Artist: Mafikizolo
One of South Africa's most favourite music groups, Mafikizolo, is back with a brand new banging album after a well deserved two year break and this time they want to take their loyal fans on the musical journey of their lives. The transport for the journey is a Six Mabone - a classic car of the 60s-which is the title of their seventh album.
Theo Kgosinkwe, the male member of the duo, says: "In the 60s, Six Mabone had the same status as BMW today. And our music is enjoyed by the young and the old. We are taking our fans back and forth." The latest album is the second without Tebza who was killed in a road rage accident three years ago.
The new album has blues and swing elements and most of the songs were recorded with a live band.
Nhlanhla Nciza, the female member of the group, insists that although they brought new elements on this album but they have used the same formula like their previous platinum selling albums.She said: "There is a bit of afro pop, kwela and marabi which have become our trademark. They say you must not fix something that is not broken and we are not going to mess with our winning formula."The album features a remark of Miriam Makeba's classic Walila - and they deserve a round of applause for doing justice to the song. Anybody who does a remark or remix of Miriam Makeba's song has to know his story very well and be brave enough to do so.
Nciza admitted: "Doing a remark of Mama Africa's song was one of the hard things to do, she is an international brand with a lot of followers and nobody must mess around with a musical icon like Miriam Makeba."
Also on the album, they also featured a new up and coming stable mate, Zonke, on a song simple titled Flowers. There is a mind blowing slow jam called Khululeka which was produced by house music crew, Shaana.
Without any doubt, the album shows Mafikizolo's musical growth - they have been in the industry for eight years and they have learned a lot. Kgosinkwe summarizes it the better when he says: "We have been to hell and back. God has been there for us always."
Shortly after Mafikizolo shot to fame, they were involved in a near fatal car accident which left some of the band members in hospital for a couple of weeks.
And when they began picking up the pieces and getting their feet back on the groove, Tebza was killed.
Six Mabone is an album that will make many people realise how rich South Africans are, musically and that with the right production team like Dangerous Combination Crew [DCC], Oscar "Oskido" Mdlongwa, Mandla "Spikiri" Mofokeng, Bruce "Dope" Sebitlo, Zynne "Mahoota" Sibika plus jazz maestro, Don Laka, behind you - you can keep the world on its dancing feet and win as many music award as possible.
About their album, Nciza said: "Six Mabone is a kind of album that when you put into your sound system, you will never want to take it out for a long time."
And Kgosinkwe said: "Mafikizolo does not make albums for December but we make music that will last for a life time. Six Mabone is a must get album if you love and support South African music."
Six Mabone will definitely cement Mafikizolo's status as one of the most singing sensational groups in South Africa and musical phenomena in Africa.
