[Freshlyground-Nomvula Full Album Zip
Christel Malden
Freshlyground was a band formed in Cape Town, South Africa in 2002. Freshlyground are best known for their collaboration on the afrofusion and soca single "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" alongside Colombian singer Shakira, which received worldwide recognition. The music video featuring the group garnered over 3 billion views on YouTube, which led it to become one of the most-viewed videos on the platform.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Freshlyground's members cite diverse multi-racial,multi-cultural and multi-national backgrounds inclusive of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Violinist and backing vocalist Kyla-Rose Smith was associated with afrofusion dancer Gregory Maqoma's dance company, The Vuyani Dance Theatre, where she performed at the Centre National de la Danse in Paris and co-wrote music while serving as the principal violinist. Smith pursued music studies throughout her schooling and focused on jazz during her time at university. At 15, Simon Attwell was a flautist in the Zimbabwe National Orchestra, later earning a scholarship to the Chethams School of Music in Manchester by age 17. Aron Turest-Swartz studied piano with Merton Barrow at the Jazz Workshop in Cape Town during his teenage years before transitioning to drums and percussion in Dublin in 1998. Lead singer, Zolani Mahola had studied drama at the University of Cape Town and secured the lead role of Boniswa in the SABC1 television drama series Tsha Tsha. Drummer, Peter Cohen, formerly served as a drummer for Mango Groove. Mango Groove, formed in 1984 is a South African musical ensemble comprising 11 members. The band blends pop with township music genres such as marabi. Josh Hawks, backing vocalist and bassist was a prominent figure in the early '90s scene and played a pivotal role in the success of both The Streaks and the Zap Dragons.[1][8][9][10]
Freshlyground released their debut album, Jika Jika, in early 2003. The commercial success of this album ultimately kick-started their career and re-affirmed their reputation as a fresh and vibrant young face in South African music. The commercial success of this album launched their career through their reputation as a vibrant South African band. The exposure from this album resulted in an invitation for the band to perform at both the Harare International Festival of the Arts and the Robben Island African Festival. This album was remixed by Keith Farquharson, remastered by Chris Athens and re-released in 2008.[11]
The band went on to perform alongside local legend Miriam Makeba, as well as Stanley Clarke and Femi Kuti at the North Sea Jazz Festival, held during April in Cape Town. July also marked a break from the recording studio for the band, who had been working hard on their then unreleased album Nomvula. The band took this time to perform at the Villa Celimontana Festival in Rome, Italy.
Finally, in late 2004, Freshlyground released their very successful album, Nomvula. Although the uptake of the album was initially slow, it eventually went on to achieve double platinum status locally. Initial success was largely due to the catchy, feel-good, lyrics of Doo Be Doo, which enjoyed significant play on local radio, it was also covered in Indonesian by singer Gita Gutawa. Follow-up hits included I'd like and the signature track Nomvula, the former achieving unprecedented success on radio charts such as the 5FM Top 40, where it remained at No. 1 for several weeks.[12]
Freshlyground's album Radio Africa was released in May 2010, and as part of the album release, they released a collaborative music video with the ZANews puppeteers. A satirical track about Robert Mugabe (Chicken to Change) has received coverage in the British media.
On 23 January 2010, Freshlyground performed at the official inauguration game at the new Cape Town Stadium, where local Cape Town football clubs Ajax Cape Town and Santos played each other in a match decided on penalties.
A song by Colombian pop star Shakira and Freshlyground was the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song, titled "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", is based on "Zangalewa", a popular Makossa African soldiers' song by Golden Sounds. "Zangalewa" was a hit single in Colombia in 1987. Shakira and Freshlyground performed the song at the pre-tournament kick-off concert in Soweto on 10 June.
"This album captures the emotion, the passion and the energy of our live performances", explains violinist Kyla-Rose Smith adding, "our live concerts have always been at the bedrock of our popularity", she says.[14]
The band's sound is primarily afro-fusion, a dance genre and fusion genre, musical style which emerged in South Africa between the 1970s and 1980s.[15][16] The band's songs are multilingual citing languages such as Xhosa, English, French and Zulu their fusion of genres, alongside individual genres encompasses an experimental wide range crossover including kwaito, folk, kwela, indie-rock, jazz and blues.[17][2][18][19][20][21]
In 2005, Freshlyground was nominated for three South African Music Awards for their 2004 album, Nomvula. Although they won no SAMAs that year, in 2008 the Recording Industry of South Africa awarded them the coveted Best Duo or Group SAMA. In the same year, their 2007 album Ma' Cheri won the prestigious Album of the Year SAMA, as well as Best Adult Contemporary Album: English, and Best Engineer.
At the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards in Copenhagen, Freshlyground became the first South African musical act to receive honours from MTV, when they received the MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act.
At the 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards, the band received the "Best Africa, Southern" accolade for their single "Pot Belly".[22] In 2008 the band was awarded the South African Music Awards for their album "Macheri."[23]
Freshlyground is an acclaimed and successful South African band. The band was formed in Cape Town, South Africa and became a hit and the face of African World Music after the release of their debut album, Jika Jika in 2003.
Their music is a blend of Kwela and some sounds and traditions of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. They play all this with a tinge of pop, jazz, blues and indie rock to forge a fresh and redefining style.
Freshlyground has performed at various concerts across South Africa and internationally, including performing for the then President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki and sharing the stage with world class musicians like Shakira, the legend Miriam Makeba etc.
On a visit to South Africa in June 2013 during a speech at the University of Cape Town, President Barack Obama cited Freshlyground as an example of the contributions South Africa has made to the world.
