The influence and tilt that Evison Matafale’s music holds on Malawi’s music narrative looms larger beyond his two career album contributions, Kuyimba 1 and Kuyimba 2.
Today marks exactly 24-years since the local reggae music icon died while in police custody. Despite the gulf in period between 2001 and now, his music continues to echo greatness.
The messages in most of his compositions still reflect realities of the present day. The delivery and the precision of the production has led to many people arguing that Matafale may be Malawi’s greatest reggae musician.
When one listens to compositions such as No Winner No Loser, Malawi, Nkhawi Bii, Somewhere or Nowhere and Chauta Ngwamphamvu from his first album released in 1999, you can appreciate how futuristic he set his mind.
Matafale released his debut album backed by the Wailing Brothers Band, an outfit comprising his sibling cousins Takudziwani, Paul and Elias Chokani and Michael Jana.
He then formed his own Black Missionaries Band, again comprising his cousins from the Arnold Fumulani family tree; Anjiru, Msamude, Chizondi Fumulani and Peter Amidu. This is the band that has continued Matafale’s music legacy.
Anjiru said in an interview yesterday: “He is our hero, mentor
and founder of the band. He has contributed a lot to the band and our careers. We shall remember him forever.”
The Black Missionaries Band front-man said he remembers Matafale as a hardworking individual, full of wisdom and one who always offered encouragement to his colleagues. Anjiru said as a collective, they learnt and benefitted a lot from him.
In a separate interview yesterday, Takudziwani recalled the numerous false starts they encountered before their eventual breakthrough album in 1999. He said the determination and vision that Matafale had made it possible for them to overcome the challenges.
He said: “He really wanted to be a musician of reckon. His belief motivated us to take music as a career. We produced some music which did not make it on the market. That time there were few outlets and studios were limited too. It was not easy.”
Takudziwani said at the time of producing Kuyimba 1, they had to withstand the pressure of producing music with a local feel, which was a trend at the time.
“Matafale never wrote his songs on paper, he could just explain to us what he wanted to sing. We sat down as a group and decided how best to execute the songs. We did not want to produce music which would soon be overridden by other genres, so we stuck to reggae,” he said.
The Matafale Memorial Show
will be held on Sunday at Gadaga Ground, Chileka in Blantyre District. The event is also used to celebrate the life of Msamude and Gift Fumulani
