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Ivan Zhakata Arts Correspondent

Afro-jazz singer Victor Kunonga is set to thrill his fans tonight as he launches his new album titled Induna at Sherwood Golf Club in Mabelreign, Harare.

Though having come to the limelight in 2004, Kunonga quickly rose to fame with his first two albums, Such Is Life and Uyo, and was already a household name by 2007.

The Induna album is expected to steal the limelight as it is fused with amapiano and a mixture of Shona and Ndebele songs that define Kunonga’s roots.

Addressing journalists ahead of the album launch on Tuesday afternoon, Kunonga said the album was named after one of his songs ‘Induna’ which depicts a young man who looked into the future hoping to become a chief and enjoy the privileges that come with it.

“Induna, I wrote this song five years ago and developed the idea over the years,” he said. “Why this song is very special to me is, when I was developing the idea, my mother came through and she heard the song and she started to dance to it.

“I am singing about Induna, this young man looking into the future hoping that one day he will become a chief and en-joy the privileges that come with being a chief and comically saying “look I will have the privilege to choose all the beautiful women”. That is how ‘Induna’ came to be the name of the album.” Kunonga said the album and his music were inspired by his upbringing and rural background such as traditional ceremonies like biras.

“Speaking about ‘Induna’, it takes me back to my roots besides being a rural Hwedza boy, Bulawayo, the Matabeleland feeling in me, I felt l also needed to present that side of me and hence you will find that on this album there are songs written in Ndebele and one in Shona and Ndebele and I feel that this is a perfect present,” he said.

When asked about collaborations, Kunonga said they were not only about prominent artistes, but also instrumentalists who add flavour to the music.

“When we talk about collaborations, people have expectations and they are usually artistes that they know, but in all my life even in the first album I believe I have been collaborating with prominent names,” he said.

“On my first album, I had people like Sam Mataure, Kelly Rusike, and Prudence Mbofana and I have carried on with that kind of arrangement.

“In this particular album, I have, besides the instrumentalists who play, let me give you an example of Trust Samende who plays the guitar. To me, that is a collaboration because he is adding some value to my music.”