When most hear the name ‘Siah Hot’ they may relate it to Zimdancehall chants that have dominated the youthful music market in Zimbabwe of late, but not this time around as this is a young and multi-talented jazz marvel Josiah Mudzviti.
Despite tracing his roots from Zimdancehall, the 23 year old Gweru based ‘Siah Hot’, born Josiah Mudzviti, has finally found his calling in the Jazz circles, becoming an instant hit with his Township Jazz sound which most have described as too mature for his age.
After a successful first album ‘Skoro skoro’ which received favorable airplay on local and national radio stations, Siah is back in the studio preparing to properly introduce himself to his fans in his second 10 track album to be titled ‘Mkomana we-Dungaree’.
This caught up with the young musician to zero-in on what is in the oven.
“Currently I am working on an album called ‘Mkomana we Dungaree” with 10 tracks and I have so far completed four tracks and left with six, of which two of the songs will be collaborations with two big artistes in Zim,” Mudzviti said.
He however said it is still too early to reveal the artists he will work with as they are still in talks.
On the album, Mudzviti said he is branding himself as he tries to officially introduce himself to his fan base after a successful first album.
“I am introducing myself to the people but I wanted to brand myself as you know my music is vintage and a Dungaree we can say is also fashion from the past, so I wanted something that people can identify me with,” he said.
Mudzviti said the album has two sides, one of mature tunes and the other with up-tempo dance kind of music.
He said people should brace themselves for two songs ‘Sango’, which is the theme song for the album and ‘Rega Tifare’ which he believes, will be outstanding.
“What I actually did with this album is I mixed the old kind of sound on one side and dance kind of music on the other.
“Side A has five songs which are the mature songs, the township jazz and mbira type songs all based on the song ‘Sango’, then side B has four songs that are the dancing type of music with songs like ‘Kumabhancho’ and ‘Mkomana We-Dungaree’ but are still jazz with a bit of some fusions,” Siah said.
Sharing a snippet of the theme song ‘Sango’ which is a tale of a best hunter in a village who is sent by the Village Chief to look for game for a function to be held later in the evening but the hunter finds nothing as the animals are extinct.
The hunter ponders on whether to return to the village with nothing knowing that they are waiting for his catch, he decides to return anyways and much to his surprise the villagers are happy to see him despite being empty handed.
Siah says he began his music journey accidentally in 2014 playing around in one of the studios in Gweru but then it was ZimDancehall before dumping the genre for jazz.
Mudzviti is not only into Jazz but also owns his own clothing line which he says he has managed to supply some of the big artistes and producers in the Zimbabwean music industry which include Guspy Warrior, DJ Tamuka, Solid Records team and Nutty O among others.
He is also into acting as he will soon feature in a Gweru produced comedy sitcom titled NashVille Heights as a supporting act in the ZimDigital commissioned television series soon to hit the screen.
Mudzviti features as a naughty teen who is always giving his parents and sibling headaches with his antics, which will leave the viewers in stitches.
