The Sunday News
Sanii Makhalima recently released his seventh album. I took it for a spin, sampled every song and frankly, its sounds like the same Sanni I listened to ten years ago.
I’ll start off with the songs I like. In my view, the coolest track on the album is called Chitsidzo. It is the best song because it has a modern feel to it. The mastering is on point and, not that this is a prerequisite for a song to be tight, you can dance to it too.
Ndimbundire is also another track that is quite good mostly because of the love theme in the lyrics. I must admit, girls love it; even my girlfriend is crazy about that song.
There are three songs that feature other artistes. Controversial Andy Muridzo features on a track called Unodei, Trey XL features on a track called Crazy, and Wakanditi Hauchandida also featuring Trevor Dongo and Takura. These collaborations give us a slight variation from the Sanii sound, with different elements like rap making them intriguing on the ear.
Now as for the other tracks, they lack that “je ne sais quoi”. Mr Makhalima, as he affectionately refers to himself nowadays, is still too attached to his past. After six albums, I expected something different; something to show for the two decades that he has been in the business. Yes, it’s been almost twenty years in the industry for him.
Okay, enough about the past, let us go back to his recent offering, the seventh album — mind you the number seven is special, it is known to represent perfection, but I digress . . .
His album is like something you have heard many times before. Makhalima sounds exactly the same as he did when he came and became one of the dominators of the scene with hits like Usadaro and Ndofefeterwa.
He repeats over-used phrases you can almost tell what he is going to say next. For example, on the track called Kuchengera Rudo, he sings “kuchengera rudo haku uraye .” It’s a line we have heard too many times in Zimbabwean songs. Bad for him, it made me think of the late Tongai Moyo and one great song he did and actually forget that I was listening to Sanii.
In addition, in the very same song Kuchengera Rudo, Mr Makhalima goes on to sing the phrase “Ndimbundire, (ndinoda kumbundirwa)” and he has another song on this album also titled “Ndimbundire’” and he sings it exactly like that. I had to see if I had selected another track by mistake only to find out otherwise.
I really felt let down because I know Sanii is talented. He has a remarkable voice, a wealth of experience, his brother Delani is one of the country’s top music producers and Sanii has a huge fan base. However, they may fast forget him if he does not innovate musically. Like me, they yearn for something with the Sanii mark on it, but at the same time new and fresh.
What happened to the creative Sanii? Whoever took him from us, please #BringBackSanii. – Zimbojam
