Today South Africa-based artist Desire Marea has shared a brand new track, “The Only Way”, the latest taste of what to expect from new forthcoming EP, The Baddies of Isandlwana, that is due for release on November 9th, 2023. Listen to it HERE.
Desire Marea explains, “I was really just feeling myself here, it’s one song where I fully express my bad bitch energy. It’s giving pheromones at a beach party on the African coast.”
The new EP, follows a rare tour that will see Desire and his band in the UK and Europe for the first time since an appearance at Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival in London. All dates are listed below.
Desire describes the new EP as “…a trio of songs inspired by my time living in Amandawe, KZN. It’s an infusion of sounds that dominate nightlife in SA such as Gqom, Amapiano and Afrobeat. The EP is symbolic of a time when I was trying to find myself in the world I occupied, which extended to my ongoing quest to find myself in history, hence the title.”
The title refers to the 1879 Battle of Isandlwana, the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu war which ended with a decisive victory for the Zulus, and it was this search for himself in history that prompted Desire to contemplate the lives of the LGBT+ soldiers in the Zulu army.
“The Only Way” follows the incredible video Triana Hernandez created for the Orchestral Gqom of “If You Know”: https://youtu.be/sGgM5iHqYfY
Additionally, the brilliant video for “Be Free” has been nominated for “Best Produced Pop Video” at the South African Music Awards (SAMA’s) as well as On The Romance Of Being nominated for “Best Alternative Album.”
Desire Marea’s voice is a culmination of many South African voices, a mouthpiece for a choir of spirits and entities. In recent years, the Amandawe based artist trained as Sangoma, a traditional Nguni spiritual healer. On his second album, 2023’s On the Romance of Being, Desire finds himself immersed in the communal, ceremonial and healing qualities of music, sonically taking in post-gospel, spiritual jazz and the ancient music of the Nguni and Ndau peoples.
Desire, his 2020 debut album, was one of Rough Trade’s Albums of the Year and BBC 6 Music’s Album of the Day. The album traversed electronic genres in an introspective exploration of modern love and loss, drawing in fans from across the globe.
Before his solo career, Desire formed beloved Joburg collective FAKA with creative partner Fela Gucci. FAKA toured the world extensively, made their American debut scoring for Telfar at NYFW, achieved icon status by partnering with Versace to soundtrack their S/S 2019 menswear show and were featured in the Vogue World 100 and Dazed 100 lists.
TOUR DATES:
10/12/2023 – Leeds (UK), Transform festival
10/13/2023 – Glasgow (UK), Take Me Somewhere festival, Tramway 4
10/14/2023 – Manchester (UK), Soup Kitchen
10/15/2023 – Newcastle (UK), Cobalt Studios
10/17/2023 – London (UK), Hoxton Hall
10/19/2023– Brussels (BE), Beursschouwburg
10/20/2023 – Cologne (DE), Jaki
10/21/2023 – Munich (DE), Ritournelle Festival
10/22/2023 – Prague (CZ), Kasarna Karlin
10/23/2023 – Vienna (AT), Chelsea
10/26/2023 – Zurich (CH), Gessnerallee
10/28/2023 – Paris (UK), Le Petit Bain
10/30/2023 – Amsterdam (NL), Tolhuistin
11/1/2023 – Hamburg (DE), MS Stubnitz
11/2/2023 – Leipzig (DE), Institut für Zukunft
11/3/2023 – Berlin (DE), Volksbühne
11/4/2023 – Oslo (NO), The Oslo World Festival, The National Museum
RECENT PRAISE FOR DESIRE MAREA:
“Divine, orchestral soul” - Pitchfork
“a bold consolidation of his identity as a musician, lyricist, and intensely spiritual queer artist." - The Quietus
“In never forgetting that we have divinity in our every movement, On the Romance of Being also never gets lost in its own ambition.” - Bandcamp Daily
“The South African songwriter Desire Marea stirs up a maelstrom in “Be Free.” With lyrics in English and Zulu, it’s an exhortation and a reproach to someone who won’t accept his sexuality: “Maybe another day you will find courage to love me freely,” he sings, sympathetic but judgmental. Recorded with a 13-member live studio band, the song barrels ahead from the start: first with an insistent bass riff, accelerating with voices, brasses and four-on-the-floor drums, then rumbling and roiling under a solemn, string-laden plaint: “I just want to be free,” Marea insists.” - New York Times
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