In the wake of his first GRAMMY® Award for Best Global Music Album—an accolade that also marked the inaugural win for the venerable Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—Matt B unveils the Dolby Atmos edition of his critically acclaimed ALKEBULAN II, arriving March 28. More than a re-release, this iteration emerges as an auditory revelation: an immersive, multidimensional experience that deepens the album’s artistic resonance while redefining the contours of global music.
The second chapter in Matt B’s ambitious ALKEBULAN series, ALKEBULAN II is a masterstroke of cultural homage and contemporary innovation. Woven through with threads of African heritage, diasporic narrative, and orchestral grandeur, the album marries traditional percussive elements with sweeping symphonic arrangements, brought vividly to life through the pristine spatial detail of Dolby Atmos. The result is an experience not merely heard, but embodied—a sonic architecture that envelops the listener in every nuance and emotional register.
– https://music.apple.com/us/album/alkebulan-ii/1758101741
Recorded at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios, the project unites an exceptional roster of collaborators, including Nomfundo Khambule and GRAMMY®-nominated spoken word artist Sekou Andrews. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra lends its gravitas to Matt B’s genre-defying vision, elevating each composition into the realm of the cinematic. Now, through the Atmos format, listeners are invited into a rarefied auditory space where melody and meaning unfold with astonishing clarity and dimensionality.
The album’s centerpiece, “NO WAHALA,” a past winner of Best Song – Short Film at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, encapsulates the project’s ethos: defiant joy, cross-cultural celebration, and an unwavering reverence for ancestral roots. In its Dolby Atmos form, the track breathes with new vitality, its polyrhythms and vocal textures emerging as if sculpted from air itself.
Yet ALKEBULAN II is not solely a musical endeavor—it is a visual and philosophical one as well. The accompanying short film, co-directed by Matt B and Angela V. Benson and filmed across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Swakopmund, and Windhoek, is a testament to the album’s cinematic ambition. A work of striking visual poetry, the film amplifies the record’s themes of resilience, cultural inheritance, and global unity. With forthcoming screenings at premier international film festivals, the project further positions Matt B as not only a sonic innovator but a multidisciplinary auteur.
Matt B’s ascent is nothing short of extraordinary. From charting across Asia to receiving over 20 major music awards and being named among Ranks Africa’s ‘100 Most Influential People in Entertainment,’ his trajectory exemplifies a rare synthesis of artistic integrity and global appeal.
