June 24, 2021 4:27 pm
In January 2020, just before the lockdown, rapper Gemitaiz, producer Mace and director Manuel Marini left for Mozambique with the idea of taking a vacation. They could not have foreseen that two songs and a documentary would be born in the 18 days spent in Africa. The pieces are titled White e Gospel, were written and recorded in those days and published in digital version in July 2020. The documentary, What remains, tells about their journey and was released on June 21st on Vimeo, where it is possible to rent it for 48 hours. All proceeds from the project will go to Coopi, a humanitarian organization that works to fight poverty and support communities in developing countries.
The trip to Mozambique began in the capital Maputo, a city of more than one million inhabitants. Initially Gemitaiz, Mace and Marini only planned to stay there for three days, but stayed there for eight nights. “The first evening we went into a room that is located in the headquarters of the Writers’ Association. We were the only white people. There we met Lauro Munguambe and Sylvestre Júnior, a music video designer and director. As soon as he saw us, Lauro asked us in amazement: ‘Who are you, guys?’. After a couple of hours, all drunk, we decided we had to make a video together. It was destiny, ”says Gemitaiz. “When we arrived at the airport, the father of our friend Victor Kwality, the former lead singer of the drum and bass band LNRipley, picked us up. He is a very elegant seventy-year-old gentleman. He suggested the places where to go. One day he also took us to a beautiful sculpture museum in Matola, a small town just outside Maputo, ”he adds.
Various musical genres can be heard in the Maputo clubs, says Mace: “The Nigerian Afropop is great, that of artists like Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy. There is also a lot of South African electronics, Afro house, gqom and amapiano, a new genre that comes from the South African townships, but also kuduro, coming from Angola, a former Portuguese colony like Mozambique. They are all genres that have an incredible hold on the body, you can’t sit still when you listen to them ”.
After meeting Lauro Munguambe and Sylvestre Júnior, the three Italian artists began touring the city. They went to the Xipamanine market, where they bought the clothes they wear in the video clips of the two songs, and to another nightclub, where they met the dancers who dance in White. “It was a kind of social center, with people eating chicken sitting at the tables. There we saw some kids dancing, they were very good. They were so good that we joined the fray too, without shame, ”explains Gemitaiz.
Meanwhile, Marini had already started shooting with the video camera and the telephone. “It was tiring, especially during assembly, to put all the material together, because it was all in different formats, like the square one. But that is also the strength of the documentary: at times it uses the same language as Instagram, and this helps viewers immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the journey, ”says Marini.
After a week, Mace, Gemitaiz and Marini were already in the studio with a group of local musicians to record White. “It was an incredible experience, we understood each other immediately. We started with a few sample we found online. Particularly by the sound of a whistle similar to that of birds. Whistles are used a lot in African club music because they resemble bird cries, it is a legacy of Zulu culture, and they are used as much in rural villages as in Johannesburg nightclubs. I wrote the text straight away, thinking of a group of people celebrating on the street, outside the clubs ”, says Gemitaiz.
The second song, Gospel, was born by chance. In a moment of break from work in the studio, Mace went out to smoke a cigarette and found himself near a room where a gospel group was rehearsing for a concert. While he was eavesdropping, they opened the door for him and he went in to listen. After a few minutes he called the others and they recorded the choir. “I have to thank my smoking. Otherwise I would not have discovered that wonder “, jokes the producer,” of course it didn’t always go so well for me. A few years ago at the Ugandan border they arrested me precisely because I was smoking ”.
The second part of the trip, the one with the most evocative images, is on the coast, in places like Jangamo and Vilanculos, overlooking the Indian Ocean. “In those days we relaxed, but we also wrote and recorded the audition of Gospel, starting from the sound of the choir. It is a sweet and melodic song. We also did the video in those days, shooting pictures on the beach and capturing the beautiful sunsets that were there, ”Mace and Gemitaiz explain.
Once back in Maputo, it was the turn of the video of White. “We shot it inside a junkyard in the jungle. It was complicated because at a certain point it started to rain, in fact if you notice it in some shots you can see the drops. All the dancers were very helpful and the collaboration of Sylvestre, who is very good at making video clips, was fundamental, ”says Marini.
What goals did they set themselves when they started working on What remains? “We wanted to sweep away some prejudices about Africa, which are certainly not lacking in Italy. And we are happy to have involved Coopi. We have chosen to show a cheerful and carefree side of the country, even if today in other areas of Mozambique there are serious internal conflicts due to Islamic extremism and interests linked to the precious energy resources of the country, mostly in the hands of European companies. ”, Explain the three artists.
Gemitaiz, Mace and Marini are convinced that they will do a similar experience again. They are currently engaged in other projects. Gemitaiz is working on his new record, which will probably be released in 2022. Mace edited a live session of his solo album Both, which will be available for streaming on YouTube soon. And Marini is on a set in Sardinia. “We will definitely do another trip together, I don’t know if to record music or just to have fun. But as we are, it is likely that something will arise. The idea would be to go to Ghana. The capital Accra, for example, has a crazy music scene ”, they reply.
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