DUB poet, Albert Nyathi, may have set the bar very high with his 24-year-old Senzeni Na? track as he is finding it hard to surpass its feat adding that every song he has released has been benchmarked by that hit.
Of late, Nyathi, who travelled to Europe on business last week, has been promoting his poem My Daughter as well as its song that was released this week.
Senzeni Na? was released some 24 years ago and was very popular and still remains one of the all time classics in Zimbabwe. Sang by Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana, the song is remembered for its music video that featured a sobbing Naomi Makwenda who lip-synched the chorus.
When the video was shot, Katomeni-Mbofana was not around as she was writing her Lower Sixth exams that is why Makwenda was roped in.
The song also has the likes of Jeys Marabini, Mateo, Muzi Mangena (of the Tombofara fame) and Marian Kunonga.
Senzeni Na? introduced Nyathi’s prowess as a poet and became his crowning moment, but for him, this song haunts his life as people use it as a yardstick to compare with his recent works.
“People think that I set the bar high with Senzeni Na? It’s the standard and benchmark for all my work so I’m judged by it. This haunts me as I find it difficult at times for my preceding projects to have to match and surpass it,” said Nyathi. But all this anxiety is thrown out of the window by his poem, My Daughter, which Nyathi believes is a cut above the rest.
“I think My Daughter has done it. My Daughter the song and the book that won an award (Nama 2013) have surpassed Senzeni Na?
“I think the interest that My Daughter has generated is interesting. It has managed to hit the international scene as I perform it everywhere. I hear from people how the song and the music video have been received,” he said.
The song is a message from a father to a daughter warning her of the dangers of the world.
“My Daughter is a father’s wish for their daughters to listen to them. It features the likes of Dereck Mpofu, Daniel Low-Beer, Xolisani Nyathi and Carole Nyathi.” Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment