Joyous Celebration - Joyous Celebration 20: Recorded Live At The Moses Mabhida Stadium
STYLE: Gospel RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 164124-24978 LABEL: Paradise FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 3
Reviewed by Lins Honeyman
South African praise collective Joyous Celebration's long running series of worship releases continues with a hefty triple disc collection of songs recorded at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium. Discs one and two, featuring such artists as Andiswa Mbantsa, Ayanda Shange, Mthunzi Namba, Nomthisibisi and Puhle Thela, refreshingly present the indigenous side of Joyous Celebration's output with the vast majority of songs being sung in native tongues accompanied by some infectiously upbeat African rhythms - albeit augmented by lush string sections and full band - with the final third of the release, sung by such acts as Phelo Bala, Eric Moyd and Bongi Mthombeni, is almost exclusively in English to presumably add some inclusivity to proceedings. To keep things fresh, a variety of different lead singers take centrestage to sing praises to God but the fact that all but four tracks are between six and 10 minutes long make for a long and sprawling listen with the excruciating "Umoya Wami", where the singer sobs his way through a turgid 10 minutes, being a particular low point. Whilst the producers occasionally attempt to shake things up by including brief forays into rock, pseudo opera and spoken word, condensing this record of an undoubtedly spectacular and lavish live worship event into smaller and more palatable chunks would have helped no end.
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