Making of a king

They are from Malawi and Sweden and, together, they form an international band aptly named The Very Best. Their sound comes and goes all over the world. And now, the powerful music duo is set to release their third album, Makes A King.

Their meeting in a thrift shop in London over a decade ago sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it was the origins of a band, distinctive and globally minded dance pop.

Then, Johan Hugo, a Swedish DJ and producer, was not only attracted by Malawi’s Esau Mwamwaya’s percussion skills, but his voice as well for it is high, warm and euphoric.

The rest, as they say is history, as what happened next are two successful albums Warm Heart of Africa and MTMTMK, meaning More To Malawi Than Madonna’s Kids, a tongue-in-cheek reference to ignoramus journalists across the world who knew nothing about Malawi other than the country from where the Queen of Pop adopted two children.

But then a third album drops on April 7. It is The Very Best’s final project for Moshi UK’s Moshi Moshi Record.

A large percentage of the album production was done in Malawi, Mangochi to be precise.

“The album was pretty much done here in Malawi, Johan came here a couple of times last year. On one of his visits, we set a studio in Mangochi on the beaches of NdalaChikowa Village,” Mwamwaya beaks it down.

“Recording is a serious business and we needed to go somewhere, free from disturbances and concentrate on the job at hand. So, much of the production was done here,” he explained as to why the duo had to travel over 300 kilometres from Lilongwe just to record an album.

The heavily bearded Swedish producer chipped in: “We spent two months in Mangochi working on it. The album title is Makes A King and we have 13 tracks on it, but we had a lot more songs.”

“About six more did not make it. These ones will probably make part of a mixtape,” concluded Mwamwaya.

The last album by The Very Best dropped in July 2012. This is apart from two mixtapes that were released in between.

Mwamwaya explains the three year silence: “We gave ourselves time not to rush so that we are satisfied with the outcome instead of just releasing an album for the sake of it. We have worked on this project for about two years.”

Just like with the previous albums, which featured hits like YoshuaAlikuti, Kondaine, Magwiragwira, Yaliraand Kamphopo, Makes A King; songs are both in English and Chichewa, with the later dominating.

The band has also roped in the services of other artists including British singer Seye, who at times comes in as part of The Very Best.

“Other than Seye, who features in one of the songs, we also have Justin Taylor from a band called Justin Ranks from the US as well as Jelele Band, a traditional outfit based in Lilongwe. The album is unique in the sense that it is very organic as there are a lot of guitars, real bass, pianos and traditional Malawian instruments.

“So far, we have no plans of having anything in terms of launch because we have lined up so much in the next months. Currently, we are rehearsing for a tour with Mafilika, which starts in June. We might do a show in Malawi in May when I come back before leaving for the tour, which if it all goes well, will take us about a year,” stated Hugo.

The band has 25 shows in America in 30 days where they will perform at several big festivals.

“In Europe, we have a lot of festivals as well which I cannot talk much about now. If everything goes well, we will tour this year and next year, but of course not all the time,” he said.

Some of the festivals that have already announced The Very Best and Mafilika’s participations are Bonalu and Sierra Nevada World Music Festival.

Mafilika will be backing The Very Best throughout the tour with a couple of performances lined up for the four piece band. The band comprises Ernest Ikwanga on lead guitar, Ephraim Chambota on bass guitar, Sam MjuraMkandawire on keyboards and Amos Mlolowa on drums.

“Of course, there are a number of shows in America for instance, which Mafilika will have to do on their own. We chose Mafilika because they don’t just play one genre of music, they are talented boys and think outside the box. We tried them after people recommended them to us. They are impressive,” mused Hugo.