Plaxedes Wenyika has released her 8th album titled ‘Afro-Soul Rhapsody.’ It features 10 songs. It was recorded in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The album is aimed at her original audience from the early 2000s, like her, now in their 40s.
“Afro-Soul Rhapsody has 10 songs. It falls under African soul. It’s an inspired piece of art with elements of Jazz, R n’ B and traditional music but there was no single direct inspiration,” she said.
“I wanted to write music that I would want to listen to and also for my peers whom I started out with in the urban grooves era. I wanted an honest album. Life is not always black and white. Sometimes there are shades of gray”.
The voice is unmistakable, even when talking. Sampling her new album every track feels like a scenic bus stop: ‘there is something there!’ She has been around for over 4 decades, 2 of them in music. It’s rare, in 2023, to analyse a full album as artists now resort to the odd single.
She explains the different situations faced by her age group through different songs on the album.
“We wrote songs targeting specific issues. The song ’It ain’t fair’ was written from the perspective of mature women. Some are divorced while some are deserted. Women hardly talk about their trauma as well as things they go through, in song form.
“A woman let down can be traumatized after giving everything to a man. There are hurts and there is trauma. They start off together and she lives for the man but he just wakes up and leaves her for a younger person, while she has to start again with their children.”
How much is your art inspired by life? Or is it just good songwriting?
“It’s always inspired by life. I get inspired in different ways. However sometimes to balance an album we may come up with additional song themes. Some songs come to you through inspiration. One such song l wrote is ‘Wadarirei’ where melody and words came to me in 5 minutes.
“On ‘Afrosoul’ the song writing was more deliberate. It was more of a mental process of picking a direction of songs to weave into stories that would speak to a particular group of people in a soulful way. I wrote the songs with an amazing team of song writers led by my producer Tino Damba.
“We had a song-writing boot camp where we birthed ideas and melodies. We worked crazy hours as we had to compose 10 tracks within 5 days because l had to leave and go to the UK Urban Grooves gig.
“We managed to complete 7 tracks. We had great chemistry and we managed to translate the vision l had into both the melody and the lyrics.
“Working with song-writers that aren’t biased as to what my sound is allowed unrestricted artistry because they didn’t know my old sound. That liberated me.”
She explains another of her strengths (writing) and approaches used by even the world’s leading composers. No one is putting words in her mouth.
“I wrote my first song when I was 12. It was popular at the High School I went to. I am skewed towards soulful things. I can translate and put other people’s feelings into song. I can compose a song based on a specific theme.
“I have composed music for different campaigns like the ‘Wills and Inheritance’ campaign and the ‘Safe Travel’ campaign by the International Organisation for Migration. I enjoy writing songs that someone else will relate to.
“The music is not necessarily written to appeal to a mass audience. I do not write songs for me to express my personal life”
That clears it then. Plaxedes is not writing about Plaxedes.
She has been in plain sight but also hidden. A good 23 years ago one of Zimbabwe’s trailblazing producers Delani Makhalima started the Urban Grooves era with businessman Gilbert Muvavarirwa of Shamiso Entertainment and the album ‘The Future.’
Plaxedes was not there. When they parted ways, Makhalima moved on. Around this time he found arguably the Urban Grooves era’s crowning glory. Other artists have matured. But ‘Tisaparadzane’ stands as ‘done” even back then, her first release, a full album.
“Sometimes Delani had a melody and I would write. Some songs I had both a melody and the words. On “Pasina iwe” Delani came to University of Zimbabwe with a melody which I recorded on my Ericsson phone. I wrote the lyrics from his humming.
“Later Sanii Makhalima came in to duet on the song after Delani suggested it. It made the song amazing. In that era we were all recording at the same time with Roki, Ex-Q, Shame and Nathan, Roy n Royce, Tambudzai, Willom Tight and many others.
“It happened organically, we didn’t do music to prove a point. We were just young adults inspired to do music, from various walks of life. It was like the first Chimurenga, a revolution that just happened.
“I didn’t know any of these guys before. We just met at the studio. I wasn’t a part of Shamiso. Lennox Sibanda allowed us to use his studio at Margolis Pzaza. Some people literally spent their days in the studio. I was as a student at UZ and didn’t have much time to hang.”
“Working with Delani was marvelous. I learnt a lot and grew as an artist. He is gifted and gave me wings to fly. He was able to interpret different genres and bring out the best out of various artists that went on to become household names.
“He played a very integral role in Zimbabwean music. It was an incredible time. Time has moved on. I and my sound have also grown and evolved.”
“I did a song with Mr Louis Mhlanga: ‘Watoba moyo wangu.’ I wanted a song with a traditional Zimbabwean sound. A good friend listened to it and suggested having one of Zimbabwe’s legendary guitarists Louis Mhlanga add his guitar. He was a perfect fit. He liked the song and then he laid his lines down.
“He is an absolute legend. l was honored to have him on the song. He took the song to the next level. His unique way with the guitar made the music rich. Anyone who appreciates rich, deep music will like it.”
Mhlanga is one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated Jazz artists. He composed the song ‘Distant Lover’ better known as the ‘Mai Chisamba’ song after the loquacious talk show host Rebecca Chisamba. Mhlanga has worked with iconic artists of both Zimbabwe and South Africa as a producer, artist and a guitarist.
“’Amai’ is a reflective song about life lessons that one’s mother taught them and they finally appreciate when they are older. You remember the advice you got from your parents and now appreciate it more than when you where younger. It’s more of an ‘I now get it track.’
