Faces to the Sun is the sixth studio album by South AfricanAfropop band Mango Groove. Released in October 2016, Faces to the Sun is a double album with more than a dozen featured artists. The first disc comprises renditions of major South African pop songs. Lead singerClaire Johnston described the selections as "personal favourites of ours" that are about what it means to be South African. The second disc features eight original songs, plus a remix of Mango Groove's cover of "Durban Road". Four songs from the album were released as singles: "Faces to the Sun" was issued as a digital single in October 2015; music videos for "From the Get Go" and "Another Country" premiered in November 2016; a music video for "Kind" followed in February 2017, and one for "Under African Skies" in July 2018.
Production
Lead singer Claire Johnston conceived the album circa 2011. Several years after the release of Africa Blue, her 2004 cover album of jazz and R&B classics, Johnston was contemplating the production of a third solo album to cover "great South African songs". The idea evolved into a Mango Groove project. Around the same time, Johnston and bandleader John Leyden divorced, and Johnston's mother died. "It was a turbulent time but a lot of that energy fed into the album and made it an emotional final product," Johnston said. The album was recorded, arranged, and produced by bandmembers Andrew Baird and John Leyden at Orangotang Studios in the Sandton suburb of Bryanston. Before emigrating to South Africa from Zimbabwe, Baird had specialised in producing gospel and inspirational music. On 5 October 2015, the band released the first single: "Faces to the Sun". At that time, the album was to be titled Sing the Beloved Country, with a release planned for March 2016. In early October 2016, just over a year after the first single, press releases from the band and their label announced a revised release date, along with the track list and the new album title. Warner Music South Africa released the retitled double album via the iTunes Store on 28 October 2016; the CD release followed a week later, on 11 November. Photography for Faces to the Sun is by Graeme Wyllie, with graphic design by the Red Flag agency of Johannesburg. "The Road", the final song on the album, is dedicated to the memory of Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013.
Artist collaborations
Shortly before the album's release, bandleader John Leyden commented on the musical collaborations: "We chose iconic South African artists that have been part of our own musical journey and whose amazing voices suited our interpretations of the songs, but at the same time, we also worked with a couple of new and exciting contemporary artists". One of the featured collaborators is trumpeter and house music artist Mo T ; he is the son of the band's longtime trumpeter, Banza Kgasoane, who died in 2015. Zolani Mahola sings with Mango in a new recording of "Another Country", the title song of the 1993 album Another Country. It was an anthem that helped usher South Africa out of the apartheid regime and into a new government. Other featured artists include Afrikaans singersJuanita du Plessis and Kurt Darren; folk singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela; gospel singer Rebecca Malope; and vocal quartetRomanz.
Reception
In 2017, Faces to the Sun was a South African Music Awards nominee in the "Best Adult Contemporary Album" and "Best Engineered Album" categories. The award for "Best Adult Contemporary Album" went to Hugh Masekela's No Borders; the award for Best Engineered Album went to Arno Carstens' Aandblom 13. Other nominees in the Adult Contemporary Album category that year were Elvis Blue's Optics, Majozi's Fire, and Msaki's Zaneliza: How the Water Moves. Journalist/blogger El Broide rated Faces to the Sun four stars out of five.
