Lyrical Pen

Business as usual at Wendy’s launch

Considering that Wendy Harawa is a good buddy of mine I should have been waxing lyrical about the launch of her fourth album called Nalliah but I would love to make my point with brutal honesty to ensure that we get better deals next time.

If there is anything really unique about Wendy’s album launch in Lilongwe on April’s fools day then it was the sound quality that was being mastered by the guru in the art himself Lemekezani Phiri.

Perhaps one other distinctive thing was that the musical equipment for the launch was provided for free by Karonga Parliamentarian Frank Tumpale Mwenefumbo who also patronised the show. This was distinctive because apart from a few that I can point out like Dr. Crowd (the late), Billy Kaunda and Lucius Banda, I didn’t know we have another parliamentarian in Frank who is into music from whatever perception you look at it.

Wendy Harawa is what I would call a commercial music artist who composes and produces music for a profit. When she has packaged her products the finished work ought to be presented to the consumer with some ‘wow’ factor to ensure that as an initial step it leaves a mark to make sales. This kind of ‘splash’ launch is simply called marketing which is not present in the music industry to an extent.

Over the years Wendy has been a constant fixture of Lucius Banda and the Zembani Banda entourage whenever they are performing across the country. What it means is that over time the fans, who are mostly the same that patronise live musical shows, do understand the routine that is put on display when these artists, including Wendy perform.

They know whenever she steps up on stage she will do the re-edition of Lucius Banda’s plight of prisoners that await hanging before bellowing into the microphone if the fans want to dance to Kwasa-Kwasa or reggae—forget the fact that she calls herself Sizzla and the country’s ragga queen.

She then went on to perform in two sets, where she did play the new tracks that only showed her adoration for Lucius Banda as she has redone copies of Lucius’ two tracks one with her own lyrics but same tune.

Like it has become the case with all our bands that conduct live shows, they have a template with a fixed script that people now know by the heart. It is, therefore, important that when these artists are launching a brand new album they should not only have the new songs as the only new thing.

Their stage presentation should also be new; the players of instruments should dig deeper to produce their unique best not to mention putting up innovative marketing tricks. New innovations help amp up that notion that this is more than a typical show that is similar to the norm they exhibit every time they are on the new road.

To have supporting artists like the Organised Family at this particular launch was a brilliant idea. But for me this was a different dismal performance from the Zambian musical outfit.

Two days before the Christmas of 2012 I watched in awe performance of The Organised Family duo at Robins Park in Blantyre. The difference now is that, while five years ago Malawian Mizati Band backed them, this time round it was Zembani Band that took up the mantle.

Zembani Band disappointed. Lack of coordination between the players of instruments and the lively Zambian duo was clear. In short, the launch failed to strike a unique chord that should have teased out the perfect sound, befitting an album launch.

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