Lady Vogue and Jedi - Rum and Juice

Latest single from Lady Vogue and Jedi Featuring T-low on Rum and Juice. Produced by reverb, a proper dancehall tune

Listen to Rum and Juice here

Chile - (Zambia - Ukraine)

Featuring on IZUMB is Chileshe Kasuba, (born 31 October 1990) ,widely known as Chile is a Zambian rapper/singer/producer and sound engineer based in Ukraine.He was introduced to hip hop music through his cousins in the late 90's and ever since then has the loved and practiced the art.Growing up on the Copperbelt region of Zambia (Mufulira),which is dubbed the HQ of hip hop in Zambia,Chile learnt a handful of things about the art of music and hip hop in particular.
Chile's sound is predominantly influnced by west coast rap,a touch of R&B/Pop and his love for house music also makes its way into some of his music.A recording artist since 2005,Chile has been recording music for a while,but just recently got into the production aspect of the art in 2013,after a move to Ukraine to further his studies he deemed it necessary to learn and acquire extensive knowledge in production and sound engineering.Ever since then he has been nominted for several awards in Ukraine and is currently signed to an indie label he co-owns called AZM.inc.
He hopes to oneday share his stories,experinces,love and hope to the world through music,Shine a light on Africa,a place he holds dear to his heart.Currently working on a his second mixtape titled Dreamer's Avenue 2.0,Chile is that one artist that many that have listened to his music say he does have a unique sound and the world should look out for him.

Follow Chile on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/AZMTernopil/

Enest Daka

On IZUMB this week we feature Enest Daka, an upcoming gospel artist based in Lusaka. All about preaching the good word Enest Daka's makes is heart warming music and in this particular instance a wonderful praise song in Nikutokozani.

Get Nikutokozani here

RC Dream Sounds

IZUMB is happy to see a whole new generation of musicians and artists coming up and owning the stage, we spoke to Rc of Dream Sounds, a very capable and talented producer.

Q: When did u first start production

A: I first started music production in 2007 and I called my studio Dream Shaper Studios.  I developed interest because I used to play keyboard and bass guitar already, and having being bought a computer in the home; I installed all kinds of music software on the computer and was greatly helped by Josphat Charles Million Tembo A.K.A Josi-Beats who tutored me through the music production software.  Other notable producers that taught me music production and studio sound engineering are the Mangwato brothers B-shop and Jerry Dee of Kabin Studios and Arron Sakati of G-sounds Studios. Between 2007 and 2010, I spent a lot of my time with B-shop and Jerry Dee at Kabin studios and I consider these as years I spent, learning the art of music production and studio sound engineering. From 2010 to 2011, I spent more time at my studio which I had later renamed Dream Sounds Studios. During this period, I worked at fine tuning what I had learnt from different producers and applying my creativity, musical talent and skill, with the sole purpose of developing a complete identity for Dream Sounds as a studio as well as the music that was going to be produced out of it. It was at this time that I started meeting and working with the big and established artistes in the Zambian Music Industry such as Petersen Zagaze, Matthew Tembo, Organized Family, Mumba Yachi, T-Sean, etc. And now my professional music production career is set and running.

Q: What did your family do to encourage you

A: Throughout this time, my family has been so supportive to an extent that each time we moved from one rented house to another, they always considered a house that would accommodate my studio setup and had electricity supply not only for our studying but my studio too was prioritized. Their complete support was also evident when I was given money to buy another computer specifically for the studio and the funding for the printing of my first CDs to my debut album. Trust me, my family’s support towards my music, studio and music production has been great and cannot be itemized. However my music story will always be incomplete without acknowledging Kalelwa Makasa, a cousin of mine who has always been instrumental in seeing that the Dream Stands to date.

Q: Does anyone in your family sing

A: Well, I love to joke and laugh at my mother as being so un-musical. She is the only one in the family that hardly expresses musical traits however; she is talented at sawing and knitting. I am always proud to mention that my father (R.I.P) played acoustic folk guitar and sung pretty well, and now when I go through my box of memories of him, I realize how extremely musical he was even though music for him was mainly for passing time as he was a medical personnel. All my sisters can sing and are very musical to an extent that they even help in providing musical analysis at times. However music for them is not a professional calling as they have all pursued their passions in different disciplines yet those that are in employment once in a while manage to save and pay for recording. Right now I am working on a song called VICTORY, written and sung by my sister Cindy and her friend Dunda. It is a sweet multi-cultural piece of music and I hope they will decide to release it to the public as it is too good to be confined to only family and friends.

Q: Who are your musical inspirations

A: I am inspired by so many people both locally and internationally. On the international scene, I get my inspiration for music production from Quincy Jones an American music producer. Locally, I am inspired by the works of Ben Kalulu A.K.A Ben Blezar, Jerry Fingers, TK and many more. On the other hand, my singing and song writing is inspired by Exile-Izrael.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to today

A: When it comes to music, I can site one specific genre because I listen to any kind of music for as long as the song is good, though I have a huge inclination towards Pop-Reggae. Most importantly, I love to listen to gospel music during my devotion times.


