Josh Meck is an award-winning internationally renowned afro jazz artist. A self-taught bass guitar maestro whose music fuses Zimbabwean traditional rhythms like Mhande and Katekwe with jazz elements to bring about his unique sound. Born in the dusty streets of Chitungwiza, a township in Harare, Josh started playing in church at the age of five. By age twelve, he was already getting hired to perform as a session musician for different local bands. Josh Meck has toured the world as a session bassist and collaborated with a number of recording artists including Mike Del Ferro (Netherlands) Max Wild (USA) and he is currently the bassist for MAHUBE, a collective of some of the best Southern African recording artists.
Josh Meck’s latest album titled NHAKA YEMUSHA translated to National Heritage received the Best Jazz Album award at the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZiMAs). The album pays tribute to iconic predecessors in Zimbabwean music industry.
It seems like such a chaotic, fragile time, with the world in the balance. And people are feeling it; rates of depression and suicide are setting records. Could this be our legacy? In the words of the song, Uh Uh! What if the answer to the shared pain is not to run from it separately but to face it together? That is the proposition of this song. That if we let ourselves face the divisions and scars of our shared global history, we may be able to rise above the doomsday blues, towards our incredible collective potential.
We feel overwhelmed by the social issues of our time. We recognize our ignorance in the complexity of wars both real and cultural, and we want to be strong enough to help the world heal. We feel the first step is to lean into kindness and tune into the source; to open to the hidden frequency, the love and faith that will fortify us spiritually, and help us ride out the storm of social disintegration and upheaval. Josh Meck's Shona verse about generational shift gives another perspective to the theme of new and healing energies.
My uncle was in hospital for a heart operation. Waiting for news, I played the Wurli e. piano, singing a prayer that he be delivered by the love that surrounds him. I recorded the groove. I met Josh Meck via Beyond Music, and sent him the Wurli track. He sent back a bubbling afropop groove! We brought in pop stylist Patrick Harbor, and zoomed in on one of the key social issues of our time: The intense isolation caused by our separate bubbles on the net, our absorption in our screens. Our proposed cure is in our song's chorus and outro.
No submissions for Beyond Music Project Volume 3.
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