“My mum is my friend and my biggest cheerleader. She gives her support and input, though at times she’s biased because, well, she’s my mum. I wrote her a song called ‘Ndimi’ off ‘Kamumhanzi’ my second album.”
So this song is not a dedication to a particular mum but a celebration of one of the virtues of a good mother for giving advice with the future in mind, even when it is initially ignored.
“’Runako’ discusses someone’s aura and beauty as a beautiful soul.”
“’More than a fling’ was written for when a fling grows. It refers to good chemistry maturing into something solid. It’s like: ‘We started out as a fling. We have outgrown that. So what are we?’ So let’s make it the real thing.”
“I worked with two producers. Tino Damba, a renowned producer and drummer, was the main producer. He has worked with artists in South Africa and America. He has been a part of the production team behind ‘Clash of the choirs SA.’
“All this experience has turned him into a producer extraordinaire. I had the pleasure of first working with him on one of my un-released projects in 2013, as a drummer. I got in touch with him this year and he told me he was focusing more on the music production side.
“I liked the projects he had worked on and we started working on AfroSoul Rhapsody. He was perfect for the album because I knew and understood exactly what l wanted and where the sound should go. He did an outstanding job. He brought together the best team to deliver my baby.
“The second producer is ‘Tari G Fingers.’ It was great to work together again. We worked together before on my album where he produced the hit track Hewo Moyo Wangu. He also produced Jah Prayzah’s ‘Nyeredzi.’ I like his ability to weave music, lyrics and artistry.
“You need chemistry to produce great music. Not every producer can interpret your music and soul. Tari was going to the US when I called him. He had a day. We dashed to his studio and laid vocals and he started work on the song “More than a fling” and he finished the rest from the US.”
“I have 8 albums. The first was produced by Delani. The second album ‘Kamumhanzi’ was produced by Isaac Chirwa and one of the drummers was Minister Michael Mahendere. The third ‘Sentiments’ was produced by Flash Gordon, the Late Sipho Playboy and Tony G.
“The fourth ‘Full Circle’ was produced by Macdee and DS, Tatenda ‘Take 5’ Jenami and Tony G. The fifth ‘Brighter day’ was produced by Isaac Chirwa and Mono Mukundu. It had a Jazzy feel and had live instruments.
“The sixth ‘Metarmophosis’ was produced by MacDee, DJ Tamuka, Elton Bryce and Chiweddar. The seventh ‘Phoenix rising’ was produced by Macdee, Tari G Fingers and Clean Shizzle.
Perhaps the most well-known album was ‘Tisaparadzane.’ The title track accompanied many a bride down the aisle, an honest and innocent love song.
Similar to this was ‘Hapana.’ But things got complicated in ‘Wadarirei’ the heartfelt apology. ‘Pasina Iwe’ introduced the powerful vocals of Sanii Makhalima.
‘Ramangwana’ was more didactic encouraging planning for tomorrow and writing wills down. The individual songs did well. But surely as an album it deserves more pride of place.
Such good music would have excelled in any period without excessive hand-holding. Could the good perhaps have been achieved with a more subtle approach?
We will never know. But such pieces as “Come to Victoria falls” and “Go Warriors Go” were the highlights.
She explains: “We were not made by government. We started underground being played by DJ Innocent Tshuma and we got more airplay from 3FM now Power FM.
“Government recognised the movement, as we became more popular. We started being played on more local radio stations. They then came up with the 75% and 100% policies. We carved our own way.
“Government came through and supported us very well. The Galas really helped expose our generation’s urban music.”
‘Go warriors Go’ was well-received: “It was great working with other artists and to see it inspiring people. There was Diva Mafunga and others. Music unites people. It still lives in history every time the song is played.”
“On ‘Come to Vic Falls’ I worked with Ivy Kombo, Flame and the late Jackie Madondo.”
The former was the motivation the Warriors (men’s national football team) needed to to qualify for a major tournament the first time. That was 2004.
But Plaxedes’ enthusiasm was almost wasted in what came to be known as the Seychelles debacle, a defeat that almost cost everything. It started with a 1-0 victory over Mali with Lazaraus Muhoni, the scorer. The game itself was preceded by a thunderstorm heartily greeted by a full house.
By the time the team came out to warm up the stadium was in full voice: “Yave nyama yekugocha.” It came down to the last game in which Peter Ndlovu lobbed the goalie on the bounce for a final 2-0 nervy win in a rare lunchtime kick off.
Results elsewhere the next day (7pm Zimbabwe time) helped Zimbabwe qualify via “the backdoor.” Backdoor; but who cared? Over the years the glory has gone to Sunday Chidzambga but being honest.
But he was not alone. Jonathan Moyo redeemed his mixed legacy and Plaxedes sang “Go Warriors Go.” And the fans backed the team.
This year a few shows featuring Urban Grooves musicians were over-subscribed: “It gave birth to a UK tour that went quite well hosted by Stellar Entertainment. Kayes Connect were the promoters that started promoting Urban Grooves for a certain age and generation that wanted the music.
“I have done 3 shows with them including the Covid era. This year’s edition was so popular people were being turned away. We had a fantastic time and fans started asking for us to come to South Africa and UK. I just did one show and came back to finish my album recording.”
There are interviews where you realise immediately afterwards you forgot to ask a detail. But the Plaxedes Wenyika story feels complete.
Her albums are on streaming services including Spotify produced by some of the best producers in the business. She looks with empathetic fondness on the new generation of artists. After all she has been there.
Source Nehanda Radios
