Tay Grin strengthens base, joins politics
This year will be memorable in the life of hip hop artist Tay Grin. It was in 2018 he held three larger-than-life free shows in all the three major cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu. It was also the year he finally came out of his cocoon to announce his decision to join mainstream politics.
Tay Grin, real name Limbani Kalilani, probably following in the footsteps of rapper Fredokiss, held his first free show at Masintha Ground in Lilongwe on May 27.
The show was a great success with multitudes in attendance.
It was preceded by a music workshop for up-and-coming artists from the Central Region. Tay Grin and his team drilled the young artists in music and the business side of things where 65 artists attended the event which was held at Ifive in Area 15.
At the end of the event, one of the trainees, Sibongire Chilumpha said: “He made us appreciate what goes on in the music industry as well as looking at music as a business.”
Then the Lubwa hitmaker took his free shows to Blantyre. He also held a workshop prior to the show at Kamuzu Upper Stadium on June 23. The workshop took place at Jacaranda Cultural Centre on June 22.
During the free show, several upcoming artists also performed and enjoyed the much-needed exposure.
Others performers were Vube, Lucent the Violinist and many others.
Then, finally, he took the free shows to Mzuzu on July 21 at Mzuzu Upper Stadium where he repeated what he had done in Blantyre and Lilongwe.
The free shows were supported by a number of corporate institutions including Astro Mobile, Tufufye FM, FDH Bank, MBC, Black Rhyno, Gold Mountain Media and Castel Malawi among others.
The artist also soared as one of the well-loved artists in the country when he went on to win two awards during the Nyasa Music awards—Best Male Artist and Best Video awards.
The artist was not only busy in 2018 on stage.
He also was busy in the boardroom as he represented Malawi at the Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organisation Aripo symposium that took place in Zimbabwe on June 12.
In August ‘Operation Smile’ announced that it had chosen the Tay Grin as its ambassador.
But it was in September that the artist put to rest rumours that had followed him for years: his political ambitions.
Tay Grin announced that he was joining mainstream politics and was going to contest during the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections as a member of Parliament candidate under the DPP ticket.
With this announcement however, he told The Nation that he was not going to abandon music.
He said: “Music has given me a lot of opportunities. I will always be a musician first.”
With campaign fully kicking in, we can only wait and see what 2019 has in store for the artist gone to politics.
