Dan Lu sings JB praise

Afro-pop musician Dan Lu has joined a lengthening list of artists singing praise of political rulers.

Last week, the So What hitmaker, who has signed a five-year recording contract with South Africa’s Sisqo Production label, announced the release of PP Yanyamuka, which is based on the slogan of the ruling People’s Party (PP).

Political praise-singing is no new phenomenon, but the single is likely to leave bruised egos feeling the musician is positioning himself for trappings of power in a spree alternatively called kudzigulira malo.

Admittedly, he sounded aware of the single’s propensity to shatter the broadening fan base he has cultivated following five albums since his Shuppie debut at the turn of the millennium. He says it is part of life to venture into new themes after a decade of singing about love, marriage and HIV and Aids.

On Thursday, Dan Lu declared: “I know some people may not like it. Artists have been praising political leaders since time immemorial, but I want to praise the President for her achievements while she is still in power.

“Malawians can sing about anything they dislike, but it will not help us as a nation. I think the President, the first female head of State and government in Southern Africa, needs every Malawian’s encouragement to continue doing the marvelous deeds she has been doing since her ascendance to the throne in April last year.”

The artist was speaking for the first time since the recording of the single at R&B star Lulu’s Mathumela Studios in Lilongwe last month.

Among other things, the song hails President Banda’s administration for ending the scarcity of fuel shortages which left Malawians spending nights on queues in empty filling stations and shortages of foreign currency which sent the business and health sector melting down.

As such, PP Yanyamuka compares and contrasts JB’s year in power with the darkest chapter of her predecessor Bingu wa Mutharika’s rule which forms the talking point of Soldier Lucius Banda scathing hit, Life.

In the end, Dan Lu enters a hall of political singers blazed by Soldier’s Yellow and the late Amina Tepatepa’s Saliwokha Atcheya in praise of United Democratic Front as well as Phungu Joseph Nkasa’s Mose wa Lero and Dr Crowd’s A Bingu in support of Mutharika. And this is the week award-winning Afrojazz veteran Wambali Mkandawire was named in Malawi Congress Party national executive.

The new release is being bankrolled by Freed Marketing Consultants. Its director Davie Kasinja described Dan Lu as a talented artist whose appeal transcends age bounds.