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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
FLYING Bantu, a newly formed afro fusion band from Victoria Falls, has produced its debut album set for release later this month.

The group, formed in Chinotimba last year, plays an eclectic mix of Afro-fusion sounding tracks infused with elements of Funk, Jazz, Reggae and Rock overlaid                 with a distinct traditional Zimbabwean flavour.

It has four members, Tinashe Moaneni (vocals), Amkela Moyo (lead guitar), Bongani Ngema (bass guitar) and Sam Gulubane (drums).With only a year in music, the band has toured a number of Southern African countries including Botswana, Zambia and South Africa performing at various festivals there and locally.

Band manager, Guy Cockroft, said the four-track album titled, Cruising Attitude, would be released online within the next two weeks. The album will be launched in Harare and Victoria Falls in May.

“The EP album will have four songs plus one bonus track which will be released online only. We’ll spend the rest of the year recording and mixing the remainder of the songs with the aim of releasing a full album towards the end of the year,” said Cockcroft.

He said their producers in Harare were doing final touches to the songs adding that the album was a gift to all friends, family and strangers alike who have supported the group in the past year.

“Cruising Attitude is for all those who enjoy music and have a taste for something different. The songs we’ve picked dabble with concepts of love and war, peace and hope, jealousy and joy, without leaving out our friend and home, Africa.

“We’ve tried to share both light-hearted sentiments and the more emotional, heavier realities of our 21st century existence. We did our best to remain unpretentious and true to our musicality and poetry and we hope that the raw, ‘live sounding’ quirkiness of this production depicts our passion and love for what we do.”

The album will be released on the band’s Facebook fan page. Crockroft said the band was formed last year following a long creative process.

“We had our first show at the Cresta Sprayview Hotel in Vic Falls last year. From there, we’ve been invited to shows in Zambia, Botswana, Harare, as well as Cape Town where the group played on the Hemp Stage’s Rocking the Daisies show in October 2016,” he said.

“It’s been a year of hard work to come up with this debut EP which at its lowest level of engagement is aimed at giving listeners a snippet of what we’re trying to express, share and hopefully get better at.  Our quest is to find our sound and that crucial artistic landscape where we can meet and interact, dance, sing and reflect.”

— @ncubeleon