STAFF WRITER
MARTHA Longwe, a fast rising gospel diva from Ntabazinduna, Umguza District is set to drop a single as she prepares to release her second album.
Longwe who is now based in Harare said the single track titled Ofana Naye will be a precursor of what to expect in the next album which she said will be released ‘soon.’
The single which was produced by renowned producer Gibson Makumbe will be officially unveiled on April 7.
“I am releasing my new single track called Ofana Naye. ln the song la m talking about how special Jesus is. He is the Christ who laid his life down for us all because of his unconditional love. The song is going to be launched online and is also going to be on my forth coming album that l am currently working on,” Longwe told The Zambezi Times.
She added: “My producer Gibson Makumbe thought it was wise that we drop out a single while we work on completing the album which will be my second one. I am very confident many will enjoy listening to the new track.”
Longwe a versatile and talented beautician said she will officially launch the single track on various social media where many people can easily access it.
“Covid-19 taught us that we have to adapt to the dictates of time, in this case we will be distributing and marketing our songs online and it’s the way to go for artists now,” she said.
The diva who is gifted with a commanding and hard to resist voice, two years ago released her debut six track album titled Ingoma Yothando (Love songs for Jesus). As a result she is very proud that the album did very well as most of the songs received fair airplay on local radio stations.
“While my wish is for this new upcoming album to surpass my first one, I still feel that the first one did very well in the market, so in other words I set a high bar for myself, which is good anywhere.”
As she expands her footprints in the arts industry, Longwe, recently, featured seasoned gospel musician Agartha Murudzwa on the song Why Uchiita so. The song is part of Murudzwa’s new album Zvitsauko released late last year.
Tracing her roots, the God fearing Longwe said she discovered her passion for music at a tender age as she was singing at school and churches.
“At 19 l joined a group called Gari na Gride as a backing vocalist and after they left for South Africa l worked with Mann Ronna and it was at that time that l tried to start on a solo project but did not work out.
In 2011, l moved to Harare and later joined Zimpraise the following year. I was with the group for three years,” Longwe explained.
In 2018, Longwe had an attempt at a solo career which led to the release of a single called Babusisiwe which was produced by McDee at Eternity.
“This was like a breakthrough for my music with people coming through to help me. From that time l began to work on my first album lngoma yothando.”
She added: “My inspiration comes from the Holy Spirit and also life experiences. I also have quite a number of people that inspire me like Roe Makawa, Janet Manyowa and Ntokozo Mbambo.
But above all, Longwe who strongly believes that with God nothing is impossible hence the sky is the limit had this to say: “It’s all happening through the love of God. I find joy in singing and praising Him and also encouraging others in the ways of God.
