Faithful & Just by Marbel Madondo

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.

Marshall Shonhai writes in his personal capacity and he can be contacted at othentikzim@gmail.com