Urban Village & Msaki call on the world to unite with new single, Umhlaba Wonke

Off the back of their recent EP release, UBABA (their debut for Parisian label Nø Førmat! – home to Oumou Sangaré, Blick Bassy & Mélissa Laveaux), Soweto based 4-piece band, Urban Village, pave the way to their highly anticipated debut album release in January 2020 with new single, Umhlaba Wonke (The World), featuring South African musical gem and radio airplay heavyweight, Msaki, known for her hit collaborations such as “Fetch Your Life” with Prince Kaybee, Ubomi Abumanga with Sun-El Musician, and Sondela with Tresor just to highlight a few.

Inspired by the call to all people of the world to unite and walk together in peace and harmony, Urban Village’s Umhlaba Wonke featuring Msaki, follows suite of their signature theme of marrying the day-to-day experiences of black South Africans with traditional music.

Sung in IsiZulu, IsiXhosa and English, Umhlaba Wonke reflects South African blues and folk sounds and brings together both Western musical instruments and South African vocal style.

“Msaki has been a long-time sister of ours. We’ve had many onstage collaborations over the years so this was a natural coming together in studio to create something beautiful,” shares Urban Village.

“This song is a reminder to a brother, that he has homes everywhere and has the ability to build anything he names with his whole heart. Sometimes people don’t need to hear big things loudly for there to be an internal shift. Sometimes it’s just that you belong, this is home, and you have the ability to create worlds,” expresses Msaki.

Stream or download Urban Village’s Umhlaba Wonke featuring Msaki here: https://idol.lnk.to/Udondolo

You can also listen to Umhlaba Wonke on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzQMN6upDAM

Set to release their debut album, UDONDOLO, on 22 January 2021, Urban Village have laid a strong foundation this year with their 4-track EP release, UBABA, which has seen the title track get picked up by the likes of Umhlobo Wenene FM, Motsweding FM, Kaya FM, Radio 2000 and Power FM just to highlight a few. With the release of Umhlaba Wonke, Urban Village are well positioned to gain more traction and momentum as the countdown to their debut album begins.