Urban Village

If you’re already collecting candidates for your personal Best of 2021, be sure to check out the new album from the one and only Urban Village.

It’s less than half a year since we wrote about this special quartet consisting of Tubatsi Mpho Moloi (vocals and flute), Lerato Lichaba (guitars and vocals), Xolani Mtshali (drums and vocals) and Simangaliso Dlamini (bass).

But we’ve got a serious reason to revisit Soweto, since they’re back with a spectacular new album and one of the reasons to – in spite of all the news not really better than in early 2020 – to somehow enjoy 2021.

As it always has, “fusion” is the best word to describe their style, unless you associate this term with rootlessness or placelessness – oh, that’s the last thing you could say about Urban Village. Their inspirations may span across genres and continents, but their music is 100% Soweto style and you’ll know it after the first minute of “Udondolo”.

While we recommend you spend the next 48 minutes with “Udondolo” in its entirety, here’s a great first taste. “Dindi” is one of the album’s highlights as well as recent video off the album, and it “promotes people of all colours to be proud in the very skin that they are in, no matter the shade and texture”. Thank you, Urban Village.

Stream “Udondolo” LP on Spotify.

*

Urban Village on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, www.

Recent music from Africa