Hezron on-stage throughout the multi-city African tour.
Jamaican recording artiste Hezron Clarke is continuous to make his mark on the world. He began off 2025 with an African music tour visiting quite a lot of international locations, amongst them Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Ghana.
The artiste reported to the Jamaica Observer that he loved each efficiency and he obtained heat receptions on the profitable exhibits.
Hezron’s intimate efficiency at Espace Culturel Miva in Lomé was a spotlight of the tour. Staying true to his signature fashion that mixes roots reggae and soul influences, he carried out hit songs equivalent to
Man on a Mission, So in Love, and Without end and At all times. He additionally handled the viewers to unique unreleased tracks, showcasing his inventive evolution and dedication to common themes like love, peace, and unity amongst individuals.
The spotlight of the evening was a second of improvisation during which Hezron shared a heartfelt message of peace and unity, emphasising the position of music in bridging cultures. His interplay with the viewers created a uncommon connection, intensifying the emotional depth of the occasion.
Because the tour progressed, Hezron continued to attach along with his African followers, undoubtedly capturing the hearts and ears of recent ones. His efficiency at One Ghana Hub was a musical collaboration that includes legends and high Ghanaian artistes.
“Visiting Ghana all the time appears like residence. There are such a lot of similarities for me between Ghana and Jamaica, and I all the time take pleasure in a heat reception from the Ghanaian individuals,” the artiste advised the Observer.
With the tour full, Clarke plans to return to the continent for extra exhibits later within the 12 months.
Now again in Jamaica, he appeared on a slew of exhibits in celebration of Reggae Month, the primary was the Dennis Brown Tribute Live performance on February 1. Audiences obtained him effectively for the Bob Marley’s eightieth earth robust celebration on the Bob Marley Museum on February 6, in addition to the third annual One Love Jerk Fest in Negril on February 8.
On February 7, as a part of celebrating Reggae Month (Jamaica) and Black Historical past Month (USA), Hezron launched Kuja Nyumbani (Swahili for I Need To Go House) — a grievance to Mama Africa and assertion of African id on February 7.
“I need to return to my residence, the place I rightfully personal, land of gold to assuage my soul, the place kings and queens sit on their thrones. For thus lengthy I’ve been suppressed and consumed by the jaws of sorrows, been baked and burnt within the furnace of nightmares and horrors,” the lyrics assert.
The monitor is produced through Hardshield Information/Tad’s File.
Kuja Nyumbani is the sixth single from Hezron’s critically lauded album, Man on a Mission (M.O.A.M), his second album launched with Tad’s File. Remarkably, Hezron wrote the music at simply 19.
“On the time, I had an Afro-centric, revolutionary mentality, so I wrote a music known as Mama Africa. Then I migrated to the US from Jamaica and African individuals round me advised me to write down some lyrics in Swahili so
Mama Africa grew to become Kuja Nyumbani,” defined Hezron.
In 2023 Hezron was invited to Africa for the primary time by Ghanaian promoter Cynthia Raymond, who prolonged the invitation after listening to a number of songs from M.O.A.M, particularly Kuja Nyumbani.
“Cynthia cried when she heard it; many Africans within the UK and Canada have advised me the music deeply touched them, too; they need to return residence however, due to their circumstances, they’ll’t,” Hezron shared.
The evocative black and white Kuja Nyumbani video, directed by Devon Morris, was additionally dropped on February 7. Hezron and his band’s efficiency of the music is interspersed with photos of slave revolt leaders Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman; African freedom fighters Steve Biko, Winnie and Nelson Mandela and Julius Malema; American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X; Jamaica’s nationwide heroes Marcus Garvey, Sam Sharpe and Nanny (chief of the Maroons); Halie Selassie I and reggae icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, whose music typically highlighted African struggles all through the Diaspora.
Within the music’s closing verse, which Hezron wrote three years in the past, he acknowledges the aforementioned people’ contributions “in combating oppression and making modifications for African individuals”.
In the meantime, Hezron’s tour is schedule to succeed in the UK in April, adopted by a number of Canadian dates together with the Victoria Ska and Reggae Competition. He’ll return to Africa the place he’s slated for the Abissa Competition in Cote D’Ivoire, which attracts an viewers upwards of 60,000, and Nigeria’s Felabration (on the invitation of Femi Kuti), which celebrates Femi’s father, African music icon, Fela Anikulakpo Kuti.
In Ghana, Hezron will set up the Save The Youngsters basis, named after one other
Man on A Mission monitor that has reached anthemic standing in Jamaica.
— Extra reporting by Patricia Meschino.
Hezron.
