Chill

Malawi music industry promising

Malawi music industry continues going through changes as days go by. From trying to find new ways of marketing music to breaking the international market, Malawian artists have tried it all. But there is no much progress. Our entertainment editor EDITH GONDWE caught up with TONDERAI JAI BANDA, music promoter and artists manager and discussed a number of issues affecting the country’s music indutry.

Tonderai: Malawian music has a bright future

Q: Malawi music industry has a lot of musicians. But not many of them are making it big. What is the problem?

A

: They are not making it big because they lack innovation. Artists need to be more than just about music, for example in other countries artists are very much celebrated as they do more. They have clothing line, merchandise, create dancing routine of their songs which make their music hits on the market. In Malawi we donot have surprise performances or flash mood which would help artists to get close to their fans and showcase their talent on live performance. These are some of the ways that make artists to be celebrated. The other thing is they do not have strategy on marketing themselves be it on social media, radio, press or television.

 

Q

: The spirit of having managers is new in Malawi. Do you think having managers is crucial in an artist’s career looking at the local scenario?

A

: It is a common thought for artists to either not understand the full role of a manager, or to believe that one is not needed [depending on artist aims and the achievability of these]. A manager will help to expose his or her artist to the masses by using his/her contacts to help an artist gain such things as: gigs, reviews, attention from record labels, and further helpful platforms to push and promote one as an artist. After all, the manager’s name is associated with his artist’s act, so they will want to promote and expose the artist as much as possible in a mutually beneficial way. There is often no limit to a managers contact list, and this is arguably the most useful aspect. Having awareness raised about your artist within the industry as well as to the public.

 

Q

:  We have seen some artists do collaborations with international artists. Do you think the collaborations have a bearing in one’s career or artists just do these things for fame and fun?

A

: In Malawi, it feels like they do it for fame and fun because mostly they do not go anywhere and you won’t see them doing another collaboration after the first one. It feels like during the collaboration they do not put their best in it, as you won’t see any other international artists wanting or dying to work with them again.

 

Q

:  Music in Malawi has been described as not good enough. Do you share this notion?

A

: No, I don’t. I choose not to comment much. You know how the music is now and how it was back then. For example, back in the days we did not see our music on international television channels or top 10 music charts. We have a number of artists performing at international festivals which was not common back in the days.

 

Q

:  Artists in Malawi are perceived generally to be people of loose morals and bad models for their fans. What is your take on an artist’s public and private life? Do they have to be separated?

A

: Artists are not one and the same. Once a number of them do it, people think all of them are doing the same and it is not only in Malawi but in most countries. It is is common as the say bad news sells more, so some artists do it to get more famous which is wrong and call it publicity stunt. And let’s not forget, they are humans too. They are bound to make mistakes and it’s funny how one can do nice things for people all the times and  never get noticed, but once they make one mistake it’s never forgotten.

 

Q

: Finally, with the problems in proper music markets, do you still see a future in Malawi music? Or technology is killing the art?

A

: Yes there  is a future,  it’s just a matter of time. We will use the right way to sell our music using the advanced technology. Most people could not buy music from platforms like iTunes because we did not have bank cards permitting us to carry out that transaction, but now with banks like Ecobank you are able to buy. And with the technology our market is becoming larger in terms of range; one can easily cross the borders. n

 

Related Articles

Back to top button