BY SINDISO DUBE
After working on the album The Feeling Ain’t Fear with the Few kings, the trio of Jnr Brown, Tehn Diamond and Take Fizzo took a sabbatical from making music.Fizzo took the opportunity to advance his music knowledge, but has now come back with a new project which reunites him with his peers from the Chamhembe era.
Dubbed Ngoma DzaFizzo Volume 1, Take Fizzo promised to release at least three volumes in 2022.
From the Chamhembe days, the album features Mafriq, Nembo Bwoy, Vito (formerly Kevy from Trinity) and Take Fizzo’s old rap partner and American based rapper Scarzz, who is one third of Mad Flavah which was Fizzo’s first rap group in high school.
The album also features Tulk Munny, Brayn K, Mary Anibal, Mr Rebel, Ay T, Jazz Prosper and R Peelz.
“I haven’t settled on a name for the project as yet as I want to do a series of these projects. Working title for the moment is Ngoma DzaFizzo Vol1. God willing, I should release three volumes this year,” Take Fizzo said.
“Since I’ve been in this industry for quite a while and worked with so many different people, I decided that for this one, I’ll have to incorporate what I call the “old”, the “Chamhembe ” and the ‘new’.”
Take Fizzo said he took a sabbatical to further his studies in music at the Music Crossroads Academy where he attained a higher diploma.
“The last project I worked on was the Few Kings album, The Feeling Ain’t Fear back in 2017,” he said.
“The following year I took a break from music and in 2019 till last year, I was furthering my studies. Now that I’m fresh out of the “system”, I’m ready to work.
“The thing I learnt from music school is to appreciate all forms of music. This approach has opened up so many creative doors for me musically.
“This project and on Ngoma DzaFizzo, fans should expect urban grooves, hip hop, Amapiano, dancehall and RnB.”
Take Fizzo has been working on the project for the past six months.
“As of today, I have recorded all songs and finalised 80% of the project, and I am working on the release of the project,” he said.
Take Fizzo added that he will be going back to school again and his goal is to attain a PhD degree in music.
“I am considering taking a couple of years off the pedagogy and then go back and get to the next level. My goal is to have a PhD in music,” he said.
“Music is more a science than art. There are so many rules, guidelines and formulas to music and all this needs to be taught.
“Although some musicians can be great without music school, knowing how something works doesn’t hurt.
“My destiny is to tell the Zimbabwean and African a story through song. As long as I’m alive, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Commenting on the current state of local music, Take Fizzo said: “There is nothing wrong with the state of music in Zimbabwe, actually the music is great, I think it’s the optics that does the industry a disservice. We sound the part, but very few of us look the part.”
Born Tatenda Jenami, Take Fizzo started his music career in the late 90s during Zimbabwe’s Urban Grooves era.
In 1999 he was featured on the popular compilation album titled The Future with the group Madd Flavah as a rapper.
When his mentor, legendary producer Delani Makhalima left the country, Take Fizzo became the Urban Grooves Don, and continued establishing the genre fervently.
He discontinued rapping and decided to focus on producing in 2002. Together with his sister Grace Jenami they set up That Squad, which later produced the popular Chamhembe series of compilations in 2005 and 2006.
Take Fizzo took a break from music for years with the decline of urban grooves and returned in 2012 with Jnr Brown and Tehn Diamond having formed a group called Few Kings.
In 2013 he produced the award-winning album The Feeling Ain’t Fair.