With the month of love around the corner, Bergville-born hip-hop star and singer-songwriter Big Zulu and Eastern Cape warbler and indoni yamanzi Azana have released their duet “Amacala Othando”. A tale of two lovers in romantic distress, the song pits a man and his wife against each other, embroiled in an unpleasant game of finger-pointing.
Produced by Nkabi Records’ inhouse sound artisan Xowla, “Amacala Othando” is a slow afro-soul jam tuned to the taste of ushuni sensibilities with its laidback guitars, muffled bass drums, and plaintive piano keys including a quivering organ right at the end, which create an atmosphere of melancholy conducive to the confrontational nature of the song’s lyrical content. Slow-paced and sparse, the strength of the production lies in its ability to give Big Zulu and Azana enough space to be deliberate in their songwriting and vocal performances, allowing the pair to convert their verbal exchange riddled with indignant accusations into an immersive experience that shines a realistic light of how the nadirs of all strained relationships look like.
Azana and Big Zulu | SUPPLIED
Opening up the song with the introduction of the controlling theme of the breakdown of love, the “AmaMillion” hitmaker laments the deteriorating state of his relationship, keeping score of all the positive things he has done in the name of romance, only for him to be left wondering what he did wrong to deserve the treatment he has been receiving. Azana’s ghostly melodies, as she lilts in the background: “Uhlez’ theth’ amacala”, are a masterful touch of engineering thoughtfulness, as her presence, while Big Zulu bemoans the sad state of affairs of their relationship, paints a picture of a couple who were not only at odds with one another but were talking on top of each other without giving the other a chance to speak their piece.
The afropop songstress prefaces her response to Big Zulu’s cry by singing: “Uthi ngenze njani, na?” Conflict and passive-aggression come into play, interlinking with the ballad’s overarching theme, as Azana recounts past incidents of potential fights preempted by her holding her peace instead of her voicing her frustrations in the heat of the moment. Hers, in the song, is the dual dilemma of a damsel in distress fused with the confusion of being a deer in the headlights – with the looming threat being the slow death of this relationship she felt she had no power in remedying back to life.
Turning up the heat in the song’s rising action, the one-half of Inkabi Zezwe responds to his lover’s perspective with counter accusations of being argumentative and inclined to disrupt the peace between them, which he also adds is inadvertently affecting their children. Azana defuses the escalating tension with her dulcet interjection, her reply being a soft-spoken entreaty in which she asks him to calm down before humbly asking that he be merciful.
Azana and Big Zulu | SUPPLIED
Refusing to let up, Big Zulu hurls more charges at his lover, disparaging her for always going out dressed provocatively and neglecting her position as his makoti, in spite of everything he’s already done for her. The justified yet backhanded verse allows Zulu to segue into the chorus.
The tail-ending portion of the song features an emotional tug-o-war between Big Zulu and Azana, with the former repeatedly asking that they talk things through, while the latter holds her ground by dismissing him as always being ready to fight. What’s particularly striking about this looped part of the song is that it compresses the drama of the song into two lines, highlighting the contrast between Big Zulu’s direct and cumbersome approach to Azana’s avoidant and discouraged demeanor when they have to face each other. The song then closes off with Azana continuously asking for forgiveness.
Listen to “Amacala Othando”:
