The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo
IN an industry in which violent and dirty lyrics are the order of the day, with artistes exchanging blows through the microphone and in some cases physically, it has become difficult for conscious content to break to the surface.
The Zim dancehall arena has created a culture in which music fans are in a constant battle as to who “packed the biggest punch” and “murdered” who on the various lyrical exchanges between artistes.
Within this chaos, however, a smooth voice of reason has emerged and first came to light while addressing the Tokwe Mukosi flood disaster.
Ras Caleb aka Caleb Tareka was unknown to the public despite having released several singles, but he seemed to have struck the right chord when he unleashed “Tokwe Mukosi”, a song that has propelled him to stardom.
Venturing into music in 2000, Ras Caleb took a break in 2003 while furthering his education in South Africa where he was studying Journalism and Communication, a career which he never pursued, choosing to stick to his musical calling when he came back home.
The single “Nehanda”, which he dropped in 2011, did not get much recognition from music fans and the young artiste almost gave up as he believed people were not appreciating his art. After being introduced to Chill Spot Records, he released “Hazvimbotinetsi” a song which raised his status a little. It was on the Pure Niceness riddim where the young chanter displayed his musical genius and gave dancehall fans the chart-topping “Tokwe Mukosi”.
Following up with equally superior tracks like “Mwana Wenyu” and “Mutoro” as well as featuring on various riddims, Ras Caleb is slowly establishing himself as a household name on the Zim dancehall scene.
The Sunday Mail Leisure caught up with the rising star and he shed light on the inspiration behind his lyrics and future prospects in his career.
“Basically I sing conscious music and my fans are constantly requesting music that they can relate to in their day-to-day lives,” said Ras Caleb.
He said that his music was trying to address and bring awareness to the various social issues that affect communities even beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
“I have an upcoming single called “Boko Haram” which talks about that whole situation in Nigeria and also my opinion on that issue.”
Ras Caleb believes that conscious music should awaken people in some way and probably influence some form of action.
However, the artiste does not restrict himself only to conscious music but has also displayed his skills on several dancehall tracks. “My dancehall songs are just free-spirited and display the fun side of me. Normally they are songs about girls and how much I appreciate them, for example, Mabhebhi Bho,” he said.
He went on to explain why he cannot, like most artistes in the industry, use dirty and violent lyrics in order to stay in the limelight.
“If I had the skill to diss others maybe I would have followed that path because I have realised that artistes who are in the habit of attacking others get the most coverage from the media.”
He said that he was going to stay true to his values and desist from violent lyrics.
“We are trying to push a different type of reggae music. In our message we will continue tackling real issues.”
Ras Caleb is working on a new ten track album “Me Against Myself”, a title which describes a split personality and is set to highlight the artiste’s different characters.
“On this album we are going to have Rascal Dread as a character of Zim dancehall and Ras Caleb as a character of Zim reggae,” he said.
“If you have noticed, dancehall is for the youth while reggae is music for the mature people.
“On this album I am going to give people a balanced project so that they get to choose which character they want best.”
He said the new album is going to define who he is and the direction which his music is going to take going forward.
It might seem like all is rosy for the youngster at the moment but he says music is not paying as much as he would have wanted.
“All I can say at the present moment is that I’m happy that I can put food on the table, buy clothes and have a roof over my head, but that’s about it. I’m not yet making much money and in some instances promoters are failing to even pay up,” he said.
Although he refused to name some of the music promoters who may have left him out in the cold after fulfilling his end of the deal, the hit-maker is not happy with the way he has been treated.
