Norwegian, Eriki’s sungura album out today
By Michael Magoronga
Norwegian musician, Eirik “Eriki” Hoff Walmsness, who has been working on his debut solo album that was inspired by the sungura genre will be sharing it with fans today.
The multi-instrumentalist hogged the limelight when he visited Zimbabwe some years back and shared the stage with various sungura artistes including Nicholas Zacharia, Alick Macheso and Sulu Chimbetu.
The artist whose love for sungura is for all to see, vowed to work on a solo sungura album upon his return to Norway, something he has been doing all this while.
And now, he is ready to share the album. Titled ‘Some sort of Sungura’, the album will be released digitally today on various music stores. On the album, Eriki worked with Tinashe Makura and Jackson Kasamba as well as Cicci on backing vocals.
In an interview from his Norway base, Eriki said the album which was largely sung in English and some Shona here and there, was a dedication to the sungura giants.
“This is my tribute to the old school sungura artistes who contributed so much in teaching me how to play sungura. This is an attempt to celebrate sungura legends,” he said.
The well-travelled versatile musician said the album contains some ‘blended’ sungura tracks.
“I listen to different genres of music from RnB, African pop and at times gospel so you will find that some tracks are not purely sungura, but my flavor which is a fusion of various genres.”
It has not been an easy journey for the artiste who played almost every instrument and recorded the album at his home studio in Norway.
“I’ve been teaching myself how to play various instruments which has been a challenge, but I’ve been lucky to receive guidance from the legends. This (album) is a result of tapping into the Zimbabwean music scene over a five-year period. And I’m happy I managed to complete the project right on time for the festive season,” he said.
Eriki said he has already started assembling a group in Zimbabwe that he will play with when he stages live shows in the country hopefully next year. The Chronicle.
