Smokey powers the Zeze Kingston brand 

Until last year, Zeze Kingston was relatively unknown in the music and entertainment circles despite being in the trade for a considerable time.

Coming from a family with strong music connections meant Zeze Kingston would not easily run away from the trade.  No wonder his uncles Marcus and Graiton Pasanje of the hip hop duo Daredevils introduced him to music at a youthful age.

Ironically, the several projects he did either with his uncles or solo were never a breakthrough. He remained an underground artist for long. Eventually, the amapiano music star relocated to Johannesburg, South Africa.

While in SA in 2020, Zeze Kingston signed under Serato Media Group. Since then the entertainment stable has been responsible for his management and last year the partnership witnessed the rise of a music force. 

In an interview, the Alamu Anu star said: “Since the beginning they are the people who believed in what I wanted to do as a musician. They made my music and aspirations as their own. We have worked hard together to get where we are now.”

Serato Media Group founder Sevie ‘Smokey’ Phiri told Chill in an interview that what Zeze Kingston achieved last year is their biggest success story. He said as a company they had a plan and strategy which they stuck to throughout the year.

“Having Zeze Kingston as the biggest artist in Malawi gave us massive joy and accorded us a spot among the big industry players. He was the most booked artist in 2023. He won multiple awards as well as being chosen as artist of the year in two different award platforms,” he said.

Serato Media Group also brought a new addition under its fold when they signed up another promising talent LeuMas, who is the official producer for Zeze Kingston. Smokey said minus attaining this success, the company was also able to distribute and publish a lot of music  surpass million streams.

He said: “We managed to execute successful events and worked with some of the best promoters in the country to achieve what we did. We also managed to negotiate and signed a number of deals.”

Currently, Serato Media Group has four artists under its stable; Zeze Kingston, LeuMas, Nae Rae and Dj Drew. In the past, the company has worked with other reputable names such as songstress Lilia, Lomwe, South Africans Lwazi CB and DJ Micsir. 

But despite all the success, Smokey feels the industry is riddled with a number of bottlenecks preventing the players to fully flourish. He has proposed an upward revision of booking fees and payments that are given to artists in Malawi.

Said Smokey: “The more we pay our artists the more jobs they will create around them and in the process that will help curb the problem of unemployment in the country. Additionally, artists need money to invest back in music.

“Many have the perception that collaborations are for free, but that is never the case. Even 95 percent of collaborations that are done by international artists involve money. When our society starts treating music as a business events we will see serious investors willing to put in millions in the trade.”

He said although the local music industry is small, there still has been significant growth in terms of artists grossing more shows, getting more money from corporate sponsorships and enjoying support from Malawians in form of streaming their content online.

“In this new year, we want to double up our efforts and milestones. The name of the game remains the same, hard work and consistency,” he said.

Zeze Kingston said the support that they have enjoyed from Malawians has given them confidence that they are doing something right and they want to build on that.

He said: “We want to work even extra hard to achieve more than we did last year. My management team has always shown belief in what I do. I therefore promise my fans more good things. We have the music and lifestyle that we want to export beyond our borders.”

Smokey studied photography, film and video technology at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. He boasts over 10 years experience in managing and developing creative talent as well as managing visual productions.