Mam, Banda call for budding artists support

Days after Nigerian hip hop artist Innocent Idibia aka 2 Face tipped Malawians that artists can only grow if given total support by local people, Musicians Association of Malawi (Mam) and Veteran secular artist Lucius Banda have lamented lack of support to budding artists.

Mam president Reverend Chimwemwe Mhango and Banda made the remarks in separate interviews over the weekend that Malawians lack the sense of appreciating new talent.

“The artists you call are big today, had their beginnings and people supported them by giving them good patronage and today they are favourites. We cannot live banking on the same artists. We need new faces and a variety of music and we can spot these at music shows.

“Most budding artists fail to hold a show because they know their names cannot attract good patronage unless there are popular artists. This should not be the trend. We need to take any released song seriously until it fails to impress,” said Mhango.

Banda revealed that organisers are forced to use same artists when organising events because they pull a large patronage.

“We are killing the new comers. You can also observe that when a new comer is on stage, people give him or her poor attention and sometimes boo them. This just demoralises them. We need to learn to listen to new talent and be proud of any artists who attempts to add value to the music industry,” he said.

Banda revealed that he is on a mission to promote music talents in youths by incorporating budding artists in music shows headlined by popular artists.

He also said he is promoting the music festivals to give budding artists a chance to expose their talent.

“I have a testimony that budding artists make a lot of money during festivals because they are paid in contract agreements. It is also this money that has helped many new artists to produce albums. However, festivals are come in times and so we need a strategy that can support their work throughout,” said Banda.