"The messaging must be informative and relevant"

Read: 5874

     Music

“For as long as I can remember I have been struggling to find my sound, a sound that defines me as a musician rather than just the kind of music that everyone makes.”

These are the words of a resident of Lwamondo, Romeo. Surprisingly, the answer to his genre search is the following: “My sound is a mixture of Trap and Rock, which then creates a sound I call Romeo.”

The reason he calls his sound Romeo DzedzeMoney is because it defines him as a musician. “If you listen to my previous mix-tape, Ground Zero, you will hear a lot of trap and none of the rock, and Elevate (my new mix-tape) brings a fusion of the two as we use a lot of live instruments that people may know,” he said.

He maintained that he felt that it was high time to show people his previously unreleased music, which dates back to some four years ago. “This music is a part of me that will dominate my music going forward and a part of me that they will grow to understand and love,” he said.

He has just released an extended play (EP) recording entitled Elevate, where he showcases his lyrical attributes and his vocal ability. “Believe me, 90% of this project is actual singing,” he said. “When I started working on this project, I wanted people to feel my joy and sadness. I wanted people to understand that as much as music is fun to make, the message must be informative and relevant.”

He worked on the EP for six months, without featuring any artist, because he wanted music lovers to listen to his music and understand his message, as well as his contribution to the music industry. “I want people to understand that you do not have to feature famous people to relay a message that both educates and builds character,” he stated. “If you are to listen to this EP from the first song to the last, you will understand what I mean when I say: 'let the music Elevate (you)'. I want people to understand that you need to let progress take place in your life for you as a person to grow.”

As a person living with albinism, Romeo feels that albinism is not being addressed properly. “I am a person living with albinism and, unfortunately, I have experienced all the things people talk about, such as being called names, being bullied and being treated differently because of my skin condition,” he said.

“We have kids who are getting killed daily because of this skin condition because of the belief that this kind of skin has special powers. This negative, mythical superstition needs to be debunked and excised from our communities because it's just false. We are all human. The colour of my skin does not define me.”

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.