Contrabandits vows to raise standards for bands
Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday November 25, 2014 11:20
The band, which specialises in a number genres consists of talented vocalists and instrumentalists such as vocalist-cum-poet Mandisa Mabuthwe, vocalist Tebogo ‘Debbie with a T’, percussionist Sebabatso ‘Boski the percussionist’ Senwelo, vocalist-cum-guitarist Tafadzwa ‘Tafnaz’ Nazare and rapper-cum-drummer, Japhala ‘Aether’ Gwangwa.
Contrabandits member Aether told Showbiz that due to successful careers his bandmates have taken a professional route that will also raise standards of how bands should be treated, especially by promoters who assume that they are meant to back up solo artists.
He further mentioned that local investors do not take bands seriously as compared to neighbouring countries such as South Africa. Contrabandits artists such as Mabuthwe and Aether who recently performed in Dubai have successful solo careers that have blossomed over the years.
One of the band vocalists, Debbie with a T, said their band’s versatility will definitely motivate other bands around the country to consider being diverse and look into playing different genres, which will widen their market instead of having one target audience.
Contrabandits plays soul, RnB, and contemporary music. She further advised bands to perform cover songs like Contrabandits does. “Cover songs can make your audience to easily relate with you since they are familiar with certain tracks that you will be performing,” she said. The band also perfoms a variety of cover songs from different eras, which include ‘80s, ‘90 and new millennium.
Contrabandits guitarist Tafnaz revealed that the newly formed band is currently in the studio working on a number of tracks.
He said one of the reasons why they also focus on different kinds of genres is because they are solo artists who have different kinds of backgrounds and rich knowledge of music.
Contrabandits has a number of shows linedup in the coming festive season.