The day was Sunday, the platform was Winehouse in Namiwawa, Blantyre and the stage was set for trending artist Keturah to show her newly-found followers what she can do on a live set.
The artist is enjoying some unprecedented limelight, both through her music and her increased visibility on social media. Her antics with her manager, social media influencer Pemphero Mphande, have captured many people’s attention.
Though she has been around for some time as an artist, a section of music followers have still been asking questions as to who the new music sensation really is. Over the weekend an opportunity presented itself to deliver her response to such cynical perceptions.
Keturah had two live performances lined up: one took place on Saturday at Jacaranda Cultural Centre and another on Sunday at Winehouse, both in Blantyre.
The audience at Winehouse was made to wait for the artist till around 6.30pm although the show was scheduled to start at 4pm. The sizeable audience was forced to listen to some rendition of instrumentation after all the supporting artists had finished their sets.
Neil Nayar was the curtain-raiser and he did the audience justice by delivering a number of Chichewa covers including his own version of the trending Chiyanjano Women’s Choir song Ambuye Ali Liki Liki.
Among the audience were artists such as Code Sangala, John Jay Jay Kutsokwe, Find Codi and Marko Sidiki. The audience demanded a performance from one of them and Marko Sidiki stood up to save his colleagues some blushes.
The Linda Bwelera star, who is now based in Nairobi, Kenya, gave a good account of himself. His unmissable deep voice remains his biggest weapon and his work on the guitar was equally impressive.
But after waiting for long, music lovers may have felt cheated as Keturah only performed five songs, which also included a break in between. It was with little wonder that when Mphande appeared to auction the artist’s CD people demanded that she perform one more song.
Her performance was satisfying. Her Vimbuza dance proved a hit as it complemented her traditional beats. However, at times, the songstress looked a bit timid to the audience before her.
Her supporting team, Amalawi Band was faultless. Their application of traditional instruments such as kalimba (xylophone), which was ably manned by actor and event host Super DT and ng’oma (drums) was superb.
