Meet Chimurenga Renaissance. Shabazz Palaces’ Tendai Maraire has joined forces with guitarist Hussein Kalojni to form Chimurenga Renaissance, a duo inspired musically by Zimbabwean beats, conscious hiphop, Congolese guitar and revolutionary politics.
There’s a Pan-Africanist through-line present in Chimurenga Renaissance’s creations that not only informs their lyrics, but the very music itself. Maraire and Kalonji are the American-born sons of lauded musicians from Zimbabwe and Congo respectively — and their own compositions bring together traditional instruments like the mbira, with the modern, synthesized sounds of the West. The result is a trans-Atlantic mélange of melodies, polyrhythms, glitches, and distortion.
Girlz with Gunz
The duo’s debut EP Girlz With Gunz combines electric, acoustic and electronic instrumentation in a manner that will be familiar to fans of Shabazz Palaces’ acclaimed 2014 album Lese Majesty, featuring synthesizers and samples in collision with live ngoma drums and mbira thumb pianos. Guests on the album include Sassy Black of THEESatisfaction, Mall Saint, Moon, JusMoni and Nyoka.
