Dube releases new album

By Harry Sagara After a recent titillating performance on Ugandan soil, South African reggae icon, Lucky Dube did not go back to count his profits. Instead, he went to studio and tickled the reggae spirits in him to come up with yet a brand new album titled Soul Taker. In this album, the dread-locked musician actually looks to horror flicks and life after death for inspiration. This album hurls him into the domain of some of Africa’s great musicians. It is his 22nd album since he ventured into the business. He has achieved in seven years what other musicians would need 20 years to achieve. Dube has had more time outside his country, South Africa than in. The build-up to his international success, though started in 1982 with the release of Kudala Ngikuncenga, an album that was not reggae but mbaqanga, a genre that was to serve him well for four more albums until his transition to reggae in 1985. His introduction to the international stage was heartening, such as when he was invited to play at the annual Reggae Sunsplash in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1991. Dube was the first musician in the history of the Sunsplash to be asked by the crowd to come back on stage and sing. One outstanding aspect on Dube’s new Soul Taker album is the use of bagpipes, a thing that you rarely hear in a reggae album. The bagpipe is an instrument that has not been changed in 600 years. Dube reportedly received a set of bagpipes as a gift from a Scottish friend called Freda Louw. Soul Taker is inspired by Dube’s love for horror movies. The title is taken from a 1990 movie directed by Michael Rissi, starring Joe Estevez. Dube reportedly admits that he has always had this curiosity about what happens when we die. The opening and closing segments of the track have an eerie Gothic feel consisting of the chirps of crickets, haunting footsteps and then, of course, the searing strains of a bagpipe. An interesting twist occurs with the use of Dube’s voice manipulated to sound like children chanting. The album also sees Dube reach back to his mbaqanga roots by playing the keyboard in mbaqanga mode. How about snapping it up from your local music store? Ends