Desire Marea

Listen To The New Track

DESIRE MAREA’S NEW EP THE BADDIES OF ISANDLWANA – OUT 9 NOV

AN INFUSION OF SOUNDS THAT DOMINATE THE NIGHTLIFE IN SA, A QUEST TO FIND HIMSELF IN HISTORY

A BRAND NEW TRACK, THE ONLY WAY

DEBUT UK TOUR STARTS THIS WEEK, FOLLOWED BY RARE EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

South Africa-based artist Desire Marea has today shared a brand new track, ‘The Only Way’, the latest taste of what to expect from the new EP, The Baddies of Isandlwana, out on 9 November 2023:

Desire Marea explains, “I was really just feeling myself here, it’s one song where I fully express my bad bitch energy. It’s giving pheromones at a beach party on the African coast.”

The new EP follows a rare tour that will see Desire and his band in the UK and Europe for the first time since an appearance at Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival in London. Kicking off in Leeds on 12 October, the tour continues through October and November – full details below.

The Baddies of Isandlwana is, according to Desire, “…a trio of songs inspired by my time living in Amandawe, KZN. It’s an infusion of sounds that dominate nightlife in SA such as Gqom, Amapiano and Afrobeat. The EP is symbolic of a time when I was trying to find myself in the world I occupied, which extended to my ongoing quest to find myself in history, hence the title.” 

The title refers to the 1879 Battle of Isandlwana, the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu war which ended with a decisive victory for the Zulus, and it was this search for himself in history that prompted Desire to contemplate the lives of the LGBT+ soldiers in the Zulu army.

‘The Only Way’ follows the incredible video Triana Hernandez created for the Orchestral Gqom of ‘If You Know’: https://youtu.be/sGgM5iHqYfY 

DESIRE MAREA – UK AND EUROPEAN TOUR

12 Oct – Leeds (UK), Transform festival

13 Oct – Glasgow (UK), Take Me Somewhere festival, Tramway 4

15 Oct – Newcastle (UK), Cobalt Studios

17 Oct – London (UK), Hoxton Hall

19 Oct – Brussels (BE), Beursschouwburg

20 Oct – Cologne (DE), Jaki

21 Oct – Munich (DE), Ritournelle Festival

22 Oct – Prague (CZ), Kasarna Karlin

23 Oct – Vienna (AT), Chelsea

26 Oct – Zurich (CH), Gessnerallee

28 Oct – Paris (UK), Le Petit Bain

30 Oct – Amsterdam (NL), Tolhuistin

1 Nov – Hamburg (DE), MS Stubnitz

2 Nov – Leipzig (DE), Institut für Zukunft 

3 Nov – Berlin (DE), Volksbühne

4 Nov – Oslo (NO), The Oslo World Festival, The National Museum

Pre-order The Baddies of Isandlwana: https://mute.ffm.to/desiremarea-tbi

The Baddies of Isandlwana tracklisting

The Only Way

If You Know 

Tholakele

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