THE highly regarded Afro-fusion band Mokoomba arrived in Sweden last week to perform at a sold-out concert at the Fasching Concert Hall in Stockholm this past Thursday.
The band is basking in the glory of their top-charting new 13-trackalbum titled Tusona: Tracings in the Sand, which was released on July 7.
The album is currently topping the ‘World Music Charts Europe’ and the ‘Transglobal World Music Charts’ which include prominent artistes such as Malian singer, and songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, Senegalese singer and guitarist Baaba Maal and Idrissa Soumaoro from Mali, among others.
The charts are compiled by more than forty radio DJs, journalists, and experts who focus on world music in Europe and across the world.
“This is a positive development for us because it speaks to the quality of our album and also the reach and impact that our music is having among world music enthusiasts around the world,” the band’s spokesperson and bassist, Abundance Mutori said in a statement.
Buoyed by this success, the group has embarked on an autumn tour of Europe to support the album. Their brand of music is beginning to get decent attention and radio play as well as critical acclaim and rave reviews in the press in many different countries.
“While this might not be happening in the mainstream where genres like Amapiano and Afrobeats have penetrated, we believe that long-term music like ours that is grounded in local traditions will also go mainstream”.
Since taking first place in the 2008 Music Crossroads Inter-Regional Festival in Lilongwe, Malawi, the six-piece group continues to grow in leaps and bounds.
Their journey has taken them to over 40 countries and prestigious international festivals such as WOMAD, making them Zimbabwe's largest musical export.
In 2018, they were inducted into the Afropop Worldwide Hall of Famean honor shared with music icons such as Dr Thomas Mapfumo, the late Dr Oliver Mtukudzi, Angelique Kidjo, and Youssou N'Dour among others.
“I first heard Mokoomba from a demo CD at WOMEX, before their first album dropped. I saw videos and was right away impressed. I've since seen them live four or five times, and once interviewed Abundance, the bass player,” Banning Eyre, author of Lion Songs: Thomas Mapfumo and the Music That Made Zimbabwe, told Standard Style.
“I've not seen them in some time, but I'm really enjoying the new album. I still think they are an awesome band, with two particular strengths - a truly pan-African sound, and a spectacular and unique vocal sound,” he added.
Mokoomba is among the CollaboNation artists selected for 2023 which resulted in a collaboration with Morena Leraba from Lesotho which culminated in the making of the song ‘Chisimo’ (Bantu word for ‘riddle’ in Luvale). The video was shot at the MTN Bushfire Festival’s 2023 edition in May.
CollaboNation is an annual initiative aimed at connecting and uniting the region through a series of unique music collaborations.
Videos of the new album's top charting track, Nzara Hapana, and another single, Makisi, are now available on the video streaming site YouTube.
The Makisi are masked figures that, according to the band's website, represent the spirit of deceased ancestors. The Makisi return to Earth for the annual initiation ceremony to teach the young children to become responsible adults.
The last time Mokoomba was in Europe was during their EU and UK summertour from June 24 to July 30 where they performed in Poland, the UK, Austria, and France.This coming week will see them perform a total of 12 concerts that will take them from Sweden to Hannover and Münster on October 19 and 20 respectively.
They make a single stop in the Netherlands to perform at Podium Grounds in Rotterdam on October 20 before returning to Germany for shows in five cities namely Dortmund, München, Berlin, Freiburg, and Karlsruhe.
Popular Basel restaurant Atlantis Basel will be the host on October 27 after which the band will appear at Moods Zurich on October 28. More dates are set to be announced.
Before the tour, Mokoomba performed at the Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo and at the River Brewery in Victoria Falls.
“We now have a really solid following at home and all the concerts that we are doing in Zimbabwe are well attended by our standards.”
“We are happy and confident that with the support we are getting from the local media and radio, we will continue to grow our audience and get many people to come to our concerts in the future,” added Mutori.