Faizal Mostrixx is so sublimely cool and forward looking that he effortlessly rides on the wave of Afrofuturism. This is a concept as well as a philosophy and is helping African artists defy genres and easy categorization.
“Afrofuturism is a way to describe the meeting of the electronic and the tribal. It’s about bringing the past into the now and then imagining how it could be expressed in the future.”
— Faizal Mostrixx
His music is a genre crushing blend of traditional instruments with electronic percussive lines with ceremonial chants and roaming vocal lines. It’s sort of African psychedelic electro pop. It draws upon many elements of his culture but uses mind bending electronic wizardry to push these ideas into the future. A stalwart of the explosive Kampala electronic music scene Mostrixx has collaborated with the Negi Nyege collective appearing at both the African and European editions of their festival. His latest album is called ‘Mutations’ and makes for compulsive listening.
The album first single ‘Loosely’ is as powerful and Cathy as you like. It bounces along with rhythmic melody lines and vocal lines half chanted half sang. “The idea of the song is derived from a Sesotho idiom/phrase: “Metlakhola u lebisa ha habo”. This is an imagined contest (or game) amongst shepherds simply emphasizing that the winner, or the one who’s stronger/faster, reaps the glory.”
“Onions and Love”, the second single and opening track on the album, is built around a beautiful acapella performance by Kebenesh, a lady who chops onions at the restaurant of the Alliance Ethio-Française. Mostrixx recorded her in an impromptu studio. “She’s singing about a lost lover she’s looking for in the city,” he recalls. “She didn’t speak English, we communicated through body language and other people. I find this kind of collaboration beautiful.”
Anyway give the tracks a listen and hear Mostrixx for yourself. He’s a nippy dance too.
Faizal Mostrixx
Instagram: @faizalmostrixx / Facebook:
