Idris Elba who played the late Nelson Mandela in last year's Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, has combined his talents as an actor, musician, producer and DJ for his new project, an album of original material in tribute to Mandela. The 11-track effort, titled mi Mandela, is due out Nov. 24 on Elba's own 7wallace imprint in conjunction with Parlophone Records. In anticipation of the release, Elba has released five songs for streaming — lead single "Aero Mathata," "You Give Me Love" feat. Maverick Sabre, "So Many People" feat. Shaun Escoffery, "Thank You For Freedom" and "Tree" feat. Audra Mae & Cody ChesnuTT, Billboard reports.
mi Mandela celebrates South African music and features South African and British collaborators such as Mumford & Sons and James Blake. Elba was inspired to embark on this project after filming Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom in Johannesburg, South Africa. He serves as curator and executive producer and contributes vocals to one track.
"[Mi Mandela is] part of a series of albums that I'm going to make called character pieces, character albums," Elba explained in an interview with NME . "[For each one] I take the character that I played and sort of explain the journey playing him, and the journey of the character, in music. What would he have listened to, what might have influenced him, what influenced me as an actor ... This suddenly becomes these new songs, these new ways to write songs and [to] express [the] emotion attached to a character."
Listen to the five preview tracks below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
mi Mandela Tracklist:
01. Aero Mathata
02. So Many People feat. Shaun Escoffery
03. You Give Me Love feat. Maverick Sabre
04. Thank You For Freedom
05. One feat. George The Poet
06. mi Mandela
07. Tree feat. Audra Mae & Cody ChesnuTT
08. Home feat. Maverick Sabre
09. Nothembi Jam
10. Hold On feat. Thabo & George The Poet
11. Soldiers Don't Back Down
