This and That

Busy Signal? See you at Sand Fest

 

 

Good people, busy signal is no longer what you loathe when local mobile phone networks waste your money doing what they are not supposed to do when connecting people. Rather, it is now the word on the mouth of every Malawian who cares to be trendy in the eyes of many. It is official, done and dusted, they say.

Jamaican reggae maestro Busy Signal is coming to the shores of Lake Malawi, thanks to Sand Festival slated for next weekend. Mark October 31.The setting is Sunbird Livingstonia Beach in Salima.

 

So infectious is the news of the big jam even people that have never set a foot at any of the numerous festivals on these shores are talking about Reggae Music Again. The reaction makes one believe Lucky Dube’s catch line: Nobody Can Stop Reggae. Reggae seems strong. However, the truth is that nobody can stop Malawians from doing the things they do in search of a little more attention t h a n t h e y deserve. Just last month, most of the people screaming Busy Signal this, Busy Signal that were s h a m e l e s s doubters telling the world Sand Festival would be a waste of time because t h e h u g e l y p u b l i c i s e d headliner was not part of the fledging music feast anyway. In their jig, they wanted gig-goers to believe there was no way a festival which failed to bring forth Zambian B1 of Chishala a few years ago would get the nod of a global star of Busy S i g n a l ’ s standing. N o b o d y w o u l d blame the skeptics for grabbing B u s y S i g n a l ’ s e a r l i e r indications as if they had been waiting for it throughout their life. Now that the Jamaican has offered f i r m confirmation the Salima encounter, it is clear: if the

organisers announced the deal too early, then the critics celebrated way before time. One can hazard a guess that the brains behind the Sand Fest and Busy’s Deal will be contented to say: “Those who are for us are not against us.” It’s pretty clear the festival needs all that publicity from trusted show-goers as well as fickle loudmouths.

However, one can only hope the buzzing vibe about Busy Signal is not just another way for crooked minds to hoodwink their partners to grant them weekend-long visas for forbidden sexual encounters and other extra-musical dangerous pleasures far away from the famed festival grounds. Lucius Banda and his ‘accomplice’ Bon Afrikan will not openly discuss what it takes to procure a big-name international star. But so huge are the costs it requires the goodwill and and

participation of the greatest crowd possible. If all those subjecting phone users to busy signals bragging about the date with the Reggae Music Again hitmaker travelled to Sunbird Livingstonia Beach, what a great multitude it would be. Most probably the greatest pilgrimage to the golden sands of the continent’s third-largest fresh-water lake.

Born Afrikan & Co envisage this every time they go shopping for the likes of Most High Jah star Fantan Mojah, Jah Messenger Luciano and the December 27 date with the Morgan Heritage aka the Royal Family of Reggae. Let them down and they will let up.

Up the beat I’m told you know you are watching a Malawian music video when you see someone playing a guitar but you don’t hear the sweet sound of the plucking instrument

It’s no news the hands that produce the videos have taken their lazeness and clueless ways to a new low and many silently ask: what happened to the guitar prowess of Saleta Phiri, Allan Namoko, Daniel Kachamba, Wambali Mkandawire and Sam Mjura Jr?

When you see a person plucking a guitar in a song with an overload of keyboard clicks and computer-programmed sounds, tell them it’s time to meet veteran Wendham Chechamba and learn the real thing. Otherwise, mediocrity is when one seems to think imitation is better than the authentic tool they are mimicking. What happened to Malawi’s Johnny B. Goodes, the geniuses who used to play guitars like what Peter Tosh calls “ringing a bell”? n

 

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