Four songs from four musicians from Soweto.
Urban Village is a project of Tubatsi Mpho Moloi (vocals and flute), Lerato Lichaba (guitars and vocals), Xolani Mtshali (drums and vocals) and Simangaliso Dlamini (bass). Just from that description you could guess they offer rich vocal experiences and you’d be right, especially that they draw inspirations from a range of different traditions: from Zulu and Xhosa to global folk, rock, jazz or spoken word.
While their full-length debut album is expected to come out at the very start of 2021, we already have a taste of what they’ll ofer with a four-track EP “Ubaba”, just released on French label Nø Førmat. There’s a melancholic opener “Ubaba”, bright and lively “Izivunguvungu” – where Moloi leads with his flute – and upbeat hit “Sakhisizwe” you can to dance, unless you prefer to wait for Chloé’s club remix of “Izivunguvungu”.
Along with the EP, Urban Village released a video for the eponymous song. Directed by Justice Mukheli, it shows “different roles played by fathers within society: to nurture, to care, to love, and to protect their families”, being placed in one of “Soweto’s many hostels, which in the 1990s housed large numbers of black South African men during apartheid”.
Stream “Ubaba” EP on Spotify.
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