Djembe Monks a Zimbabwean tribal deep house outfit from Bulawayo which produces a blend of dance, electropop and house music that has a unique blend of Afro tribal sounds.
The group is comprised of two DJ’s a percussionist and a drummer namely Ndumiso Tshuma aka “DJ Black Cee”, Nqabutho Ncube aka “Slimzar Wa Africa”, who are the DJ element of the group, Kotso Nare aka “Torturedrum” and Emmanuel Nkomo aka “Rootz” make up the percussion and drumming side of Djembe Monks. Formed in 2010 the group has had headlining performances at international events such as HIFA and Shoko Festival including many other events all over Zimbabwe.
The sound of Djembe Monks is a fusion of Tribal House music which is an Afro traditional sound of House Music. The group also has experimented with Electro Dance Music (EDM) and Deep House Music speaking with Rootz in an interview with Kwantuthu Arts Magazine he said the group’s sound is predominately Tribal House Music. Djembe Monks has over the past months released singles from their upcoming Album which features XMile. XMile is a member of iTribe and a solo artist whose vocal abilities are second to none, to say the least. Roots speaking on the upcoming Djembe Monks project said there are taking their time in developing a one-of-a-kind sound that will have their fans raving on the upcoming project. Kwantuthu Arts also asked Rootz if they would be working on a video soon and he promised a video would be made towards the end of the year.
Djembe monks also said in their upcoming project they would be working on some experimental fusion tracks with EDM. Rootz said they would be working with Italian DJ and producer Juan Luca Panula from Opelec an Italian record label. The collaboration has been something the group has been working on for some time and we hope it will take the local house music to the next level. Djembe Monks also said that they would be performing very soon in Harare and Bulawayo in the upcoming weeks to come.
