It was not, once again, a night of celebrating Giddes Chalamanda’s life-long career in music.
But last Saturday night at Mibawa Cafe in Blantyre veteran musician Chalamanda swam in a vast sea of honour when the acoustic duo Edgar ndi Davis dedicated a part of their performance in praise of the living legend.
In what was the return of Edgar ndi Davis at Mibawa Cafe, the award-winning acoustic giants celebrated Chalamanda’s musical agency by comparing his continued relevance to many artists that waned with time.
The duo—who performed for more than three hours to a sizeable audience—performed Tayimba Nawo A Gide and A Gide Akuyimbabe, which saw the octogenarian jiving like a teenager.
He wriggled his waist to the floor like a belly-dancer and threw himself up and down to the ecstasy of fans. The climax of Chalamanda’s jive came when Mizu Band vocalist Eunice Kadzuwa jumped onto the stage to ‘sing and dance for Agide’. She dropped, with the old man, to the floor.
In the song Agide Akuyimbabe, Edgar ndi Davis took on songs that were great hits just for a moment and went into permanent hibernation.
Among others, such songs included: Mbewa Zanga and Tchekera Maluzi.
After the dance for ‘Agide moment’, the old musician was retired to rest paving the way for the duo to take it themselves. However, before Agide was rested, Davis called on Malawians to ‘continue honouring Agide for he is a stalwart for Malawi’s musical tradition’.
In their electric performance, characterised by intense dancing and jumping, the duo gave out the best from all their albums. Wazelezeka was also performed—albeit with a different original purely acoustic version.
Some in the audience, however, noted that the group, with each passing moment, is losing its original acoustic identity, arguing they are mostly turning into a popular band.
The group began as a purely acoustic band—choosing to perform only with guitars.
However, with time, their performances are being backed with a complete band set-up.
