The star keeps shining for 34-year old Collen Makombe whose young musical prominence which started last year has earned him a dream chance to sing alongside his all-time inspiration, Progress Chipfumo in his second album offering titled, “Munyepfu”.
The Afro-fusion sensation drums a duet with Chipfumo in a song titled, “Ndovatenda Nei” where he expresses his profound gratitude to parents who nurtured him since childhood at a time other parents chose to abandon their children.
“I can say Progress Chipfumo is my inspiration and we did a collaboration on the second track of the album,” said Makombe who is also inspired by the legendary Thomas Mpfumo and the late Oliver Mtukudzi.
“Ndovatenda nei? It’s a song I was paying tribute to my parents because I realize that I was fortunate to have parents who raised me while other children were unfortunate to be either dumped while young or abandoned later in life by their parents and had to endure a miserable life,” he added.
Munyepu is an eight track album which touches on real life experiences that strongly enforces the theme of unity and strengthening of family ties as profoundly illustrated in the eight track, Wafa Wanaka which speaks of families only showing love towards one another in times of celebration only to distance from each other when one is in dire need of assistance.
This is Makombe’s second album after his initial offering, “My start,” which despite receiving substantial airplay, according to his own admission failed to live up to his expectations.
But this time around, Makombe is sure to have hit the correct notes and got it right.
“The first album did not do well because I had challenges in marketing it so it took time for people to know about it. I have since improved the market strategy for this second album and I have also improved on the content itself. Mutepfu means soft meat rich in quality, hence the name of the latest album which is very mature,” added Makombe.
However, Makombe lamented the costs of producing music as the biggest barrier for many upcoming artistes while the scourge of piracy also diminishing returns for artistes.
“I spent a lot of money to produce this album. It’s very costly and also there are no marketers for our music which then make lives of artistes much difficult,” said Makombe who is set to start doing live shows with his eight-member band, Cultural Vibes.