The band formed in 2002, and is made up of seven musicians from South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The lead singer is a diminutive but exuberant Zolani Mahola. Their first album, Jika Jika, came out the following year. Nomvula, released in 2004, went multiplatinum in South Africa. The group also did four sold-out tours of Europe in 2009. They collaborated with Colombian superstar Shakira for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and we seen by millions around the world on television.
Freshlyground formed early 2002, and is made up of seven talented and diverse musicians from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In 2003 Freshlyground launched their debut album, Jika Jika, the success of which firmly cemented the band as one of South Africa's most successful young acts. In the same year this seven-piece Cape Town based band enjoyed much wider exposure, playing at numerous music festivals including the Harare International Festival of the Arts and the Robben Island African Festival. Freshlyground were invited to Harare International Festival of the Arts 2004 as the South African representative for the festival, where they headlined the closing ceremony, performing a song with Zimbabwean icon Oliver Mtukudzi. 2004 started off playing before President Thabo Mbeki at the opening of Parliament on the eve of celebrating 10 years of democracy in South Africa. One of the most exciting musical events in South Africa 2004 was the esteemed North Sea Jazz Festival. Freshlyground played alongside the likes of Miriam Makeba, Stanley Clarke and Femi Kuti. In July 2004 the band performed at the prestigious Villa Celimontana Festival in Rome while taking a break from the recording studio. Freshlyground were invited to play at the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan in March 2005. They then traveled to Germany to front the celebration of 5 years of partnership between Cape Town and Aachen.
Freshlyground completed recording their second album in Johannesburg in June/July 2004 under their independent Freeground Records label, in conjunction with Instinct Africaine. 'Nomvula' was recorded and produced in Joburg by Joe Arthur and Sibusiso Victor Masondo and released in late 2004. After a somewhat slow start - but with a strong word of mouth buzz based on the band's live performance reputation - momentum picked up as the sheer quality of the album begun to shine through. Radio picked up on 'Doo Be Doo' and the catchy song has gone on to become a favorite amongst a diverse spread of stations and their listeners. However, album tracks such as 'I'd Like', 'Zithande', 'Things Have Changed', 'Manyana' and the title track 'Nomvula' (with its stunning music video directed by filmmaker Ian Gabriel) are proving the depth and strength of this remarkable record. In addition to the Nomvula video, the band has just released music videos for "I'd Like" and "Doo Be Doo".
'Nomvula' was nominated for three South African Music Awards in 2005, but the band didn't manage to snare their debut SAMA. Undaunted and more determined than ever, the guys continued their path to success. Fronted by the diminutive but dynamic Zolani Mahola, the band exudes a live performance energy that has been the bedrock of their success. The experienced rhythm section of Peter Cohen (drums) & Josh Hawks (bass) is complimented by guitarist Julio Sigauque, keyboardist (& some time dancer) Aron Turest-Swartz, Simon Attwell (flute, mbira, sax and harmonica) and violinist Kyla Rose Smith. Although all hailing from diverse backgrounds, between them the band weave a musical magic that is highly infectious and undeniably groovy.
Last year Freshlyground signed an extensive record deal with Sony BMG Africa, and in partnership with Sony BMG Africa, Freshlyground are now putting together plans to build on this local success and spread their musical wings globally. With trips to Japan, Germany, Belgium (for the huge Pukkelpop Festival), Tanzania and Mauritius already under the belt in 2005, the band manage to avoid neglecting local audiences hungry for their share of the Freshlyground magic.
In August last year, Freshlyground appeared at the big Oppikoppi 'Wired' festival and the 'Word on the Street' events, and hosted a concert in Cape Town to raise funds for the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, appearing alongside globally acclaimed troubadour and Sony BMG Africa label mate Vusi Mahlasela. They had numerous high profile gigs across the nation heading into Summer 2005, making them quite possibly the hardest working band on the live circuit. Freshlyground have performed in every major city in South Africa promoting the album Nomvula, and the demand to see the band live grows with each appearance.
Keith Lister, Managing Director of Sony BMG Africa had this to say about the company's involvement with Freshlyground: "We're delighted to be able to continue working with such a unique and exciting group of musicians ... for Freshlyground, the sky literally is the limit."
he band was chosen to co-perform the Official Anthem for the 2010 World Cup already means more eyes are going to be on this Cape Town-based outfit than ever before.
Titled ' Time For Africa" the song is featured on "Listen Up: The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album(tm)," and is a collaboration with Colombian superstar, Shakira. Much like 'Radio Africa' itself, the presence of Freshlyground on 'Time For Africa' came about organically: the band was in New York in February this year, putting the finishing touches to 'Radio Africa' when they happened to connect with Shakira's producer who mentioned the Colombian superstar was working on a song for the 2010 World Cup.
As Mahola puts it, "They thought our African flavour would suit the sound so we set about crafting our contribution and they liked it." Indeed, Mahola's distinctive, honeyed voice stands out in the powerful song and Sigauque's mbaqanga-influenced guitaring turns the anthem into something powerfully African.
With their fourth studio album, 'Radio Africa', Freshlyground is preparing to broadcast the ingredients that have turned the seven-piece into one of South Africa's most treasured acts to the rest of the continent and the world.
'Radio Africa' is perhaps the fullest expression yet of Freshlyground's development as a truly African band. "We have matured as players and as a band over the last seven years and the album depicts our development as well as our rootedness here in South Africa and the greater African diaspora," is how violinist Smith puts it.