Black Is Brown Entertainment leader Tumelo ‘Mr. JazziQ’ Manyoni has stormed back into action with his newest album titled All You Need is Piano 2. The project is JazziQ’s direct sequel to the first instalment of All You Need is Piano (2022), featuring guests such as Nobantu Vilakazi, Kabza De Small, and Pcee, among others.
Comprising nine songs and lasting for fifty-four minutes, the album is a diametric opposite of the first volume, which spanned for a cinematic two hours and had double the amount of songs. Short and sweet compared to its parent album, All You Need Is Piano 2 shares the same characteristic of lengthy tracks.
Sonically, the album is a thoroughbred piano product tempered with the flavour of Mozambique (Moz), the darker deviation of the genre and the test tube baby of Black Is Brown Entertainment. Apart from the signature log drum, stupefying percussion, and the heart-racing rhythms of rumbling drums and basslines, Moz is a refreshing jink in creative direction, coinciding with the purported marriage of the netherworld and the physical realm as is always the tradition for Halloween.
In a way, Tumelo’s album mimics this matrimony thematically, introducing an underworld-textured vibe to an otherwise jovial genre, a contrasting wedding that breathes new life to the dwindling creative powers of the ampiano world.
Much like every other amapiano album, the body of work is a collection of club-ready songs, but JazziQ has curated a playlist that feels like an experience.
The juxtaposition of the lead single, ‘Hamba Naye’, and the album’s second song, ‘Chants of Moza’, sees the album stay the consistent course of macabre musicianship.
The latter, in particular, stands out in the album with its distorted incantation-like vocals set over haunting production befitting for the creation of a ritualistic atmosphere. ‘Tsetse’ with Nobantu Vilakazi is a noteworthy song for its mood-shifting quality, paving the way for ‘Teabag’ and ‘Elastic’ without throwing the ear into a confusing whiplash.
All You Need is Piano 2 marks a formidable return to form for JazziQ and a healthy change in the amapiano music scene.
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