Annie Matumbi settles personal issues on stage
When Mibawa Television announced that dancehall musician Annie Matumbi would be the television’s Saturday Night Live performer for Easter Saturday, some fans doubted he would step up and give a good show.
But come Saturday night, the artist was upbeat and confidently jumped on stage at 8.08pm with his introductory song Greetings Malawi. Wearing a Scottish kilt, a white short and boots, the artist was clearly on cloud nine.
He then started belting out songs from his various albums which included Amayi, Abambo, Chidikhodikho, Julie and Agogo.
But one thing that was clear was that the artist was not going to leave the stage before airing out a few issues that were bothering him.
First, he scored a personal matter with some unnamed Sand Music Festival organisers whom he accused of trying to stop Lucius Banda from hiring him as a director of ceremonies at the festival which was headlined by Jamaican dancehall musician Busy Signal.
“Soldier had to ask me to do my best and not to disappoint him because some members of his organising team had vehemently denied having me as the MC. Come the day of the festival, I performed my duty as MC beyond expectation.
“You know who you are, shame on you,” said Matumbi as he incorporated the story in his freestyle riddim.
Next, the musician turned to politics where he also accused an unnamed politician of duping him after hiring him to perform at his political rally.
“Anandiuza man Thumbi tiyeni mukabhebhetse ku msonkhano wanga. Ine kukayimba kumene kuja za bhoo bhoo koma mpaka pano ndikudikilabe ndalama zanga [He asked me to perform at his rally and I did. But up to now, years later I am yet to be paid],” he added on another free style.
After he performed a few more songs, the artist once again directed his attention at the social media community for doubting him and issuing him too many instructions.
“People on social media said I should not speak a lot, but just sing. Now that is not how my music goes. I will talk and talk. That is me,” he said with a laugh.
Throughout his two-and-half-hour performance, Matumbi threw jokes around and interacted with the audience that had attended the performance at Mibawa Multipurpose Hall.
Though his performance was a clear departure from the other performances that have been gracing the Mibawa stage, Matumbi’s performance had a clear entertaining and unique feel to it due to his light-hearted wit and comic approach.
He was, however, out of breath on several occasions, singing off key here and there and also appeared a little ill-prepared with his backing vocals and band, prompting him to issue several instructions to the band throughout his performance.
