Less swag, more real and raw
South Africa's ultimate comeback kid, Ishmael, is back on the music scene, but this time he has ditched his swag. The musical chameleon released his latest album, Ke Waka - meaning "She is Mine" - last week through veteran musician Arthur Mafokate's 999 music label."It's different from any other album I've done. It's a live album throughout; we completely removed all the studio effects."It's something for my fans from way back who have also grown now - it's more afro-soul and jazz," Ishmael said. "I owe it to myself to do an album in which I'm not trying to be trendy, cool or swaggalicious. I just sing - it's real and raw and I want people to get that."The 12-track album has no featured artists and was produced by Tempo, who also produced his kwaito smash-hit Roba Letheka.In the more than 20 years he has been in the industry, the 43-year-old has dabbled in different genres including R&B, kwaito, trap, gospel and now afro-soul.Much of the album is focused on love, despite the singer being single at present."I'm not in love, but I know I will be soon," he said, with a chuckle. "Love comes and goes and then it comes back again so I have no doubt that I'll be in love any day now."..
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