As long as you don’t try counting beats in the new single from The Brother Moves On, you can easily dance to it, sing along, or simply get hypnotized. But try math, and you’ll get lost in their complicated rhythms.
The experimental group from Johannesburg has recently started a new project called “Black Tax“, where they are going to unveil one song at a time over the next 9 months. As if they were “birthing something new, something human and something amazing.”
“Shiyanomayini” is the second song on the record and the first video we got for this release-in-the-making. It’s also a perfect example of music that can be listened to on so many levels – from sheer enjoyment of the band’s energy and their melodies, to musicological analysis of the polymetric composition.
But the crucial layer here are withouth doubt the lyrics. “Shiyanomayini”, or as the authors roughly translate “Leave whatever you have”, is what beggars say “when they beg at the traffic light and by criminals when they are robbing you be it at gunpoint or knifepoint”.
There’s been a direct reason for this song’s message, as one of the band’s members have been “robbed several times on his way back from rehearsal”. Once again a terrible cause brings us a terrific result.
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