Album : Faithful & Just
Artist : Marble J Madondo
Label : Extol Media Group
Rating : ***
To
me this is an "off the wall" type of an album. For many years now
Marbel has been living under the tag "Jackie Madondo's little sister"
and with this 13 track album she can now hopefully step out of the shadow of
her late sister and become a "name", brand and stand-alone artist
that many of us believe she is. To some of us local gospel music enthusiasts
Faithful and Just is an album we have been eagerly waiting for for some time
now. And finally it is here!
The
biggest point to note with this album is that you can tell that the artist is
singing music she enjoys not music that "sells" (maybe that may even explain
why it has taken her this long to give us a first album). If we look at the
kind of artists that Marbel has been a backing vocalist for (Vessels of Honour
included) it’s a serious departure from what listeners might have been
expecting from her. This is very brave of her. Being a debut album she might
have been tempted to do the obvious. What I like to call "Zim gospel diva
style". This to me is always a welcome break from the same old stuff that
we are subjected to by our "gospel divas".
The
album opens with the intro Come Now a
traditional hymn that many are very familiar with. An up tempo danceable praise
tune, Track 2 Jesu (Jesus) is basically a
praise song that can be sung in any Pentecostal church and is a mixture of the Shona
& English languages. Track 3, a
funky and danceable track called Mandiri
(In me) carries the lyrics: "Jesus lives in me and is alive in me". Backed by some great vocals, on this track
Marbel exhibits the vocal talent she is famed for. The song is one of the two
that have been receiving generous airplay. Track 4 Miracles comes
next and if you don’t listen carefully you might think it is an extension of
the previous track because of the similarity of the arrangements of the 2 songs.
Perhaps the producers should have considered not putting them one after the
other. It's a great track nevertheless, one of the tracks I cannot stop playing
from this album. This piece talks about miracles and how God is a miracle-working-God,
powerful track! One interesting and personal thing about this song is that when
I got this album we were in need of a miracle as a family. My sister who was
expecting was having complications and we needed a miracle and God came through
and we named the baby "Minana", inspired by this track.
Track
5 features one of Zimbabwe's gospel greats, Sabastian Magacha. The song is
called Ndizvo (yes it is true!) On this
dance track the two collaborated to bring us that "Zimbabwe museve"
feel to the album with a serious Rhumba hint to it. This is a feel good song,
one that I foresee making it on the local chats and being one of those over
played songs at weddings this year! Track 6 Zvinoda
Wamuziva is a rather laid back track, easy listening.
Mabel
dedicated Track 7, a medley, to her late sister Jackie Madondo who passed on at
the tender age of 23. No doubt she would have been a force to reckon with on
the local gospel scene. They were both part of the group Vessels of Honour and the affable Mai Shingisai Siluma's Joy Street Choir. Jackie was truly an
amazing and gifted song writer and worshiper and on this track Marbel takes us on
a journey down memory lane with some songs written and done by Jackie. The
medley carries such songs as Simbisai, Achadzoka,
Machinda ekudenga and Nyengetera Uone.
This is a befitting dedication to such a great talent. The Medley leads us to
Track 8 Come Now which is an invitation
for the Holy Spirit to come and "touch us now and fill us now". The
backing vocals on this powerful worship song are amazing too. This is just
about as much worship as she gives us on this album, 2 tracks!
Track
9 Faithful and Just is the title track of this
album. "Heaven and earth may pass away but His word remains the same"
says Marbel. It’s a song that talks about the faithfulness of the Lord and how
He is never changing, "He is faithful as the day" she continues.
Great song if you are going through and you are in need of encouragement. It's
amazing isn’t it that no matter how much we may know that He is God our faith
so many times falters? This is a song that will pick you up if you are in that
place. "He will never fail you on every promise He made, He will never
leave you nor will He forsake you".
I
Trust in Thee, Track 10- which is another medley, a rendition of the song originally
done by the Group Vessels of Honour
from their album Mazuva Acho of which
Marbel was a member. It’s another "feel good" song and carries with
it that traditional song from back then Cast Your Burdens unto
Jesus (Higher, Higher… Lift Jesus Higher). This is another dance
track that has a Museve/Rhumba hint to it.
The
next two tracks could invite criticism from conservative Christians who do not
advocate for a mixture of gospel and non-gospel music on the same album. Ndafunga Iwe (When I think about you) and Tumirai Ngirozi (send me an angel) (Track 11
and 12 respectively) are love songs - great songs I must add and my pick of the
2 is Ndafunga Iwe which has also been getting considerable
airplay on the various local radio stations. According to the artist the song
is a dedication to her 2 daughters Deborah Dolce and Hanna Joy. On the two
songs she featured her friend the lovely Miss Tatenda Chisunga.
As
a great bonus track Marbel threw in Track 13 - Mazuva
Acho, a live version of the monster hit that was originally done
by the group Vessels of Honour with
the amazing Jackie Madondo on lead vocals. The song was recorded live at the
Harare International Conference Centre with the group Zimpraise at their live
DVD recording. A lot of people have compared Marbel's delivery of this song to
the way Jackie did it or would have done, which I think is undue comparison and
criticism. People need to allow her to be her own artist and person. I also
believe it's high time we let go of Jackie and allow her soul to rest in peace
and celebrate the gift and talent that Marbel Madondo is. It is my sincere hope
that with this album Marbel can finally shake off that "little
sister" and "BV" tag she has carried for so long a time now and I
believe with this album she has done just about enough to justify this.
Just
like most if not all local artists Marbel also has a name for her genre of
music. Marbel's music according to her is "urban contemporary". With a
beat that is foreign to Zimbabwe, artists are always judged harshly because we
are quick to compare them with international artists. Marbel's choice of genre
on this album is bound to result in lines of comparison being drawn with such
greats like Mary Mary, Cece Winans, Yolanda Adams, Juanita Bynum etc. The
question is how does she fare? Vocally she is not even far off to be honest and
the only aspect that might struggle to match up with the latter heights is the
instrumentation and arrangement.
There
is, something that always gives away our artists whenever they try their hand
at R n B and Hip Hop. As alluded to earlier, there are similarities in some of
the tracks on the verses, bridges and choruses. And my humble suggestion would be
not to put such songs one after the other. Here I am referring to tracks: 2, 3 &
4. In future projects I would also suggest the use of different producers if Marbel
is going to do serious justice to her music.
I
shall pen-off by mentioning that one major plus for this album is the content.
Not many local artists are great song writers and on this album we experience some
well written music. My overall rating for this album is 3 and a half stars. A
must have album for all avid local gospel enthusiasts. So then we are already
waiting for the follow up album.
