Name: Bantu Spaceship
Members: Ulenni Okandlovu aka Brotha Matabele (Vocalist/Emcee/Journalist), Joshua Madalitso Chiundiza (Producer/DJ/Video Artist)
Nationality: Zimbabwean
Current release: Bantu Spaceship's self-titled debut album is out via Nyami Nyami.
Recommendations:
1. When Three Sevens Clash by Percy Zvomuya. When Three Sevens Clash is a new literary magazine focused on Zimbabwe – it’s history, music, literature and culture generally.
2. The Bantu Spaceship Album of course!

If you enjoyed this interview with Bantu Spaceship and would like to stay up to date with her music and activities, visit the duo on Instagram, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

Essentially we started making music together in 2018.

The both of us were in search of unique alternative Zimbabwean sound, having grown up listening to Mbaqanga, Mbube, Zamrock, Sungura, Jit, and Chimurenga. We wanted to create something that borrowed from these influences, but merging those styles with synth-wave, electro and hip hop elements.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Music carries more of a spiritual inclination, and not necessarily in a mystic or religious format, but more of a manifestation of the sounds that came be for us.

So it’s a bit like time traveling.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Its always a challenge to find one's voice or unique sound, which is why we are grateful for the ancestors. They have been marking the way with sound for generations.

Following that path has required us to grow in our appreciation of our own musical heritage. Tapping into what came before us is pushing us forward to innovate the sounds for the now, but also for the generations to come.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

Our sound is a blend of authentic African styles, borrowing from our Ndebele, Shona and Chewa heritage. Recognising these elements is a marker for our creativity, mainly shaping the sound and lyrics.

And it also formulates a point of distinction, telling the listener exactly where this music comes from.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Time travel! The process is somewhat historical research and archival.

A lot of time is spent not only listening to music from the past, but also tapping in Zimbabwean and African history, reading into traditional African knowledge systems and allowing that to be definitive in our creation mode.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

Timelessness and innovation work in tandem, they are the basis of originality. If anything is to be innovated on, it requires some point of origin, a blueprint, and essentially there is nothing new under the sun.

The Shona believe in Hunhu (Ubuntu) a philosophy that acknowledges that the individual exists simply because others exist. This basis provides the foundation for most of the Shona’s artistic practice, where sound and music requires the voice of many (Humans / Nature), hence the call and response formula in most Shona music.

It’s not necessarily a philosophy that is concerned with futurism or tradition, it’s one that is more concerned with communion. Communion with God, the ancestors, nature and family. In that sense the music is timeless and the possibilities of expression are endless.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Interestingly enough, the Internet!  The accessibility it gives in terms of archive and new music resources has become a prominent component in how we work.

The knowledge that is shared on the Internet, music tutorials, interviews, live performances, all of this works in our favour.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

A typical work day would begin after 11am. We would then link up in the studio and have a jam session, either just the two of us or probably invite one or two of our musical friends to join us.

If we are not jamming, it will most probably be long talks about something or absolutely nothing. But usually our conversations are about that art and music scene in Harare. Venting our frustrations but also pointing out the possibilities and all the great work that’s going on.

Our approach is very project oriented. So we usually connect to work on something specific, since we are also both invested in other work.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

We are currently working on a new live set for a festival performance at the Bushfire Festival in Eswatini (Swaziland). This will be our first international performance, so it’s a mix of excitement and nerves, seeing as Bushfire is considered one of best music festivals in Africa.

We’ve embarked on a residency that started in February at Alliance Francais in Harare, rehearsing twice a week in their theatre space until the end of April. It’s been a mix of practicing and reinterpreting old songs, as well as jam sessions to create new songs.

We have also incorporated extra musicians for the live set (a lead guitarist), so we are also balancing out the dynamics in terms of techniques and sound. Creating room for an extra musician is always a challenge, but this process has worked seamlessly.

We have also been inviting art and music friends to give feed back as we work. The residency will culminate in a final concert, which we will use as a dress rehearsal for our performance at Bushfire.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

We like to create privately. We have a pretty clear vision in terms of what we want to achieve in terms of our sound. Working privately is more functional for us, our creativity spreads itself across a number of mediums beyond music, so those elements need to be nurtured as well.  

And we find it easier to collaborate one we have a better understanding of what we want achieve. This project is a lot less open-ended in that regard.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

We just want to tell the world a version of the Zimbabwean story, to offer the world a narrative that goes beyond what people would typically think of Zimbabwe or Africa.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Essentially yes, culturally art and life coincide.

Art takes on a more utilitarian role in African societies, so something like death, though it is painful, it is celebrated, particularly if it was a life well lived. It means we have more goodness to call on for guidance.

This most certainly has given more definition to our music.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Music is science, particularly its means of communication, sound waves and frequencies. That that can be tuned to send a message shows the deep rooted connection, and that we can record sound and call upon it for memory speaks of its spiritual value.

Again not in a mystified sense, but simply because we can recall on audio formats from the past.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?
 
Music and creativity often express culture and identity. Communicating who you are isn’t inherently different from writing a song about tap water.

There’s a story behind everything, but being able to share ideas, and emotions is an essential part of being human. Music is a great medium for doing that.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

It’s possibly because music appeals to more than our hearing capabilities. Sounds evoke visual elements, often bringing clarity of the world we live in.

Music works in tandem with how we see and perceive things.