World Music Network is pleased to announce the release of Monoswezi -The Villageon limited edition vinyl! Upon release in 2013, the album was lauded with rave reviews and was also nominated for the Songlines Music Awards 2014. The LP version features a previously unreleased track, 'Regret'*, and comes with an download card so you can enjoy the album in both modern and old fashioned ways.
The Village, Monoswezi’s debut album, is a collection of rearranged Zimbabwean traditional songs blended with a cool Nordic edge. What the band prize about Zimbabwean music is its inherent openness, a quality that shares much with that fresh airy feel inherent in the Scandinavian jazz sound. Creatively they carve a musical link that not only sounds entirely new, but crosses the oceans, eschews politics and embraces wholeheartedly the values of cross-cultural collaboration. With members hailing from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Norway and Sweden the boundary-crossing band’s sound is entirely unique. Articulated mbira rings out atop colourful woodwind and the gentle rhythm section.
*The version on vinyl is different from the version in the soundcloud track above.
Monoswezi’s music sounds fresh and wide-open: traits that owe to the bands marvelously multi-cultural inspirations. Expect gentle mbira, looping percussion, memorable sung melodies, and subtle saxophone
Listen to the album or order it here
'A hypnotic blend of Norwegian saxophone and Zimbabwean mbira' 4**** stars,Financial Times
'The songs are traditional, given life by the supple, at times spectacular vocals... Classy stuff' 4**** stars, The Observer
'The Village largely whispers rather than shouts, and it's all the more powerful for it' 4**** stars, The Independent On Sunday
CNN - Interview and feature
'A fine recording... Breaking moulds of both gender and nationality' 4****stars, Songlines