Nowhere

Muzi Ngwenya, commonly known as Mozaik, is a Swati producer and musician, born in Manzini, Nazarene, in a musical family. He went to St Williams Primary School then proceeded to Salesian High School.

Mozaik is considered one of the fathers in the Eswatini music industry because he has been in the industry for over a decade now. He has won many prestigious awards in the kingdom including The Best Producer at the SWAMA Awards 2018.

 

I’ve got the opportunity to chat with this great musician about his music and his upcoming album, Nowhere.

🔥When did you start doing music

I think I was in primary school when I realized that I loved music. In grade 7, I’d want to deejay in school parties. But it really hit me when I got to form 1, where I joined music classes. That’s when I did music theory and a little bit of practicals.


🔥What do you prefer between being in front of the mic and being behind the scenes

 Ummm...I don’t know if it’s a preference thing. But for me, it’s out of necessity. How I got into producing really was because  wanted to rap, unfortunately there were no producers at that time, so I had to make my own music. So I started rapping on other people's instrumentals.
The producing for me came out of a necessity for making beats, and then people started getting interested in me producing for them. I got computer programs then i started producing. It just became a thing that I ended up doing for most people.
But i think I really enjoy both because i like to express myself, i like to write. It’s just that I got popular for producing even though I’ve always wanted to rap.

🔥What inspired Nowhere

It is the need for people to hear what i have to say. I grew up in an environment where I could not express myself. I used to stammer when talking, when I was young, so talking is not something I enjoyed doing or could do. I was also very shy...I think I still am. Music became an outlet for me to express myself. The album is an expression of myself and my life.
I’ve always been working on an album; it’s just that it took forever for me to release an album.

🔥What can we expect from the album

Honesty and transparency. I've always been a person who is very expressive about my emotions. I am very emotional. There is going to be a lot of emotion in the album. All kinds of emotion, but mostly on the happiness side while also addressing the darker side of my life.
It is based on the life of someone who has dreams and aspirations and who just loves life.

🔥How was the experience of being part of one of the biggest songs in Eswatini, Gwayimane

It was a great experience. It came out of a really fun time in my life but also a time where I was doing a lot of growing and learning. More than anything, it has been really humbling to be part of something that has been synonymous with excellence in the Eswatini music industry, a song that is relevant to the young and the old, which is something I’ve always aspired to do, so that was an amazing experience for me.

🔥Do you think the Eswatini art industry is growing and what do you think can be done to make it bigger

I don’t know if I can say it’s growing, because the growth, if any, is one sided. There are a lot of talented artists right now but I guess the cooperate side of the industry is not growing because first of all, the artists themselves are not understanding the dynamics that are involved in the actual art industry itself. But also the consumers, also do not understand what it entails and what it is suppose to be about and what it stands for, therefore, are not participating the way they should be participating.
It is at a point where it is stagnant, because we are not at the level we should have reached by now. But hopefully, it is something that will change, soon, to the point that we can be able to justify it to our kids.