Perfect Giddimani ADD

Review

Album Review: Perfect Giddimani - Sibusiso (Blessings)

04/28/2025

by Gardy Stein

Sometimes in life, resolutions we took and convictions we held need to be revised as we grow older and wiser. When, back in 2017,  Perfect Giddimani announced that Live My Life Again would be his last long player, it was a sad moment for his friends and fans, so the decision taken six years later to come back in album length was a welcome one. After the beautiful Ah Mi Yard in 2023 (the title track of which has become an all-time favorite of mine), Sibusiso is the second full studio release that brings the distinctive voice and lyricism of this remarkable artist to your speakers.  

The album was produced in collaboration with Victor Gallardo (better known as Sinky Beatz), a sound engineer and producer from Barcelona. Together, those two audiophiles created 14 original tracks which, despite a variety in styles and tempi, are recognizable as belonging to a big whole, almost like a concept album – check, for instance, the powerful drum rolls every song starts with (with big names like Horseman, the late Style Scott and Edu Coll on the sticks)!

As the title suggests, a strong focus is laid on the African motherland: Sibusiso is a Zulu name meaning “blessing” or “gift from God”. While the title track assures us more generally that “your blessings dem a flow automatic”, Africa Mother Land asks for very specific blessings for that continent, recounting some of the tragic historical incidents that resulted in the current dispersal of the Black population, especially in the Caribbean. On a happier note, Ethiopian Sunshine talks about sunny days and “thirteen months of sunshine”, an allusion to the additional month of Pagume that’s unique to the Ethiopian calendar. The equally joyful Joburg is an ode to the bustling South African metropole Johannesburg where Perfect recently went to perform and spent time to travel. This trip is also captured in the album artwork: the photo taken in Soweto depicts the artist standing in front of an impressive mural of Haile Selassie by painter Lentsoe Logos Motsei.

As always in Giddimani’s works, the spiritual component is also a big part of the reasoning. Thus, the lyrics of opening track Another Marcus Garvey are centered around the wish to find another prophet like Marcus Garvey, someone who is able to provide us with a strong vision for the future in these troubled times. With the laid-back beat and beautiful harmonies provided by Marie “Twiggi” Gittens, it is an instant favorite, as is Zion House, a loving observation of an ideal Rasta family, here compared to a pack of lions. The subsequent Him Presence quotes well-known biblical verse to an instrumental dominated by a tambourine, while Worthy For Jah and Jah We Pray continue the divine meditation with sound advice for your daily routine. Selassie White Horse, a song that has been around since last June, recounts certain aspects of Ras Tafari’s life and assures us that “Jah no dead – my God is alive and doing well”.

Next to the tracks already mentioned, Giddimani invited two fellow artists to the mic, both of whom he has worked with before. Thus, Anthony B joins him on Rescue Me, while Lutan Fyah is heard on the steppas-spirited Champion In Action (lend a special ear to the fine dub effects integrated here, as in most songs). “Giving up is not an option!”

With High Grade Mi Love, the holy herb finds proper mention as well, and Bob Marley Reggae is a homage to the genre and its king (funny enough on the least reggaeish of all the tracks on here). “Who a tell lie bout reggae dead? Shut up u likkle crazy bald head! A reggae put di butter pon di ghetto youth bread!“

Sibusiso is a musical and lyrical blessing indeed – dear Mr. Perfect, you make a lot of people happy with producing albums again. And for all the real Giddi- and Dub-fans out there, here’s good news: Sibusiso In Dub will be released this coming Friday!

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