Compact Disc (CD), Vinyl LP
Desire Marea’s 2020 solo debut Desire channeled a sense of spirituality and sacred ceremony through a mix of experimental electronics, operatic soundscapes, and forward-looking club beats. His second album further explores the healing potential of music, but where Desire was a solo endeavor, On The Romance Of Being celebrates the act of making music collaboratively.
The album was recorded live with an ensemble of 13 musicians, including pioneers of the Durban and Johannesburg jazz circles like Sibusiso Mashiloane and Sbu Zondi, and central members of South Africa’s experimental music scene like Portia Sibiya, Andrei van Wyk and Sanele Ngubane. The band achieves an incredible level of syncretism, moving together through drastically different sounds, textures, and emotions, often within the same song.
The expressive opener “Ezulwini” quickly pulls the listener into the album’s emotional center, starting with a tender opening before swelling into a powerful declaration of strength with a crescendo of guitars, drums, and Marea’s soaring vocals. On the epic nine-minute “Rah,” a duet with South African singer and songwriter Zoë Modiga, interweaving jazz drums, subtle guitars, horns, and vocals—a tapestry of whispered, choral, and operatic voices—create a transcendental moment. Sung in Zulu, the song decries the state of the planet and humanity’s role in its destruction while also examining the possibility for forgiveness and healing.
Music’s healing qualities are a constant thread that runs through the record. In his work as a Sangoma (a traditional Nguni spiritual healer), Marea uses traditional songs and drumming to enter a trance state and become a gateway between the spiritual world and the living. He applies a similar principle across the album, using ancestral rhythms and chants to demonstrate music’s healing force. On “Be Free,” Marea describes a story of two Black men loving each other against the backdrop of homophobic violence, oppression, and a hyper-masculine world. The song hits in waves, as a wall of noise and distorted guitars captures the violence inherent in their experience while propulsive club beats demonstrate freedom.
On this album, Marea acts as a vessel for the past to commune with the present, leaning on ancestral teachings to heal contemporary problems. Through its blend of spiritual jazz, experimental club music, noise, and lush choral vocals, On The Romance Of Being explores the human experience, offering a musical pathway toward spiritual awakening.
