BY FREEMAN MAKOPA
AWARDING-WInNING gospel musician Michael “Minister” Mahendere yesterday said his latest project with renowned Nigerian gospel ace Jimmy D Psalmist of the Mighty Man of War fame is set to pave way for more collaborations to make his music brand more visible across the world.
The Makomborero hit-maker told NewsDay Life& Style yesterday that the video for his duet with Jimmy D — My Time Has Come — whose recording was done in South Africa last week, would be released in the next two weeks.
“We worked on a video in Cape Town with Jimmy the Psalmist from Nigeria on a song which we did together called My Time Has Come,” he said.
“We are also working on doing a live DVD on November 14, which is called My Secret Place of Worship and we are not going to have an audience. It’s just an indoor thing. We are using The Venue and we want to concentrate on quality on our videos.”
By end of November we will start giving out songs to the people and we will release the video in two weeks’ time because they have started editing it,” he said.
Mahendere added that they have gone global and their music has received airplay in many nations including Ghana and Kenya, with efforts underway to make their brand more visible to the world by co-branding with trending gospel artistes. He said more collaborations have been lined up for next year.
The musician urged fans to shift their focus to online shops to get their music and ensure that their music idols are spared the vagaries of piracy.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The new song, composed by Mahendere, was co-produced with Nigel Nyangombe and recorded at E-MAN-G Studios, with the mixing done at YourSound Studios.
Meanwhile, Mahendere has urged corporates to throw their weight behind gospel artistes because Christians — who are the biggest gospel fans — constitute the biggest chunk of the consumers of their products.
The musician said there was little buy-in by corporates into gospel music despite that the genre commands a huge following.
“Most corporates don’t really attend gospel functions and they sponsor other genres,” he said.
“But it is time we had corporates sponsoring gospel artistes because we have a huge following on Instagram, but we have been managing to do shows from our own coffers.”
Mahendere, who has done successful collaborations with many musicians including Loyiso Bala from South Africa, bagged the 2019 Outstanding Male Minister at the Maranatha Awards in Nairobi, Kenya early this year.
