What's with the Kalangas as SINAZO unveils Bukalanga house track video

As the hullabaloo about the falsehood that Kalangas are uneducated criminals spreads unabated, afro pop group Sinazo, themselves directed by a Kalanga with three degrees, unveils and launch a Kalanga house track video, shot in the heart of a South African Metropolitan city. Winston Churchill once noted that sometimes criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. As people react to criticism in different ways, for Sinazo, the final proof of greatness lies not only in being able to endure criticism without resentment, but in believing that if you keep your feathers well oiled the water of criticism will run off as from a duck's back.

The video shoot was for a track called Bukalanga featuring Dj Dashzimbabwe, composed and arranged by Titshabona Malaba Ncube.

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Johannesburg winds that come down through the high rise Hillbrow, Berea and Yeovil flats passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.

Its Saturday the 18th April, the night dubbed the UK Invasion of South Africa as Sinazo director Tish Malaba jetted in. Its the JZ Moyo re-union party.

On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. But that should be unexpected for a jovial crowd of former high school students coming together for a re union and a music video shoot. As one Khalil Gibran says, but let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. There is joy of a completely different sort when animals who have been in captivity or caged experience the freedom of the great outdoors for the first time. In such an occassion, anything can happen. You can even get free booze throughout the night courtesy of old school friends' financial generosity. And more so, chances of you appearing in a music video sky rockets. Yes, for music is the food of love.

On this particular Saturday, an uproarious crowd gathered for the JZ Moyo re union combined with the Afro pop group Sinazo's video shoot for their new hit track, Bukalanga, featuring Dj Dashzimbabwe.

The video was shot and its being launched this 1st May 2015. The timing of the single release versus the video release makes it pretty clear that the strength of the song was driving the interest in the single, and while the video is colorful and interesting, I don't think it's Kanye West or Beyonce kind of violence or that Parental-Advisory-Explicity-Content video. However, my guess is, -and I am pretty sure I am right-the public in general is not going to get enough of "Bukalanga" not only in 2015 but in a couple of years to come, and it sits at the top of our list.

The video was directed by Khaya Couter Video Production based in Cresta Johannesburg, who also works with the likes of Revolution and the late Bojo Mojo. The beat maker is Tha Vyrass of African Beats while the mixing is done by Tswarelo Mothobi of 10th District Music in Bulawayo. Some lyrics are proudly provided by Duduzile Sibanda of Nobuntu fame.
In the video, though, there's nothing restrained about the Bulawayo originating outfit. Sinazo have a live show that's the aural equivalent of a kick boxing bout.  Dj Dashzimbabwe provides the propulsion; Tish Malaba stalks the stage while Lorin Lolo Sibanda swinging her limbs like a Sunday league centre back hacking at a ball stuck in mud; Nkanyiso Kitane Dube transforms into a perpetual malcontent, thrashing at his microphone while the crowd, dominated by  former JZ Moyo students, their friends and families, screams the lyrics to the Bukalanga song. The cumulative effect is a pummelling that leaves ears ringing for days and a line of converts to the Sinazo melee.

"We're all really attracted to that part of afro house dance music: playing the hell out of your instrument. Physically," says Tish. "We are born of Kwaito. We are products of Digong"

This mix of musicianship and finesse has seen Sinazo become the band whose T-shirt is a badge of Matabeleland Afro pop. They are also a group who are hard to pin down.  Sinazo called their eponymous debut a "mission statement" and it seemed to only have one election promise: "We are here to stay."

If there was a criticism of the band when they first emerged, it was that they hadn't managed to translate their record to live performances. On their upcoming album, however, they confirm that they have taken a warts-and-all approach, with feedback, snippets of in-studio conversation incorporated into the final edit.  "The result is closer in spirit to perfection." says Sinazo director Titshabona Malaba Ncube.

Watch the video Bukalanga by Sinazo featuring Dj Dashzimbabwe below