantic interests in three months. Another interesting track is Shoot Them Before They Grow, which is imbued with a mood reminiscent of her classic Too Late For Mama. Overall, the album goes down okay with the summer vibe. It goes down well enough because it is Fassie, but does not deserve to sell another half a million copies – it is just too formula-driven.
On the other hand, there is Chaka Chaka. She is respected, admired, but for some strange reason, people do not react to her subdued aura. Throughout her life, the pursuit of fame has taken a back seat to family and business interests. The move has paid off in parts. She has an air of grace and elegance that belies her 36 years; an image steeped in moral piety and a living embodiment of how, with planning, one can achieve success in more than one area.
The downside of her flawless image is that she has grown distant and inaccessible to a point where she now performs at corporate functions. Her latest album, Yvonne and Friends (Digital Cupboard), is another step to oblivion. Standout efforts include Mwalimu, a tribute to the late Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, performed as a duet with Tshepo Tshola. Besides this, there is Save the Children, which reaches back to the earlier part of Chaka Chaka’s career for inspiration. I suppose the major undoing of this project is that besides the village pope, the collective weight and prominence of the artists does not justify the title. Yvonne recently told a Sunday newspaper that her project was to have included Brenda Fassie, but the errant queen of pop failed to turn up for the session. What a pity, it would have given the project gravitas.