BASS guitar virtuoso Josh Meck has stood the test of time in the dog-eat-dog music industry and is among a handful of local musicians that have kept jazz music alive.
He has reached the top shelf of global jazz artists in his solo career, thanks to his ability to fuse local traditional rhythms together with jazz elements to create his own hallmark in the regional and international music industry.
The self-taught guitarist has previously collaborated in a trans-cultural collaboration titled The Kunzwana #1 project made up of artists from South Africa and Austria.
He is currently the bassist for Mahube, a collective of top southern African musicians.
The Afro-jazz prodigy has six albums namely Wanetsa, Worship the Lord, Fruit Salad, Another Level, Time, Out of the Blu and the latest Nhaka Ye Musha.
According to Meck, the album’s title implies a “national heritage”, with reference to the fact that the album is filled with rhythms from the Zimbabwean culture that were influenced by yesteryear musicians.
“If you listen to the album it has eight tracks and in those tracks every song has a different Zimbabwean traditional genre that it is focusing on such as Mhande or Katekwe, which was inspired by the late Dr Oliver Mtukudzi as well as music inspired by Chiwoniso. We have all those elements incorporated into the album, which is why it is titled Nhaka Ye Musha," he told Standard Style.
The album won the Best Jazz Album 2023 at the Zimbabwe Music Awards(Zima) and has been well received as it is the album that got Meck to tour South Africa in September in a tour dubbed “The New Beginning Tour”
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“If you go out to perform in countries like South Africa, Germany, and other countries where you are performing for the locals in those countries you get to learn how theyappreciate your art as well as get to interact and network with people who organise events which gives you a great experience.That exposure is very important for an artis,” Meck said.
“The New Beginning Tour” in South Africa started off in DurbanatThe Music Imbizo conference on September 1 where Meck and his band performed alongside artists from South Africa, Europe, and Kenya. On September 8, they played in Pretoria at the Four Ways Fashion Lounge in Mamelodi East and at The Jazz Room at Doppio Zero in Rosebankon September 3.
The Music Folklore Festival, held on September 16 at the National School of the Arts in Braam Park, Johannesburg, was the main headliner of the tour as it coincided with SA’s Heritage Month which was the main theme of the festival. The festival aims to showcase African heritage, identity, and culture. During the tour, the musician spoke on SABC 2 Morning Live to discuss his musical career, his future ambitions, and the festival.
The artist has toured Africa and Europe widely as a session bassist with several international stars including the late Oliver Mutukudzi, Mike Del Ferro (Netherlands), the late Chioniso Maraire, and Max Wild (USA) among others.
“Performing for a different crowd, which is not Zimbabwean and is made up of different races from other countries is very important for every artist because you get to learn different cultures and how things are done, there is a difference compared to performing for a Zimbabwean audience based in the diaspora as it is the same as performing a local gig the difference being the location, your music will not be reaching out to other races and in that way you won't be able to really measure how much impact your music has on an international level,” Meck explained.
“If you go out to perform in countries like South Africa, Germany, and other countries where you are performing for locals in those countries you get to learn how they appreciate your art as well as get to interact and network with people who organise events which gives a great experience. That exposure is very important for an artist.”
Meck also hinted at upcoming collaborations, which developed during the tour. “I have already started collaborating with artists from South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK, I met all these artists during the tour and there are quite a lot of positives that came out of it. We should be releasing a song before the end of this month”.
At the Bulawayo chapter of the recently ended Zimbabwe Jazz Festival Meck was the headlining act in a festival that also featured the seven-piece band Ngoma iNgoma, George Phahlane, and Mahlaba a musician, singer, and songwriter from Bulawayo.
“It was massive we had a full house we played right at the end, the good thing is we managed to keep the crowd on their feet and we performed for an hour but it seemed like 20 minutes because after the act it was so flawless and people wanted more. For me it was a great experience to headline such a festival, sometimes it's not easy to be the artist that people will be waiting for but Bulawayo was very welcoming and they really loved our music, the experience was great, and the hosting was on point. We would like to thank both Alliance Francaise in Bulawayo and Harare for trusting us to be the headliner in Bulawayo,” Meck said.
