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Tina Musonza Arts Correspondent

Those familiar with aircraft sound engineering know that the sound of planes is measured in decibels. The decibels hit the ground as the helicopters announce their arrival in the area, connecting with every ear.

United Kingdom-based musician Decibel has struck a seamless relationship with many locally-based musicians and 11 collaborations bear testimony to this. His decibels back home are loud and clear. The 12-track album which has turned out to be a hit is entitled “Kumusha” (back home)is inspired by his homecoming experience after a long hiatus.

Although he was well-known for popularising urban grooves music genre during his stay in Zimbabwe, the king of urban grooves seems to be evolving in the music industry.

Among the artistes involved in the collaborations are Freeman, Guspy Warrior, Ti Gonzi, Bobo Kalabash, Nicky Vybes, Brooklyn, Macris, Comic pastor and Lazzy T.

Speaking about collaborations with The Herald, Decibel said it was good to be embraced back home and entitled the album “Kumusha” (back home) which he recently launched.

“The album Kumusha is basically about me coming back to my motherland and reconnecting with people. I wanted to connect with everyone and I have some collaborations with upcoming artistes,” he said.

Featuring seven artistes after a very long time, one would say the talented UK based musician still has it in him, talent that never ages or dies.

Freeman featured on the song “Bhingo”, a hit song which saw the video on YouTube securing 50 000 views within three weeks after being uploaded. Decibel said his relationship with Freeman has always been good since 2010 where they were chatting about doing a project together.

Decibel went on extending his appreciation to Zimbabwean producers which he worked with on the album which he says were doing great work and they include Lazzy T, Movy D, Ghost Magician, Cymplex, Jusa Dementor, and Oskid.

The one which featured Guspy Warrior, Ti Gonz and Bobo Kalabash is called Pafunge which he says seeks to provoke introspection in every individual to remove all manner of bias and bigotry in the entertainment industry.

“The song idea came to me when I observed that there are so many divisions in the Zimbabwe entertainment industry when you compare it to other countries. Supporters of a certain musician will not associate with another musician in a case where musicians are seen as rivals which is a very strange phenomenon because music is just music and it should be appreciated for what it is not unfairly dismissed on a non-musical basis,” he said. He said segregation among artistes was bottlenecking the vast potential of the arts. He challenged local artists to fabricate songs that had an impact in bringing national peace and communities.

“The same divisions are also apparent amongst DJs, bloggers and other influential people in the industry. On further analysis I realised that polarised mentality has become endemic in Zimbabwe across the board not just in music and that balanced debates, judgements or assessments are generally rare.

“This led me to thinking that it is possible that external influences may be fuelling our differences and stifling our growth and development as a nation,” he said.

He said Pafunge song was set to tackle differences that have perverted the music industry locally which the single track tackles by bringing solutions. Decibel said the Zimbabwean musicians had talent, but a lot needs to be done to unleash the talent in Zimbabwe.

He said his collaborations were an alarm that musicians needed to interact together and make the work of art from different genres that supports oneness.

“So I wrote this song I decided to feature musicians who are dramatically different in their styles. Guspy wedancehall, Ti Gonz Hip Hop and Kalabash who sings Reggae to demonstrate that no matter how different our approaches and perspectives may be, we can still work together and come up with something good. There is no need to create imaginary divisions because ultimately we are one,” he said.

Decibel said the other collaboration called One More Time was inspired by his quest to uplift artists as someone endowed with a lot of experience in the music industry and the collaboration featured Nicky Vybes and Brooklyn.

“The one with Nicky Vybes and Brooklyn came organically when I went to Cymplex’s studio. These youngsters were there and we were playing around with different ideas just jamming with no real intention.

“But I was impressed by their vocal and freestyling abilities and I’ve always been an advocate for uplifting the youth so we decided to refine one of the ideas and came up with a song called One More Time which I included on my Album,”.

One would say the opportunity to share the stage on the urban grooves concert which was recently held encouraged Decibel, Nicky Vybes, Brooklyn and Macriss to do more that strengthens their relationship. He said he also featured a single not on the album called Mukadzi Wemumba featuring Nicky Vybes, Brooklyn and Macriss which he says is based on Urban Grooves Concert night experience.

The album Kumusha also has songs such as Gona, Black Woman, Dangerous, Rudo Rwaunondipa, Private Party and Zarura.

Born as Daniel Mazhindu in the mining town of Shurugwi, Zimbabwe, Decibel spent his formative years in Masvingo. He emerged as one of the country’s most prominent dancehall artistes and played a pivotal role in pioneering the urban grooves genre within Zimbabwe. His breakthrough single, “Nakai,” made a lasting impact on the music scene.