NxtGen’s new era of storytelling

 The art of storytelling in Malawi dates back to an era when grandparents would gather children around a fire place telling appealing stories that have transcended generations.

These moments for long filled people with the warmth of sharing narratives which is still considered an important part of Malawi’s cultural heritage carriage.

However, the contemporary era has experienced a departure from the old days dawning a new era of digital story telling. Storytellers, inspired by the rich legacy of their forebears are using digital platforms to breathe new life ancient narratives including those exploring the history of Malawi.

Recently, a team of creatives at NxtGen Lab, a coding and robotics company, has taken up an initiative to start releasing animated series that will help tell and document the history of Malawi and its culture.

NxtGen Lab’s debut animated series which is on their YouTube channel has already captured the attention of others through visual storytelling in Chichewa.

The choice of Chichewa aligns with the series’ intention of resonating with the local audience as it is aimed at educating Malawians in this way.

The storytelling, however, has shown that it could benefit from a more involved approach. The creation of characters and scenarios is evident while the narrative structure could use voice over talents to strike a balance between informative narration and dynamic interactions to elevate the story telling.

As pointed out by different viewers, they are positive that the series will deliver top-notch productions.

Kelvin Mateyu, a creator and script writer at NxtGen Lab, described the initiative as a step to incorporate technology as a way of creating a unique approach to telling the history and culture of Malawi.

“Being an education oriented company, we are branching off into the NxtGen studio which is in it’s early stage as you can tell from the pilot episode, it’s at a try and error stage but we are hopeful that with time it will surely improve,” he said.

Mateyu, who also disclosed the team’s plan to work with other creatives like voice-over actors and narrators in the future, said through this initiative they want to create a platform for documenting Malawi’s history and culture.

“The goal is to have series to showcase different aspects of history, we should be able to talk about the different cultures, aspects of leadership even show attraction sites in Malawi, where people can refer to if they want to get knowledge on these,” he said.

While the history and culture of Malawi can be traced through books, folktales and folklores, technology provides other options for documenting and conserving these in the modern digital world.

National Archives of Malawi director Paul Lihoma has commended the initiative depicting it as a valuable development in documenting what is in the nation’s archives.

He highlighted the importance of collaboration with the archive’s office on such creative endeavors in bringing archival content to life and reaching a broader audience.

“The national archives is like the nation’s information bank, it is for the people of the nation so when people want to dig into the archives and make that information available to the wider public we will welcome them to show the heritage that is hidden in the archives,” he said.