Magwe ZA – Uzenenye Ft. Thesiix, Zolie, Mavoice, Toxiq, Keketso Libate, Tshidiso Tomson Mokoena, Sicelo Tebogo Mohlala, Kopano Mnisi & Nomfundo Moloto

Let us call the names properly. Thesiix, Zolie, Mavoice, Toxiq, Keketso Libate, Tshidiso Tomson Mokoena, Sicelo Tebogo Mohlala, Kopano Mnisi and Nomfundo Moloto are all credited. That is the longest guest list on the project, and it turns the record into an event. In Nigerian music circles we would call it a full squad entrance, the sort of thing people screenshot and share before they have heard a single note.

The title is another thing entirely. It looks like a Zulu word, and since I cannot give a confident meaning, I will leave the translation to those who grew up speaking it. Uzenenye has a rhythm of its own when you say it aloud, with a bounce that suits the dance floor, and that alone makes it easy to remember.

Several of these names, including Keketso Libate and Kopano Mnisi, show up elsewhere on the album, so the record feels like a gathering of the project’s regular faces and not a random assembly of strangers.

What makes a large collaboration exciting is the question of who will stand out. Everyone will have a favourite voice, and the arguments afterwards are half the fun. It is a record made for sharing, debating and replaying with friends.

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