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Showbiz Correspondent 

IT has taken Bulawayo-based gospel acapella group 12 Gates Music Ministries eight years to record and release an album and they feel it is the right time to do so. 

The six-member group formed in July 2011 at Woodville SDA church in Bulawayo is launching their album tomorrow at the Large City Hall. The 11 track album is titled Canaan and the show starts at 6PM.

One of the group members Mbongeni Ncube, who sings baritone, said the group was formed to spread the word of God. 

He said they had taken eight years to record an album because they had been facing financial challenges. “If we look these days, people are in desperate need of the gospel and we want to evangelise through our music.” 

“It took us this long because it was mostly financial issues. However, the zeal wasn’t yet there for us to evangelise. We realised there was a better way to achieve this because an album could reach places we couldn’t,” said Ncube.

The group’s manager Gerald Tshuma said the album was inspired by their mandate to help people go to heaven. “This is our first album titled Canaan that we shall launch on Saturday. If you look at the name of the group 12 Gates and in heaven they’re 12 Gates. The album is called Canaan and biblically this is one of the terms that are used to describe heaven,” said Ncube.

“So the song also speaks to who we are and our hope as Christians we’ll go to heaven.”

The group comprises Sipho Sigidi (baritone), Shane Nkala (baritone), Sijabuliso Ndlovu (first tenor), Miles Joel Maphosa (second tenor), Malvin Bishop (bass) with Mduduzi Ndlovu in charge of logistics, Bukhosi Sibanda the chaplain and Tafela Mathe, patron.