Edenvale’s blues musician Nico ‘Smoke’ Lawrence is set to release his latest album later this month.
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Blues Man Baby will be launched at the Museum of Africa on November 26 in partnership with Jack Daniels’ Gentleman Jack.
The excited creative met with the Bedfordview and Edenvale NEWS to speak about his latest album and the journey which brought him to where he is today.
Although the global Covid-19 pandemic affected Nico’s touring plans, it allowed him to generate creative material and heal some of the trauma he still had from years gone by.
Nico explained that once lockdown restrictions were lifted, he visited his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
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During his journey, Nico visited his primary school, spent time with learners at his old high school and taught them how to play the guitar.
“The pandemic gave me good music. However, it was a challenging time for me as a creative.”
He said it was during the pandemic that the album started formalising.
“We were writing a lot and whenever there was an opportunity we would go out and play the songs to test them and the audience loved them.”
One song on the album which Nico said relates to the pandemic is the 2020 Blues.
“It’s a very long song but it includes a lot of experiences of what people went through during the pandemic.
When playing that song at a venue the crowd goes so quiet. You can hear a pin drop.”
Although Nico wanted to release a new album and tell the stories of the pandemic financially, he was not in a position to do so.
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To find a way around this dilemma, Nico considered doing an online launch until an old friend Malume Simango phoned, requesting a DVD of Nico performing alongside the late jazz musician Jonas Mosa Gwangwa.
“After taking the DVD to Malume took me to the Museum of Africa and told me that I was meant to do something at the venue later this year.”
Nico said he knew this was a sign as he had intended to release his album in the last quarter of the year.
Once he phoned his mentor, André ‘Black Jack’ van der Byl, Nico received confirmation that there was no turning back as the album launch was meant to be.
On this album, community members can expect old-school sounds of the greats.
To create his latest album Nico worked alongside Australian musicians Winston Galea and Peter Powell.
Nico said working alongside and uniting cultures with Winston and Peter was an amazing experience.
“The music is real blues music fans will love,” said Nico.
“It includes songs that have hardcore driving rhythms, combined with sweet as well as confident lyrics.”
He explained he has parked his ballads for the time being.
Nico highlighted that one of the things he enjoys most about being a musician is keeping blues alive.
“Some of the roots of the music gendre stem from the American slave plantations,” explained Nico.
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“One the plantation one person would call out and the rest would respond. It is the same with the music, the musician sings out and his instrument responds. It’s one of the things Africans own but don’t know.”
He said it is up to blues musicians to keep stories alive and to tell them to audiences while entertaining them.
On November 26, Nico will be joined by fellow musicians during the album launch.
Paul E Williams will play the bass guitar, Tebogo ‘Blacksmith’ Smith will play the saxophone, André “Black Jack” van der Byl guitar, Enzo Williams drums, Onzlo Williams the rhythm guitar and Nico will play the guitar and sing vocals.
The event will start at 16:00 and tickets can be purchased from Webticket.
The album will be available on all major streaming platforms.
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