Q: What embarrassing songs will I find on your mp3 player

A: Fortunately or otherwise, you will not find any embarrassing song on my mp3 player. I am very selective when it comes to the music I listen to especially on a daily basis. Imagine I only have 63 songs on my player.

Q: Do you play any instruments

A: I graduated in 2015 from Evelyn Hone College as a “piano major” and “guitar minor”. I play quite a number of musical instruments. My first instrument is piano, then bass guitar, followed by acoustic guitar and then drums. I also play percussions and because I sing, consider my voice as one of the musical instruments that I play.

Q: What hidden talents do you have

A: Of course I can only mention the talents that I know I have yet never displayed to the public, and these include soccer, stand-up comedy and acting. I guess for some of my hidden talents, it’s just a matter of time, they will get exposed.

Q: If you were not producing, what would you be doing?

A: If I wasn’t producing music,? I was still going to be producing music!!!!!! LOL. Rather on a serious note now; if I wasn’t producing I was going to be a footballer, because my early childhood was characterized by a lot of soccer and if not soccer, then I think I would have been working in a Human Resource Department of “God know what” organization. I say so because Human Resource Management is what I studied immediately after completing my high School.

       

Jobik Dj - Kwa George

Making waves in lusaka is Jobik Dj AKA DJ Fwenya Fwenya's "Kwa George", Featuring long time friend Birdwhite and J.O.B. A song celebrating life in the hood, namely George compound the centre of a lot of the xenophobic attacks we've witnessed in the country lately.

The former Oxygen Entertainment artist and now CEO of New generation Music is slowly coming into his own on the scene with his particular brand of music called Chidantampuno Music. "I am happy to announce the opening of New Generation Music Studio" he said on social media. Jobik is all about insightful music with a lot of creativity as he explains the ups and downs of the hood with clever and somewhat raw lyrics that some might term offensive, but thats what makes his music powerful, the fearlessness the ability to say it like it is.

Lyrically this is obviously a mismatch. - Krytic

We recently caught up with Rapper/ Mc and ZMA nominee Krytic of So Good Entertainment, we asked him a couple of questions about the nomination and what it meant to him.

IZUMB: Do you think you and bobby East are equally matched for the award you're competing for?

Krytic: Lyrically this is obviously a mismatch. But I can't take away from the fact that he has a great team working with him and he has handled his brand really well since his legal woes. He is a populist artist and that is obviously an advantage over an elitist artist such as myself.

IZUMB: What does it mean to you to have your album nominated. Does this mean will hear more urban oriented Hip hop

Krytic: Having my album nominated is quite huge for me. It's the first fully english Hip Hop album to be nominated and I think that in itself is quite a win already. I hope to see a lot of other artists growing a set and sticking to their guns as opposed to going with the herd.

Is ZAMCOPS Effective?

A question that has been plaguing us here at IZUMB concerns the operations of our beloved copyright society ZAMCOPS. The Zambia Music Copyright Protection Society (ZAMCOPS) located at Anchor House, 9th FloorLusaka, Zambia is registered as a Society with the Registrar of Societies and as a Collecting Society by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in line with the Copyright and Performance Rights Act No. 44 of 1994.
It was formed by Composers, Authors and Publishers of music. Since inception, the organization has been managing Performing Rights of Composers and Publishers of music. The Society started collecting music royalties in Zambia in 1996 and started distribution of royalties to owners in 1998. The society has been growing steadily since then.

How does ZAMCOPS track radio spins in Zambia, and if they do are they effectively implementing the procedure? Are they transparent, do they let artists audit their books?

Those are just a few questions that come to mind the moment you hear the acronym. The Zambian music industry has been riddled with problems from the very beginning and our fore runners did very little to fix an industry that has the greatest potential to thrive. The recent scandals in the past that have rocked the copyright regulating body are still very fresh in the minds of certain individuals and we all remember the lawsuits that were filed against certain corporations where artists claimed they had been taken advantage of concerning call-back tones and the like. But at the core of this our beloved ZAMCOPS.

WHERE IS ZAMCOPS AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

The failure to police and maintain copyright laws in our country has led to severe and detrimental results, with an industry that is growing quickly but lacking direction and purpose. The lack of sensitisation on Music law has led to a whole generation of musicians who have little or know knowledge about important aspects of the music like royalties, copyright law, publishing deals etc.

That begs the question, .. If media houses are paying royalties and you have a bunch of artists who don't collect them (they know nothing about it) where does the money go? It seems the the tend of pocketing other peoples money has not bypassed the copyright body but has actually planted its evil disgusting roots deep where we might need the intervention of God if we are to see a difference. The corruption is appealing.We understand that Zambian musicians would love to know how their marketing endeavours are going, by at least having an idea of how well your music is doing on air, Numbers don't lie.

Do radio stations provide an updated Monthly playlist to the body for proper monitoring?
We've noticed the latest shift in radio procedure where we see the Dj/ presenter follow a pre-prepared playlist without adding there own music, and the rules are strict about it. Is that how ZAMCOPS  monitors spins? ... Do they have an application that quantifies the playlist data and gives accurate results? So much has been left un answered by ZAMCOPS and Zambian musicians have the right to know whats going for them to respond accurately and progress with the times.