The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi Weekender Correspondent
WHILE his music has widely been considered as rich social commentary, Hosiah Chipanga sees his latest album as an edifying symphony that collectively collates everything he has captured in song over the years that he has been in the music business.
For him, his new offering, released last week and titled “Baba Johanne”, is simply a case of prophecies he has made in the past which are coming to pass now.
“Because I take my music career as a divine calling, I have been ministering the Word through song throughout. As an artiste, I have a big role to play and serve the community by highlighting issues that typically affect them in their daily lives.
“As such, I have touched on several diverse themes in my songs and brought them to the fore. Each time I make a song I would have received a spiritual vision which I then put into a musical composition,” explained the shrewd lyricist.
Chipanga — fondly referred as Kwachu-Kwachu by adoring fans after one of his most popular hits of the same name — however, could not be drawn into giving away too much about the album content.
He insisted that he did not want to dilute his latest offerings cosmopolitan appeal, instead leaving the interpretation of the compositions to listeners lest his message may be understood out of context.
“I have always tried to be responsible in discharging my duties as a musician and see myself playing the role of a mirror that holds up to the community a true reflection of its shortcomings and other ills threatening to soil society. I had long seen such vices as corruption — which the government is now committed to tackling head-on — and wanton price hikes coming, for example, and clearly crystallised these issues in my music back then.
“Now that we are here, I am sure most people are now able to relate to and make out what I meant then. To that end, my new album ‘Baba Johanne’, therefore, fulfills the prophecies which most of my songs had long foretold,” the ‘Muchaneta’ singer boasted.
The long and short of it all is that Chipanga makes music that imitates life and reproduces reality.
With his stinging lyrics, the sharp-tongued singer is satire personified.
Blessed with a gift to make music with a meaning, Hosiah Chipanga sings with oracular eloquence.
