Isaac Pheko
13 November 2008
Francistown — Night Fall is the latest house album to hit the market from 22-year-old Alfred Mashona, who goes by the alias DJ Roots.
The album has 12-tracks and it is Mashona's first ever. Mashona prides himself in going for an exotic sound in line with European techno music played at rave parties in European countries like Britain and France.
The exotic sound route has worked well because Mashona's creativity saves the album from being just another mediocre offering in a fiercely competitive house music industry. To ensure success, Mashona brought on board up and coming producer Nico Manyiwa, a.k.a DJ Nico. Manyiwa has produced 10 tracks in the album and is responsible for the rave sound that makes it unique.
Tracks to watch out for include Black people's Affair, which features fast moving and well-prepared beats and instruments. It is a good hit, which most revellers are going to like.
Dance with me features serenading female vocals and gravitates more toward South African house music. Its drum arrangements get a slower pace compared to other tracks and this helps other instruments to blend with the vocals. Dance With Me is a radio friendly house track, too.
Other tracks worth looking out for are We Know We Are Near, Imagine and Ghetto by night. The downside of the album is that techno music is not mainstream in this part of the world; and beats on some of the tracks are faint but pick up as the music plays on. On the upside Mashona's sound has got a positive response form house music fans around the country.
Mashona said the album has only been out for six weeks and it has been selling well in Gaborone, he said that the support from radio stations like RB 2 has helped him in the exposure department.
"The album is also distributed in South Africa and Malaysia, I record my music under Colastraw records which is also responsible for the album distribution," Mashona said. Mashona also moonlights as a club deejay.
"I have played at a Francistown club over the weekend, I also have to do album launches in Lobatse and Francistown.
The end of this month I am scheduled to play in Malaysia by invitation from DJ Feze and Flex". Mashona was born and raised in Francistown his musical inspirations include DJ Sly and DJ Fresh.
"My aspiration is to be an international deejay and take my music global like how DJ Fresh did with his music," Mashona explained.
Mashona's sound is unique and a little bit of carefully calculated change and experimenting is always welcome in the competitive music industry. He seems to have a clear vision of where he wants to take his music.
DJ Roots is a lecturer at Auto Trades Technical College (ATTC). He has a degree in mechanical engineering.
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