Evison Matafale: Remembering the reggae icon

In a summer season like this, twelve years ago, a dark cloud descended on Malawi to claim the life of reggae maestro Evison Matafale.

Indisputably, that was a fall of a hero in the making.

His death was a nip in the bud as Matafale had already set the pace that shook almost all corners of the industry.

When Matafale died, he was hailed as the uncrowned king of reggae in Malawi.

The accolades was conferred on him as soon as his casket was lowered at Singano Graveyard in Chileka, a stone’s throw away from his mother’s house.

Two months later, he was recognised as Man of the Year during the 2001 Entertainers of the Year Awards.

The same year, he was also voted The Nation’s Man of the Year, becoming only the second musician after Lucius Banda to achieve that feat.

He was born on November 20, 1969 at Singano Village in Chileka, Blantyre.

He spent most of his life in Blantyre where he lived with his parents. His father worked with the Civil Aviation Department.

Matafale’s journey into music started at the age of nine.

Patrick Chisale, who followed Matafale, says the musician’s breakthrough was out of sheer hard work.

Apart from other factors, Chisale says growing up in a village where there were several artists influenced his passion to music.

Matafale’s passion grew strong after joining Chinkango Seventh Day Adventist (SDA).

He was in primary school at Chigumukile then before proceeding to Nyambadwe Malawi Distance College of Education (MCDE).

However, he could not break through to professional music and between 1996 and 1997, he left for Zimbabwe.

While there, he met several music groups and recorded the demo for Kuimba 1 with Zimbabwean musician Isaac Chirwa.

Unfortunately, things did not turn his way in the foreign land as he sought employment in tobacco farms to make ends meet.

His half-bother, the late Davis Kapito brought him back home, entincing the firebrand Matafale with a promise to fund his music album.

Thus, Matafale found himself at MC Studios where he met producer maestro Chuma Soko to record Kuimba 1.

Beyond everyone’s expectation, Kuimba 1 which was released in 2000, was warmly welcomed both in the media and on the market.

The lead single Watsetsereka enjoyed massive airplay on radio and dominated music charts and ushered Matafale as the new star of Malawian music.

This energised him to compose several hits and start planning for Kuimba 2.

Matafale sent a real image of his calibre with the release of Kuimba 2 in 2001 where there are hits such as Olenga Dzuwa, Yanga’na Nkhope and Time Mark.

However, it was Yang’ana Nkhope, a hit that promotes oneness, that scored a mark.

It was voted MBC Entertainers of the Year second best hit of the year 2001, a second achievement for the musician who had already been named Musician of the Year. It received 510 votes against Coss Chiwalo’s Wakwatiwa which got 656.

What was sad though, was that most of the success that he achieved came after his death.

Matafale’s death still raises more questions than answers. He died while in police custody on allegations that he authored and circulated anti-government documents.

At the time of his death at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, he had just been recovering from TB and a preliminary autopsy suggested that he had died of pneumonia.

Matafale died as he lived. During his life, he was always surrounded by controversy.

He was once hunted down by police for breaking the glass shelves at music distributor OG Issa’s shop after an argument over his music sales.

The musician showed up at The Nation offices in Blantyre soon after the reports, complaining that Malawian musicians get a raw deal.

Said the fire brand musician:

“In Malawi, music is a crime. All musicians are criminals because they are fighting evil which some people defend. Because I am a criminal, my future is doomed because my religion requires me to do justice.

“I don’t fear death because my Bible tells me that I should fear the one that kills both the body and the spirit, not the body alone.”

At the time of his death, Matafale was survived by a five-year-old daughter, Theresa.

And this weekend, as scores of his fans trek to Chileka for the annual Evison Matafale Memorial Show, Matafale’s life is celebrated from the contributions he made to music.

Most significant is the founding of the Black Missionaries Band which continues to rule Malawian music as evidenced by talent he nurtured into cousins Musamude, Anjiru Fumulani and other band members.

Again, what is most missed is his voice and the creativity.

Matafale was a complete artist who could compose both Chichewa and English songs and sound the same.

Going international is every artist’s dream, but if it was not for his death, Matafale could by now have achieved that status.

Think of hits such as Time Mark where he sings in good English making the song relevant to everyone that speaks English.