Lusubilo Centre to turn into music university
Having established itself as a music hub that has equipped several artists with expertise in music production, Lusubilo Music Centre in Karonga has garnered enough courage to turn into a music university.
The centre’s founder, Professor Chungja Kim, said the establishment of the university is among the centre’s long term plans.
She said funds for the construction of the campus have already been secured and the institution will become operational in three years.
“When I came to Malawi, I made three promises; the first one is to take Lusubilo Band to perform in South Korea, the second one was to send some students from the centre for further degree courses in Korea and the third was to establish the Malawi University of Music. So far, I have accomplished the first two, so my focus now is on the opening of the university whose funds are already available,” said Kim.
The South Korean native said the university will offer various courses in music production in addition to producing music teachers who will be teaching music in primary and secondary schools.
The Lusubilo founder added that Malawi has a lot of music talent that, if nurtured from the grassroots, has the potential of driving Malawian music beyond the country’s borders.
“My analysis is that Malawi has potential in producing international music stars, but the challenge is that there are no basic lessons in music right from the grassroots level such as primary schools. It is important for government to have music teachers in primary schools so that they should teach young ones at that level. With such an arrangement, the country can reap a lot from music like what other countries such as America and Jamaica are doing,” said Kim.
She said since her arrival in Malawi, she has spotted a lot of music talent that, if groomed at an early stage, would by now be recognised internationally.
“My stand is that Malawi has abundant music talent, but the learning structure is insufficient. I, therefore, aim to reorganise such poor set up,” said Kim.
Commenting on the development, Music Union of Malawi (MUM) president Chimwemwe Mhango welcomed the idea saying it is an initiative worth implementing.
He said the programme has come at the right time because government does not seem to support music education.
“This is a positive development worth commending. Malawi has never taken music education seriously and that is why in so many areas, musicians are lagging behind. Not many musicians can write and read music despite being talented. But music is a universal language and if we cannot learn it we cannot communicate effectively globally. I urge government to support this so that our nation should develop musically, both theoretically and performance wise,” said Mhango.
