Afro-Reggae musician Ras Sheehama has released a 32 track double-disc album christened ‘The Journey One and Two’ with songs from 1991 to 2019, digitally remastered.
The Journey One which has 14 tracks include popular ballads like ‘Traveling’, ‘City Young Girl’, ‘Cassinga’, ‘Push And Pull’ while The Journey Two has 19 with songs like ‘Inotila’, ‘Smile For Me Namibia’, ‘Shanty Town’ and many others.
On the selection of songs, Sheehama said: “Many of the choices were made by popular demand, by posting on social media about the project. We added some songs from albums like Watch over Us, which was recorded in France, but we felt it did not receive enough airplay in Namibia.”
He said it has been 30 years down the line in the music industry and a lot has happened since then. “I have walked a mile and I feel I have enough material to put out there for both older but especially also the younger generation. I am not finished, still continuing the journey with more music to offer,” he explained. With three decades of music, he feels he gets to re-showcase his classics with more recent works. “I call my music afro-reggae, and there is a strong influence of reggae in my music but there are musical elements from other genres. For example songs like Inotila would not be classified as typical reggae. My music is for all music lovers,” he mentioned.
Sheehama feels he has grown as an artist over time and continues to perfect the craft. “I am more musically matured now, having gone places, and having performed at different stages, small and big. I’ve met different players in the industry, musicians, producers, publishers. All that experience accumulated. For example, there is a big difference in my performance comparing between 1995 and 2020,” he contrasted. He mentioned that from 1991, it has been great but with its ups and downs, so far so good as he is still around with the support from the people. For this compilation, Sheehama roped in Rodrigue on guitar, Ray on bass, and Daniel Nadunya on drum programming and digital remastering of the songs. Namibian artists featuring on the albums include Sally Boss Madam, Exit, Kay Sax, Mystikal Rebel, Carlos and Katjire.
Sheehama is having a virtual performance of the album today at The Goethe Institute. -psiririka@nepc.com.na