“During the past year Tanzanian-born, South African poet/MC TumiMolekane has been travelling around Africa performing festivals and shooting a documentary film with director Vincent Moloi, tracing back his childhood in exile and re-establishing musical relationships he has cultivated over his career. This expedition has come to inform his forth-coming album Rob the Church, his first since parting ways with his ground-breaking band Tumi and the Volume.
For the lead single Hello Hello Kitty, Tumi drafts in another visual creative leading light, award-winning Kenyan filmmaker and afro-futurism champion Wanuri Kahiu. Mutual admirers of each other’s work, their exchanges online eventually led to their first meeting on the video set in Nairobi. The result, Kahiu says, “pokes holes at the idea of this uber-bubble gum life we are being swept up in. Without making judgement about our observations of the world, the video attempts to complement the song that marveled at the mix of social consciousness and commercialization.”
So while sonically, Hello Hello Kitty showcases yet another new direction in Tumi’s repertoire (Sowetan producer Al The 3rd and Switzerland’s Fred Hirsch handle the production), the compelling social commentary typical of him remains constant.
Following a rousing performance at Malawi’s City of Stars festival and select shows in France, Tumi will present for the first time in South Africa a set of entirely brand new material from Rob The Church at the Johannesburg Market Theatre on Thursday 21st November.
Tumi’s fans in Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda can look forward to his second scheduled joint performance with Nigerian alternative Soul singer Bez Idakula this weekend on Coke Studio Africa, a hugely successful music television series whose premise is to pit African artists from different countries and generations in the same collaborative space.”
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