Envision a journey of multiple emotions invoked by the various elements of life such as loss, pain, healing, love, and peace, this is what award-winning Jazz artist Gabi Motuba’s 2024 sophomore album 'The Sabbath' encapsulates.
A project that started out as a self-defying expedition ended up becoming a well-written diary that comes packaged with a more structured and straightforward definition of one’s inner character through various walks of life that define one’s core identity.
'The Sabbath' has been in the works for many years, with the loss of her father in 2020 being the core start into the making of the album.
The album showcases Gabi’s unique taste for music with the infusion of Classical, Jazz, African, and Eastern sounds which creates a soothing yet beautiful sonic experience for the ear. It all begins to feel like you are traveling to another place away from one’s daily problems as Gabi’s unique pen and cross-collaboration with various composers such as Robin Fassie, Tumi Mogorosi, Chevonne Plaatjies, Themba Mashobane, Zos Ntuli, Kabelo Monnathebe, Thabang Tabane and Reza Khota across various tracks on the project elevates the experiences and enhances the message behind every song with their key signature touch.
In a short interview around the production process and tools that Gabi used to put the project together, she shared “To make this incredible album I used the Sibelius software, which is a music scoring software used commonly for writing and scoring classical works. I really enjoy writing and composing my music using Sibelius because I can build the sound prior to playing it live. Sibelius lets me layer even instruments I may not be accustomed to in order to produce a special and unique frequency. It has worked for me over the years and it’s my go to composition tool. I started using Sibelius in high school by transcribing pop songs by artists like Rihanna, Chris Brown, Beyonce… and thereafter I began transcribing film scores from Disney movies and finally I began composing my own music with it and I’ve never looked back!”
Stream 'The Sabbath' below:
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