When you step in a club these days or patronise an entertainment event, you are bound to hear the song Ndili Single.
“Zibwenzizi ndayima kaye, ndikuopa mtima kundiswera, zachikondi ndapuma kaye, ndikuopa mtima kundiswera. Chaka chino ndili single, ndili single ineyo…” it goes in part.
| Courtesy of Agulugufe
Owing to the familiarity of its folklore base, it immediately gets one’s attention. But it is not just that element, the arrangement, vocals and life the song breathes always wounds one.
The next thing that follows when you get hooked to the vibe of the song is the question: Who did the song? If you are lucky, the person you ask will tell you it was Agulugufe. Immediately that prompts you to the next question: who is/are Agulugufe?
Agulugufe is a trio, comprising siblings George and Emmanuel Nyale and their sister Deliby Chimbalu, that is riding on artificial intelligence (AI) wave in their song productions. This far, they have released a 14-track album titled Ankolo.
In an interview with On The Arts, Chimbalu said their family has always lived in the creative arts space across music, film and journalism. She said their coming together for project is not about business but a family instinct.
“Art is just a thread that runs in all of us. When we see talent emerging in one of us, the natural response is to rally around it and help it grow. Agulugufe came out of that exact spirit. One of us had that something special in the music space and the rest of us brought our different skills and energy to support and build it together,” she said.
Emmanuel said their music project started in 2025 as they aimed to share stories through songs on social medial platforms using musical skills and technology.
“All lyrics are human compositions and the instrumentations are first done by us to capture the Malawian feel. Like one of our traditional songs Chi Khristu Ndimu Mtima was fully done in 2022 before we deployed the AI technology.” said Emmanuel.
George said the creative foundation of their songs originates from them as they write and develop the lyrics.
He said: “For the instrumentation we create the music ideas, melodies, arrangements and then use AI tools to help refine and enhance the production quality. As for the vocals, we record vocal performances ourselves and then use AI voice technology to process and apply the final vocal sound.”
Emmanuel said the traditional way of making music is slowly fading and technology is the future as such the industry needs to adapt.
“People will not admit it, but most songs today are at some point assisted by AI. For instance, lyrics, instrumentation, mastering and even graphics for album artwork. We only differ in AI usage percentages,” said Emmanuel.
He said they are training their team so that they start holding live shows.
“We are also working on music video projects that combine both human talent and AI generated art. This hybrid approach reflects our vision for the future of entertainment where technology and human creativity work together,” he said.
