Roses, thorns at keturah’s show

There was relief among the audience when Keturah finally walked into the auditorium at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre on Sunday night.

The patrons, who had started gathering as early as 6 pm, had waited until 10.23 pm to see the local girl start performing during the launch of her first album titled Keturah.

Within the audience, there were some who expressed concern after learning that Keturah would start performing at 9.15 pm, according to the programme. They were overheard saying they arrived at the hotel around 5 pm and feared that any slight delays in the programme would stretch their stay beyond their planned schedule.

Yet, to the surprise of many, Keturah did not appear at 9.15 pm. Instead, supporting artists, who were too many for a simple album launch, seized the moment to outwit each other before Keturah’s fans.

Whether the organisers thought that engaging numerous supporting artists would add value to the show was just an oversight that succeeded in taking up valuable time for the main artist.

If the organisers thought bringing many supporting artists would help, then they were supposed to control the number of songs each artist would perform. The supporting artists should have been asked to perform a maximum of two songs.

However, that was not the case as some artists performed six or seven songs, each one lasting an average of seven minutes.

For instance, Jason Tamba performed four songs, Ndamera and Lucky Stars Band did six songs and Lawi dished out seven.

For an album launch, the centre of attention is always the main artist. Patrons pay to watch them perform the songs contained in their album.

The purpose of launching an album is not only to auction it to patrons, but also to give fans a rare opportunity to see the artist perform such songs live on stage, which connects the artist and her fans emotionally.

What happened on Sunday, much as the performances by Boniface Ndamera and Lucky Stars Band while Lawi lit the auditorium, was an oversight not worth repeating next time. Don’t they say too many cooks spoil the broth?

It was not surprising some fans burst into whistling and heckling when the producer of the album was making his speech to express their frustrations over Keturah’s delay to appear on stage.

Equally intriguing was how the two directors of ceremony failed to read the mood in the auditorium and try to cut some events to allow the main artist start performing on time.

There is a reason why organisers hire directors of ceremonies who are expected to be self-starters to manage events.

One wonders why the organisers deemed it necessary to hire two directors of events when one could suffice.

Yet, in a situation where one director was supposed to remain and direct events on stage in the absence of another, you would find both of them missing, thereby leaving supporting artists perform for eternity.

When the wait was finally over, the artist chose to take her audience to an unfamiliar territory by performing songs that failed to ignite a spark among her fans. The deathly silence was louder than the whacking of instruments and the crashing of cymbals.

Even when she asked the audience to sing along, only her voice echoed through the auditorium and met that of Giddes Chalambanda, her idol, who sang a refrain before the bewildered fans.

Her initial disconnect with the audience could be a result of starting songs that fans were not familiar with, as others were overheard saying or because the fans were overrun by fatigue. Whichever the reason, Keturah should learn from Lawi who lit fire in the same auditorium with his songs.

But on a positive note, the local girl did justice to her songs. She sang from her heart. Her baritone voice mingled seamlessly with the rendition of guitars, drums, percussions and the saxophone. The quality of the songs was everything that could draw the envy of the gods.

In the end, it can be said that she produced a spirited performance she will cherish in a lifetime.