Nine Hours Behind cover art

Song · Nine Hours Behind

Fire in the River

“Fire in the River” is track 7 on Rob Matare's Afro-Pop & Amapiano album Nine Hours Behind, released October 9, 2026. Afro-pop for love across time zones: a long-distance choir, a phone torch, and "Ngibonise Okwakho" for the dance floor.

Rob MatareAfro-Pop & Amapiano4:14Home & Faith

Watch the lyric video

Fire in the River — lyric video

“Fire in the River” lyrics

Ohh, ohh
Fire, fire
Ohh, ohh
In the water, in the night

Dust on my skin and the moon sits low
Feet in the earth where the wild winds blow
Drums in my chest like a distant prayer
Something is calling me out there

Hands to the sky and I breathe in slow
Old kind of feeling I used to know
Smoke in the dark and a rising flame
Nobody leaves here the way they came

Hold on
The river is speaking
Move close
The silence is breaking

Fire in the river now
Call me where the night runs
I can feel the ground wake under my feet
I can hear the light come out of the dark

Take me through the sound now
Carry me where dawn comes
I can feel the heat turn into a sign
I can feel the stars moving in my blood

Low voices move through the midnight air
Gold in the dust and a spark somewhere
Step by step when the shadows sway
The heart finds a different way

No fear now when the bass line rolls
Deep like a secret inside my bones
One more turn and the walls fall down
Lost then found in the rhythm now

Stand up
The water is turning
Wake up
The fire is burning

Fire in the river now
Call me where the night runs
I can feel the ground wake under my feet
I can hear the light come out of the dark

Take me through the sound now
Carry me where dawn comes
I can feel the heat turn into a sign
I can feel the stars moving in my blood

When the sky goes black
We become the echo
When the drum comes back
We become the thunder

No chains, no sleep
Just breath and motion
No name, just flame
Inside the ocean

Fire in the river now
Call me where the night runs
I can feel the whole world turn in my chest
I can hear a new name rise from the dark

Take me through the sound now
Carry me where dawn comes
I can feel the heat turn into a sign
I can feel my soul bloom into the light
I can feel my soul bloom into the light

Ohh, ohh
Fire in the river
Ohh, ohh
Stay with me tonight

Lyrics written by Rob Matare. Written by me • made with AI. Artist visuals are digitally created.

More from Nine Hours Behind

  1. 1Long Distance Choir3:42
  2. 2Baba, Ngivulele3:58
  3. 3Vala Ikhethini3:36
  4. 4Ngibonise Okwakho3:39
  5. 5She Never Left4:49
  6. 6Siyajabula Today3:12
  7. 8Phone Torch2:38
  8. 9Closer Than the Map3:06
  9. 10Before I Speak4:36
  10. 11Last Train to Diepkloof4:42
  11. 12Yima Nami4:20
  12. 13The Smoking Area3:26
  13. 14Coastline on My Palm3:11
  14. 15Off Duty, On the Floor3:38
  15. 16Every Wall Remembers3:17
  16. 17Nine Hours Behind3:37
  17. 18Daughter, Watch How He Loves4:33
  18. 19The Morning Is Mine3:20
  19. 20Bheka Ekhukhwini3:14
  20. 21Amagama Akhona3:50
  21. 22Dance With Me in Candlelight2:51
  22. 23Phambili2:07
  23. 24Sauti Yako Usiku4:53

Previews provided courtesy of iTunes. Listen on Apple Music