Tuesday June 28, 2022
Ras Banamungu and The Det-n-ators International have been going from strength to strength since the release of the 2021 album Revelation of Oneness and the singles, the album’s title track and Hallelu Jah.
Ras and the band have now released the follow-up to Shakalaka-Doo Experience, which was an exhilarating high-energy track that merged Afro roots and blues music to create an enticing mixture, one that undoubtedly anticipates a modified musical direction the renowned musician is taking.
The new one is Cherry Oh Queen,which features a less hybridized mix of musical influences and utilises a slightly more traditional reggae, roots music approach. Cherry Oh Queen will surely add to Ras’s list of accolades, which include the 2020 Artistic Vision award for exceptional talent of the year, originality, and vision in the field of music, the 2020 X- POZE-ING Music Award for Best Reggae Music Video, for My Sunshine and a series of hit tracks that have attracted substantial streaming numbers and across the board radio play.
Cherry Oh Queen combines all the party-like strains of Ras’s brand of contemporary world music pop, utilising infectious grooves and melodies and fusing it into what can only be described as a celebratory song of love and affection. The track opens with a stomping groove that soon envelopes your senses, revealing the various influences of reggae, roots music, and world pop that merge to create a good-natured, spirited mood.
Ras’ vocal performance is as rousing and exuberant as always and nicely balanced by an alternate female vocal performance in the second verse. This is a dedication song, one utilising all the buoyant charms of Ras’ usual set of styles and approaches to music—one using an emotional core that mirrors the instrumentation and performances. If Cherry Oh Queen is a sign of things to come for Ras and the band, then 2022 looks like being yet another huge year.
