Joe Gwaladi is one of the country’s popular street musicians who is underrated probably because of his shenanigans. But his music is loved by many, including retired University of Malawi (Unima) associate professor of law Edge Kanyongolo. The music has prompted research by another renowned Unima academic. Our Correspondent HOWARD MLOZI caught up with academic Dr. Innocent Akili Ngulube to shed more light on the new project. Excerpts:
Q: Please introduce yourself?
A: My name is Dr. Innocent Akili Ngulube, a lecturer and a post-graduate coordinator in the Department of Literary Studies, which belongs to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Malawi. I am also a research associate of the Institute for Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town, a Pan-African affiliate of SOAS University of London, and an emerging scholar and member of African Studies Association.
Q: Tell us more about your fellowship at the University of Birmingham?
A: Yes, I have been offered the 2025 Cadbury Fellowship in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology at the University of Birmingham in England from May 19 to 30 June. The topic of the visiting fellowship is Conventions of creativity: Everyday artistry in Africa” and is held in honour of the department’s Professor emeritus Karin Barber. The fellowship includes attending an international conference in June and, ultimately, publication of a journal article.
The title of my research proposal is Everyday artistry of Joe Gwaladi’s music.
Q: What inspired you to look into the everyday artistry of Joe Gwaladi?
A: That’s a very interesting question. What inspired this study is the fact that, despite his increasing popularity, Gwaladi’s music lacks corresponding scholarly attention from the perspective of popular culture. Instead of examining the conventions, production, and consumption of Gwaladi’s everyday creativity, social commentators focus on his career background and the humorous effects of his music.
Therefore, my study fills this gap in knowledge by situating Gwaladi’s music within a popular culture framework of Karin Barber’s groundbreaking research.
Q: Can you explain how this project will work?
A: In particular, I analyse Gwaladi’s everyday artistry in its cultural and historical context. In doing so, I show how Gwaladi’s musical productions as expressions of the common people develop out of and reshape quotidian life. Overall, I highlight the point that, if creativity is inseparable from existing conventions, the generation of new ideas, meanings, and practices is dependent on what social life makes possible and legible through broadly shared cultural values.
Q: What is the relevance of this study to Malawi?
A: The relevance of this study is that it extends previous studies that analyse the socio-political significance of Malawian popular music, rather than the dynamics of its everyday creativity. In this regard, I focus on the everyday dynamics of Gwaladi’s musical composition, performance, and distribution. I demonstrate how Gwaladi’s use of homemade instruments in his live street or pub performances, improvisation, and audience participation straddle the overlap between mainstream and traditional music.
Q: What lessons should people expect from the Joe Gwaladi story?
A: I am looking at a number of things as I also show how Gwaladi’s verbal dexterity, wit, humour, and playfulness generate linguistic pleasure, socio-political solidarity, catharsis, and the moral mechanism for reflecting on and expressing everyday experiences such as HIV/Aids, poverty, violence, and crime.
Q: All the best, The Nation Arts Desk is looking forward to talking to you again to be updated on the progress of the research.
A: Pleasure is all mine for having me in this interview. Let us keep in touch to share more inspiring developments and work that I am doing in several areas, including Artificial Intelligence.
