HIS voice is a culmination of many South African voices; a mouthpiece for a choir of spirits and entities. His second album On the Romance of Being is immersed in the communal, ceremonial and healing qualities of music. Sangoma, fashion icon and queer musician Desire Marea released a second track from his forthcoming new album On The Romance Of Being named’Rah’.
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Following the striking track and accompanying video, ‘Be Free’, which explores queer love within the realms of South Africa’s hyper-masculine world of taxi gangs, today he shares the delicate and brooding 8-minute epic, ‘Rah’. Sung entirely in Zulu, the track is a powerfully stirring cry on the planet and human interference. “Mother is wounded / And the long awaited day will soon come” Desire ruefully cries, calling for a new dawn.
‘Rah’ features fellow KwaZulu Natal artist, Zoë Modiga, the South African jazz singer whose incredible vocals weave alongside Desire’s to bring a whole new dimension to the storytelling, as well as contributions from South African opera singer Ann Masina.
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“Rah is a song lamenting the decay of the earth and the anxiety of existing in it, with it, and as it” he comments. “Is self-cannibalisation just the order of nature? Is it part of the healing? Is there renewal on the other side of disaster? Still, we beg for repentance,” Desire says.
Listen to ‘Rah (feat. Zoë Modiga)’ here:
Desire Marea’s On the Romance of Being’ album is out 7 April 2023 on Mute: https://mute.ffm.to/desire-otrob T
‘On The Romance Of Being’ tracklisting
1. Ezulwini
2. Be Free
3. Makhukhu
4. Mfula
5. Arrival
6. Rah
7. Skhathi
8. Banzi
Cece Smith 