Meet a man who is buying Nkasa a car

Recently local music enthusiasts were startled when one music fan Caleb Thole pledged K300 000 towards a drive to have forgotten music star Joseph Nkasa perform on trending online arts platform Mikozi Network. After the performance, Thole pledged to mobilise resources to buy the legendary composer a car. Before his pledge was fulfilled, he donated to Nkasa household furniture worth K2.6 million. As the count down to the delivery of the car ends today, our Staff Reporter BRIAN ITAI caught up with Thole on Wednesday to ask him more about himself and his thoughts on Malawian music. Excerpts:  

Q

: Who is Caleb Thole?

A

: Caleb Thole is a social entrepreneur and a businessman. I am 34 years old and I currently reside in Lilongwe.

Q

: You seem to have considerable passion for the arts, where does this stem from?

A

: I am one of the Malawian philanthropists who has done a lot of charity work in Malawi and at international level. I am currently the director of Global Hope Mobilisation (Glohomo). Our organisation has supported over three million people for the past three years in education, health and livelihood. My organisation is also in Mozambique, Zambia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe where it has supported over five million people with access to education, health and livelihoods including emergency response.

I have worked for international organisations in the region and have been to many countries to do charity work. Some of the positions I have held in different organisations include my current position as executive director for Glohomo, chairperson for Africa Agriculture Holdings, chairperson for Southern and Eastern Africa Youth Conference on HIV and Aids, chairperson for JIP Limited, chairperson for Centre for Sports, Culture and Arts (Cesca) and general secretary for Jesus Centred Church.

Q

: You recently mobilised resources to help musician Joseph Nkasa. Why did you single him out of all other local artists?

A

: I am the chairperson of Cesca whose objectives include promoting sports, culture, arts and the welfare of those engaging in these trades.

It’s worrisome that some artists die without enjoying the labour of their work. That brings in the case of Nkasa who has done a lot of music.He is a legend and this is no deniable fact. All we want is to honour these individuals in a modest way that we can manage as per their contribution.

But that is not the only area we have helped in. Our organisation supported artists to perform on Mikozi Online platform for a year during the Covid-19 pandemic. Almost 10 established and 40 up-and-coming artists were supported. One of them was Thomas Chibade. We have also previously supported UMP Awards with K1 million. We have supported Fatsani movie with K500 000, and we raised household items to support Nkasa worth K2.6 million. We have helped Nkasa and other forgotten musicians to come to the limelight. We are buying him a car not for luxury but for business and his livelihood. We will do more for more artists.

Q

: You pledged to buy him a car by April 30, where are you with that promise?

A

: Nkasa will get his car. All the plans of buying him the car are progressing well. We have raised the amount, but we are now liaising with him pertaining to the type of car that he wants. So, it’s either we may meet the April 30 target or slightly go beyond it.

Q

: You have set up the Job, Arts and Culture Initiative, explain its objectives?

A

: Cesca is an organisation registered to promote sports, culture and arts in Malawi and Africa at large. It is also aimed at supporting the welfare of players in those fields. So this initiative is a project which is falling under Cesca as an organisation. Our main focus is to improve the welfare of our artists.

Q

: What is your view of the ideal Malawian art industry?

A

: There is huge potential on the local front. But in the music production chain we have issues of conceptualisation, production and writing. We seem to have gaps along this production circle. We don’t have songwriters and no definition of roles in the value chain. Our artists need to have a purpose. Some just want to attain fame, but in the end they don’t know what to do with that fame. The likes of Davido just release one song a year but they attain global fame.

We also have to look at some of the laws guiding arts in Malawi. Some of the provisions we have are not facilitating for the growth of the industry. We also look to at the culture in the manner the music is consumed. The trends that are there now are not encouraging and have a lot of gaps. We want to engage many players in the industry that we can train so that in the end we have an industry which can employ a lot of people.