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International music market continues to elude Malawian musicians

Malawian musician Esau Mwamwaya has scaled the international stage, performing at global festivals in Europe and Asia
Malawian musician Esau Mwamwaya has scaled the international stage, performing at global festivals in Europe and Asia

Seasons come and go and so is music. There was time when Malawian music market and public places in the country were dominated by Oliver Mtukudzi’s mbira music and other popular hits by John Chibadura and Leonard Dembo of Zimbabwe.

Later, came South Africa with its great artists—Ntombi Marumbini, Brenda Fassie and Lucky Dube among others.

Like in relay game, dombolo and kwasa-kwasa from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also dictated before rhumba and other genres from Central Africa ruled the Malawian airwaves.

The journey continues and Malawi now dances to more of South African house and Zambian genres apart from other international genres.

The phenomenon is not strange—Malawians prefer foreign services to local ones.

A king is respected in a foreign land, it is said. But why is Malawian music failing to make it in foreign countries and get an international nod?

Very few artists have made a mark on the international scene, with only a handful of individuals making some notable strides in neighbouring countries.

Skeffa Chimoto is one whose music is reputed to sell thousands of units in Zambia.

Beyond that, only Esau Mwamwaya, relatively unknown in Malawi, has scaled the international stage.

As part of the celebrated global Afro-pop duo who call themselves The Very Best, Mwamwaya has scaled the international stage, performing at global festivals in Europe and Asia.

Recently, The Very Best went on a sold-out 23 state tour in America where they wowed the US audience with their fine mix of jazz fusion, Afro-Western, dance, hip hop, pop and traditional Malawian.

The Very Best are currently signed on to Moshi Moshi label in the United Kingdom.

This signifies that the country has the potential to make it, but why is it taking so long for many to breakthrough?

Ben Michael Mankhamba, who is now Chief Chingalire in Lilongwe, says the first question to be put to debate should be where Malawi is in the quest of having a music industry?

He says Malawi needs to first understand what a music industry is, remarking that many countries have easily broken through because they defined their music industry and made it recognisable to foreign music industries.

Mankhamba said a music industry is defined by promoters, choreographers, producers, managers and artists working in a well-managed environment.

“The first issue is about organisation. Are we organised as artists and do we have a substantial support for our activities? A complete artist needs to have a manager, promoter and producers and all these should work as a team and in contract agreements. The artist should not go around discussing deals with individual people, but the manager and that is what we call professionalism,” he said.

Mankhamba who has toured several countries with music shows including Germany, Japan, Algeria, and Scotland, revealed that it has always been an embarrassment to the country when local artists meet foreign artists for deals.

“When you meet foreign artists and you start negotiating for a deal, they refer you to their managers, but what happens here is that artists themselves perform all the duties and by the end of the day we do not look professional,” said Mankhamba.

He added that most musicians in the country are illiterate and some cannot use the internet to send official communication to companies or fellow artists outside the country.

“Music is being sold on the internet but I cannot hide it from you, I do not understand the whole concept and this means I need a manager. There are companies willing to sponsor artists outside Malawi, but if they receive an email directly from me, they will not take me seriously.

“This means we need civilised and patriotic managers with exposure who can work hand in hand with foreign managers to create deals between local artists and foreign artists. If some of our music makes it there, then we are international,” he said.

Musicians Association of Malawi (Mam) president Chimwemwe Mhango says it is too early to talk about going international full force at the moment. He said Malawi music is not organised to worth recognition.

He said the first step should be the implementation of policies that support arts and make the art environment conducive to every artist.

Mhango said Malawi is one of the few countries without a record label and says this makes it tough for foreign music practitioners to think about the country. He says the first step should be to facilitate having a record company.

Secondly, Mhango says it is high time all music recorded should be accommodated in the country.

He says this is killing talent.

“We need a body that should look at all songs produced before they are released to the public. Unbaked music should be sent back to the studio for improvement. This body should also work with radio stations to prioritise only best songs for airing. This will promote seriousness and quality music production,” he said.

After achieving these, Mhango says the corporate world should come in.

He said the corporate world is not attracted to music because of the quality and sustainability of musicians, but said if serious music becomes the order of the day, more sponsors will come in.

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