Album in the making
The studio diary
Yes, we’re making an album. It’s called Mainane (Folk Tales), and it’s almost fully recorded. It came together over many years – with pauses, detours, and a lot of patience. Since the first sketches in July 2015, a lot has happened – musically and personally.
In this diary, Manu, my producer, shares step by step how ideas turned into songs, what we discarded or rediscovered, and which moments in the process stood out. Sometimes technical, sometimes personal – but always with a deep love for music. And of course, you’ll find the occasional snapshot or video clip as well.
Episode 1
March to July 2015
Hello, Manu here – the producer.
After our paths first crossed during the Kalahari Roses project in 2013, we started talking – about music, recording, songwriting. I invited her to sing in a choir recording for another project. And then, sometime in March or April 2015, Rose called me and sang one of her songs to me over the phone. Her request: to produce a demo of it.
Love is a beautiful thing. I programmed, layered, and experimented. Some of the elements from that very first demo are still part of the final arrangement today. And she liked it – so much so that she said, “Maybe you could produce the whole album.” A big sentence – and really the beginning of everything.
In June and July 2015, she came to Germany and recorded 13 songs with me – or more precisely, four- to five-part vocal arrangements, recorded to a click track, without any playback or instrumental accompaniment. Just voice, ideas, and timing. It was incredibly exciting – and immediately clear: we had to continue.
So I asked our mutual friend Peter Herrmann and drummer Daniel Schild if they’d be interested in producing three of those songs with us while Rose was still in town. We chose Ke a gana, Life in the Ghetto, and Pula nkokodi. Drums, acoustic bass, and lots of guitars – the first real sessions for what would eventually become Mainane.
“We started recording the first drum tracks for the album in my studio, and now it’s almost finished. This music has matured over such a long time – and the amazing thing is: there are parts I haven’t listened to in seven or eight years, and they still sound so fresh, so brilliant. There’s a real sense of life in them. It’s absolutely timeless music that Rose has created, and what Manu has arranged is top-notch. I feel honored to be part of it – and soon, you’ll get to be part of it too.”