A traditional music group known for performing wedding songs, Amaviyo, has made a comeback to music by releasing their second album Black Zuluwhich came out last month. It has been four years since the band released new music.
The leader of this group in Maphetheni, Nanda, Sibonga Gcwensa said that one of the things that made them disappear for a long time before a lot of music came out was that they were still fixing a lot of things that had gone wrong with the music business.
“We have had a big problem of not being able to distribute our work the way we want and like it, which made us realize that we should not rush to release a lot of new music but it will end up in the air, not being marketed properly.
“And of course, the music we make is not easy and fast, which helps that even if we don’t have anything new to show, we will always be in the headlines for those people who love our music and love the good things we do,” he said.
Continuing, he said that this album is the first of 2022 which was titled Do you love me? – composed 12 songs on which they worked with Boneni, Sanda Magubane, Sibahle Nxele, Tau Tona, Afro pop singer Intaba Yase Dubai and poet Gubhela.
“The work we continue to do is to show the beauty of our people and the importance of each person being proud of their culture and values and not allowing anything and anyone to change the way God created them,” said Sbonga.
He said that now that the album has been released, they will continue with other programs to spread their music and art, including their annual event called Azibuye Masisuse, which they will hold in August, and which they have been holding for ten years in Nanda.
Amaviyo is made up of 15 members, and has been together for 16 years since it was started by Sibonga in 2012. This group has toured and performed in different places across the country, and was nominated at the SATMA Awards, in the category of Best Traditional Dance in 2014.