Plaza Calling by Mukunzi

# Plaza Calling

We recorded this album where we live - right in the madness of Makwanga, where the morning rhythm decides who eats first and who waits. For those who've never walked our plaza at dawn, this is your invitation to feel what happens when our samplers hit and the dispute stick starts moving from hand to hand.

Every track here captures something real from our daily life. "Market Sweep" brings that first light tension when nobody knows which Strider crew will set today's groove. We literally sampled the crowd noise from three different market mornings to get that anxious buzz just right. Nyasha nearly got his equipment soaked when it rained during "Crossing Delay" - but that wet metallic sound on the kalimba? Pure accident, pure gold.

The heart of this album is rhythm as survival. In Makwanga, music isn't just something pretty - it's how we organize chaos. When Banda laid down those marimba patterns for "Yellow Tape Lines," he was mapping the actual zones where different neighborhood crews set up each morning. The boundaries are real.

"Dispute Stick Relay" might be the track that means most to us. Tuli spent weeks recording different log drum patterns from rival Striders, then wove them together to show how even enemies create something beautiful when they respond to each other. That's Makwanga life - constant negotiation through sound.

For "Prize Mask Parade," we brought our actual ceremonial zebra mask to the recording session. It sat watching us while we played, and somehow that nervous energy made it into the rhythm. You can hear when the tempo shifts - that's when the mask got passed around the studio.

This album isn't polished clean like some studio project. We kept the generator hum, the distant train crossings, the dogs barking in "Plaza Float." That's our world. We don't separate music from life's noise. When Tuli runs his kalimba through those pedals on "Railweaver's Hands," he's translating the code we use to communicate across the rail yard when words aren't enough.

Some nights we wonder if outsiders will understand what we're doing here. This isn't just dance music - it's the soundtrack to how we survive together. Each morning in Makwanga begins with uncertainty, ends in temporary peace. "Plaza Calling" is that journey - from chaos to order and back again.

Listen close to "Shared Tether" - that's the sound of what happens when rivals finally agree on the day's arrangement. When those interlocking rhythms finally click together? That's the moment our plaza breathes collective relief.

This album is our daily life, captured in log drums and marimba hooks. It's the sound of finding harmony in a place where nothing is guaranteed except that tomorrow, we'll all meet again in the plaza, waiting to see who sets the beat.

Raw log drums meet digital whispers as we layer stripped-back rhythms with sunshine melodies. No vocals—just pure township pulse that moves feet and claims hearts. Street corners to sound systems, we paint with percussion.