GOSPEL music power couple Charles and Olivia Charamba on Wednesday night ended a four-year drought that their fans had endured when they officially launched their long-awaited solo projects — Abba Father and Voice of Miriam respectively — at the Zimbabwe College of Music in Harare.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
In an exclusive interview with NewsDay on the sidelines of the launch, Charamba described the double release as an olive branch they were extending to their fans.
“We are back from our long break. We are no longer going to take long before releasing,” he said.
Charamba said his nine-track album and his wife’s eight-track effort, although very inspirational, were different in outlook from their recent albums.
“Our latest albums are totally different in character yet very inspirational. God is definitely going to speak to people’s lives through these albums. We did not record them alone. We always felt His presence right from the composing stage,” he said.
He said the title Abba Father was inspired by scriptures as Abba was the Aramaic term for “father,” but expressing a strong father-son bond in the original language.
He said Voice of Miriam is derived from the celebratory attitude adopted by Moses’s sister, Miriam, after realising that God had fought mightily on behalf of the children of Israel.
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Media, Information and Broadcasting Services minister Christopher Mushohwe, who was the guest of honour, said the Charambas had made great strides in promoting local music.
“Our music industry has been amplified by your music genre and placed Zimbabwe on the global music market stage, a major important force in pursuit of global economic prosperity.
Your musical themes have managed to express socio-cultural aspects of life which contribute immensely to build a morally upright Zimbabwean and Africa at large,” he said.
Mushohwe said the Charambas carried an important message, citing their old classic, Mhinduro Iripo, which he said played a very crucial role during behaviour change advocacy at a time when HIV and Aids were highly prevalent.
Mushohwe, however, bemoaned piracy, which he said should not be allowed to persist.
“Piracy is stealing. Let’s join hands to fight piracy and alert the police if we see pirates. I am speaking as an authority of the government. Pirates are like burglars. They should not reap what they did not sow,” he said.
Zimbabwe Music Rights Association director Polisile Ncube, and police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, also spoke strongly against piracy.
The Charambas will host a grand concert at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex on September 30.
