Msaki releases singles off upcoming double album

‘Fetch Your Life II’ and ‘Mntakababa’, which features Kabza De Small and Focalistic, are available for streaming and download here and here.

“The collaboration with Kabza and Focalistic was an organic and magical moment,” Msaki said about ‘Mntakababa’. “The story unfolded seamlessly as a synergy between these three musicians.”

Msaki says Platinumb Heart Beating will be the dance/electronic portion of the double album, in which she employs joy and movement as a form of protest.

“Dance music has my attention. The question of black joy goes hand in hand with black pain for me. The same way that a revolutionary wrote a love song back home while in exile was an act of protest, an ultimate expression of humanity to love even during the worst kind of dehumanising oppression. The electronic album is an ode to house music, my love for collaboration and the way that this genre has given me access to my joy. I came here only to collaborate, to give to a genre where I saw myself only as a guest,” she said.

Platinumb Heart Open, on the other hand, is an acoustic project that according to Msaki reveals her openheartedness while mirroring the complexities of what it means to love, live and fight in a complex world filled with injustices and paradoxes.

“The mostly acoustic album is me and my band recording live in one big room as if we were in Abbey Road. It’s the folk singer in me, the hopeless romantic who believes that one love song and a guitar can change the world.”

The album will feature 18 songs and was co-produced by Neo Muyanga. It will include previously released protest tracks ‘Blood Guns and Revolutions’ and ‘Anisixabisanga’ featuring The Brother Moves On. It was released on ‘Marikana Memorial Day’ on 16 August.

The two albums will comprise 30 songs and feature multiple collaborations from musicians and producers. Musicians featured on the album include Tresor, Simmy, Kid X, Beatenberg, Nonku Phiri, Focalistic, The Brother Moves On, Black Motion and Thesis ZA, while production credits include Neo Muyanga, Sun-El Musician, Kenza, Diplo, Kabza De Small, Abidoza and Major League DJs, among others.

“They have encouraged me to build a home and say something as myself,” Msaki said. “This is how I find myself with two projects in one. It’s strange because this has always felt like two works emotionally. When my collaborators in the electronic and pop music space heard that I was working on an album, some of them offered me music and time together to work, think and create.”

Listen to the two tracks below: