Opinion Review

Hot Water: Songoma

Nowadays, many of the new albums popping up sound so heavily produced that you have no idea what the band will sound like on a stage. Not How Water’s – from the first note you can hear that “Songoma” places more weight on sounding authentic than on studio trickery.

The lack of bells and whistles makes you feel closer to singer Donovan Copley, who is uniquely talented at vocally conveying the feeling of each song, a deep feeling of patriotism that has its roots deep in our country’s fruitful history. The rest of the band is of equal importance and it’s with their years of accumulated skill that each song feels organic and true to its desired style.

Hot Water’s new offering is like a short story collection depicting multiple cultures in South Africa. ‘Wilderness’ sounds like something you sing around a camp fire, ‘Doctor Doctor’ is based on a blues progression and ‘Mbaqanga’ is the expected and instant afro-folk classic. This album covers a lot of ground, not only in terms of blending Afrikaans, African and folk styles but also through it’s subject matter, from Voortrekkers to Sangomas.

In ‘The One’, Copley sings, “If you ask other soldiers/ They will tell you I’m a soldier/ If you ask other priests/ They will tell you that I pray to the One,” and “Songoma” is proof of this. Copley and his band can be whoever the song needs them to be – storytellers, an Afrikaner Orkes or even just a bunch of South Africans scolding a ‘Skollie’. If you want music that is eclectic and relevant to our collective cultural history, then you need to add ‘Songoma’ to your collection.

Download Hot Water’s “Songoma” on iTunes.

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