FORMER Gal Level member Freeda (Frieda Haindaka) recently released a joint album in collaboration with her husband Loneson Mondo, titled ‘The Black Budget’.
In an interview this week, Mondo, speaking on behalf of the couple, said the inspiration behind the album is love, which is the driving force behind their music.
“Our love for music has always been the key driver to create music. As a team, we draw a lot of inspiration from social matters that influence our society and communities we interact with,” said Mondo.
The title of the album was further inspired by the nature of the development of the project, which was a long time coming, said Mondo.
The pair worked on the album since 2017 and but did not publicise the project, making it almost like a covert or classified operation.
The 10-track album consists of songs such as ‘Crank Up The Fire’, ‘Dzikama’ and ‘Hands Off’, and features genres like hip-hop, Afro-pop and dancehall.
“The project was done mainly in-house at Billionaire Sounds Studios, from composing to audio and video production. We enlisted help from Elvo [Diergaardt] to spice up some of the tracks. He did additional keyboards on ‘Dzikama’ and mastered ‘Sunday to Sunday’,” he said.
In terms of how the joint album has been received so far, Mondo said it’s too early to tell, however, so far people seem to be excited as the project caters for a diversity of listeners as signified by the variety of genres.
“West Africa and Europe welcomed the old-school hip-hop track ‘Mushed Up’, while ‘Wangu’, ‘Ten Thousand’ and ‘Magate’ have been welcomed more in southern Africa.
Locally, ‘Wangu’ has been the buzz song, while ‘Hands Off’ has been loved more by the 25- to 35-year-olds,” he said.
Mondo said the couple tied the knot a few years ago but prefer to keep the details of their private life confidential.
In the meantime, the couple still have more products to be released.
“We love music, we are almost music ourselves, you definitely can expect more good music in the not-so-distant future,” he said.
– unWrap.online
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