Mbabane: The first of its kind Vault Unlocked Eswatini Dance Music Compilation has been officially launched.
The project was launched by the Minister of Sports Culture and Youth Affairs Harries Madze Bulunga at the XChange Lounge on Friday morning.
According to the Minister this is an innovative and well executed project whose impact will be felt beyond Eswatini borders and will leave a significant imprint of the vast potential of Eswatini’s music in the African continent and beyond.
The pioneers of the project include Antidote Music and Beats on Beats. According to the minister they executed the master class project with limited resources and during a testing time in which the whole world has been besieged by the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of all the challenges, the minister said the pioneers were able to come up with an idea whose core principle was inclusivity, ensuring that multiple creatives would benefit from the project.
Speaking during the launch the minister said the project has incorporated not just artists but also graphic designers, a public relations practitioner, sound engineer and videographer.
“The combination of such skills and expertise to produce such a worthwhile compilation is a timely reminder of the vast creative talent our beautiful Kingdom possesses”, he said.
Bulunga said it was pleasing to note that, the music compilation is digital and has been availed on over 300 online music stores and paid streaming services. He said this was crucial and commendable to see local creative take their work digitally and the onus is now on us as a Nation to support them by buying and streaming their work.
Worth noting s that the Vault Unlocked Eswatini Dance Music Compilation project is standing at Number 18 on Apple Music’s Top Albums’ chart in its first week of release and has generated over 3000 paid streams since its release in April. Bulunga said this was a worthy proof that local art can hold its place against the best in the world.
Bulunga said as a ministry will continue to support the hosting of a music production and audio engineering training for local producers, in our quest to professionalize the arts industry in the Kingdom. “We cannot at any point afford to undermine the importance of the quality of our output. This is a hugely competitive industry and as such, it is important that our creative consistently stay on top of their game”’ he said
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