Tu Unik back at weddings

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Tuesday August 5, 2008 00:00

Yvonne Masebe has stepped up to the front from background dancer to lead the band with Ruth Akuje, the remaining founder member.

Akuje's face used to appear with that of Gladys Selogilwe in the posters and CD covers. But now that Selogilwe has decided to quit for good, Masebe's face is now gracing the cover. That is not the only change in the band, the duo say they are now completely independent and vow never to disappear again.

Their eight-track album Ngwao was only released last week and already the young women are talking of it as 'their chance to reclaim lost glory'. Perhaps what makes them unique is the presence of golden voiced, Don B (Donald Botshelo).

He featured in their debut album in 2005 and his voice pierced through the hearts of many and helped the group achieve a rare feat of dominance in airwaves at the first try. The song O Rile Wa Nyalwa still enjoys air play on both radio and television and was perhaps the only thing left of them when fans were asking themselves about the group's whereabouts.

Akuje is clearly excited about the return and does not hide that the three-year break had been miserable for them. While trying to avoid pointing fingers she concedes that promoters played their part in her frustrations.

'We are back again and very independent. Yvonne and I decide everything. If we need someone to help here and there that person is paid for the job he has done. We made money with the first album, but we got very little for our efforts and that had to stop,' Akuje said.

The sudden departure of producer, Robert Dargie, a few years ago before he returned last year, also played a part in the group's demise. Their debut-hit album was produced by the talented Ugandan, and when he left, a dark cloud enveloped them.

Just when Akuje thought they could start all over again, former member Selogilwe pulled out and it appeared like Tu Unik was headed for the music scrap yard.

'I think she lost her passion because of all the things that were happening to us and she is now a mother and no longer interested, which is why I had to take Yvonne as fellow lead singer. I was also working and got very little time to try anything and now I am supposed to go back to school and I believe I can do both,' she said.

But Akuje concedes that if it were not for the encouragement from family members as well as Masebe, she could have been lost to the music world for good.

'When the idea of starting again cropped up, I did not have money and I just felt it would not make any sense trying to go that route again when you are recorded for free and made to take a tiny percentage of the proceeds. Yvonne kept telling me we had to do it again and we got finance from family members to record and release the album,' she said.

'I knew Ruth loved music and it was not from her heart that she wanted to quit. As a former dancer, I believed so much in our potential together and I kept telling her that we should go to the studio because if we did not then, we were just trying to suppress our feelings,' Masebe said.

They have produced a fairly good album, which has been boosted by the presence of Don B who also co-produced it. What is left is for them to re-introduce themselves to the fans and prove that the spark is still there. According to the duo, this is an album about real life issues. It starts with the track Ngwao. Though their voices still sound 'girlish' there is that maturity in the lyrics and what lacks in their voices is clearly augmented by Botshelo's presence.

But while they featured Botshelo in four songs, the duo proved just how competent they are on their own. Lerato Le Boima is their second track in which they nicely fused their two voices in a low note yet still clear. Love is in the air when you play track number three, Monna Wa Me. That it uses both female and male voices with each announcing different lyrics about love makes it a perfect dedication by a man or a woman. The vibrating versions by Botshelo make it even sexier.

Perhaps in their bid for diversity, the girls invited Hip-hop star, Kast, to their recording session for the track Dreams, which makes it unique in both pace and content.