Sweeny Chimkango Talks Music, Silence

When Sweeny Chimkango ‘wears’ a silence on his face, it may not necessarily mean that the silence is a reflection of the silence in his mind.

Take, for instance, the issue of his silence in gospel music circles after the release of his second, and last album, ‘Mfumu ya Luntha’, in 1999.

This notwithstanding, Chimkango maintains that, while he has apparently been quiet in terms of album releases, he has been grappling with a ‘loud’ debate in his mind.

“One of the things my mind has loudly been reflecting on is that of the influx of gospel musicians and the subsequent commercialisation of gospel music. There has been an influx of gospel musicians and I have been having personal debates on whether the commercialisation of gospel music is good for this country and this is one of the reasons I have been silent,” says Chimkango.

Chimkango adds: “I feel, personally, that we need not commercialise gospel music and this issue that has been bothering my conscience. Commercialisation of gospel music has negatively affected dissemination of the gospel in the sense that this is a ministry and, apparently, not all have been called to minister.”

He digs holes into some gospel songs, saying the lyrics are “too shallow” and devoid of meaning. He, says, for example, that some musicians have fallen into the trap of repeating lines such as ‘Yesu abweranso [Jesus is coming back]’ from start to finish, “for fifteen minutes on end”.

Chimkango blames the situation on misconceptions that gospel music is the next possible route to riches.

“Initially, people ventured into gospel music because God had called them. God, then, blessed those he had called into ministry and some people thought that those called were into gospel music to earn money and such people have ended up commercializing the industry. This is my opinion,” says Chimkango. 

No wonder, a lot has taken place in the busy world of his head.

Foray into music

Chimkango developed interest in music when he was seven years old.

“I used to play the banjo while experimenting with my voice in Lusaka, Zambia, where I was born. I am told that my late father, Samson, used to sing when he was young.  I, specifically, learnt music because of my church engagements. I used to present special songs and church hymns as a boy,” says Chimkango.

Despite being born on foreign soil, he was born to a father who traces his roots to Chimkango Village, Traditional Authority Kuntaja in Blantyre and a mother from Makwasa in Thyolo.

“It’s like I graduated from the banjo to the guitar. Fortunately, I linked up with a group of music-loving individuals when we came back to Makwasa in Malawi. I cannot recall the name of the group.

That is before he went to Thyolo Secondary School, where his talent was nurtured after becoming one of the founders of a group called Back to the Bible Quartet.

“You see, there was a famous foreign group bearing that name in the 1980s and we decided to name our Quartet after it. Members included Justin Chataika, Evance Kaima, the late Harris Chilozo and the late John Nakoma,” says Chimkango.

But the big break came when he went to Blantyre Teachers Training College, where he met the late Mjura Mkandawire, then a music tutor at the institution.

“Mkandawire horned my skills, and this marked the first time I started reading tonics sofa [do re mi fa so la ti do] and staff notation [which indicates notes of a beat]. In fact, I put every song I write in staff notation now. The advantage is that those who understand staff notation can play the music from all over the world. The Malawi Police Brass Band is able to play the Chinese National Anthem, or any other national anthem, because of staff notation,” says Chimkango.

Indeed, he has been able to study the guitar code for Bob Marley’s music and ably plays it.

It is after his classroom-encounter with Mkandawire that he became one of the founding members for the once famous Christ in Song Quartet. The other members were Lloyd Malopa, the late Davis Kapito and the late George Chafunya.

Established in the 1990s, the Quartet was formidable in both the Seventh-day Church and other denominations. Its songs included ‘Pekeyangu’ [Swahili song], ‘The Blood’ and ‘Over There’.

Says Chimkango: “These songs were not necessarily our compositions; they were adaptations. For example, ‘Over There’ was a Golden Gate song. This is a group formed by African Americans. Among other countries, we performed in Namibia, South Africa and Kenya. The quartet broke up when the late Kapito joined active politics.

“I, thus, went solo in 1997 and released my first album ‘Yendanibe’ the same year. This was a 10-track album with songs such as ‘Thowege’, ‘Otengera Mau’, ‘Yendanibe’, ‘Miseu ya Golide’. ‘Miseu ya Golide’ was sponsored by Dr Tikhala Chibwana and Mr Patrick Khoza, who wanted to promote my talent. The song was recorded at Studio K. I will forever be grateful to them.”

Having tasted the waters, it did not take Chimkango 16 years to release a second album.

“In 1999, I released my second album ‘Mfumu ya Luntha’,” recollects Chimkango.

It included such songs as ‘Don’t Shut Me Up’, a protest song against social injustices targeted at people with handicaps, ‘Mfumu ya Luntha’, ‘Mohutherelamo’, among others.

Social injustices

Was ‘Don’t Shut Me Up’, with all its unapologetic declaration and confrontational approach, a gospel song?

“My answer would be yes. You see, the mistake people make in life is to separate social injustices from spirituality, yet social justice is an artifact of, say, Christianity. The people who oppress others come from Christianity and other spiritual backgrounds.

“We see these things happening from time to time. For example, during the time of Jesus Christ, one burdened man cried to the Lord for help but believers, those who were close to Christ, shut him up because they did not know how it felt to be in the shoes of the desperate man,” says Chimkango.

Chimkango says, coincidentally, people with physical challenges, visual challenges and other challenges continue to face avoidable challenges.

He has examples.

“This year, the University of Malawi [Unima] will be celebrating 50 years of existence. The question is: Are the physically-challenged, visually-challenged given access to the library at, say, Chancellor College? Is it fair to expect them to depend on others to visit, read and borrow books? Why can’t we have facilities that will ease access to these facilities? This is the regrettable situation at the moment,” says Chimkango, adding:  

“If we talk of these issues, it doesn’t mean we are less Christian than others. After all, we do not need all the space [in Unima constituent colleges] to accommodate people with handicaps, the visually-challenged and those challenged in other capacities. Social issues should not be divorced from Christianity.”

Between Rastafarianism and Christianity

Seeing Chimkango drive around town, one would be forgiven for calling him a Rasta man. His headgear attests to this.

“Of course, thoughts about Rastafarianism have, at one point or another, crossed my mind. In fact, I recorded a five-song Reggae album in collaboration with my brother, MacDonald, but, then, when I sat down and pondered over it, I realised that I would confuse people because Rastafarianism is not Christianity. I have, therefore, left the project in the hands of my brother. Some of the recorded songs include ‘Enemies at Your Door’, ‘A Stone-throw Away’.

“Am I, therefore, a Rasta? No. I am a Christian with so much black consciousness in me. Of course, I identify with some of the Rastafarian principles on respect for humanity but the Rastafarian practices of burning weed [marijuana] and how Haile Selassie is presented as the creator of the universe make me  feel jittery. Otherwise, I like the philosophies and ideologies on what humanity is, and how Westerners have colonised our minds,” says Chimkango.

He says black consciousness entails knowledge that one is African and, therefore, proud of who they are.

“This is the reason I did some of my songs in Manganje, and why I admire Wambali Mkandawire’s music,” says Chimkango, who works for Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Television as Chief Producer.

His work at MBC saw him becoming a pioneer in producing professional music videos that graced the television screens in the morning of television broadcasting in Malawi. These included music videos for the late Evison Matafale, Ethel Kamwendo Banda, Wilfred Kasito, Lucius Banda’s ‘Tina’, among others.

Ironically, he has not been honoured for his contributions to the music video industry.

Ironically, again, he has never recorded a music video for any of his songs. Is he a farmer without a farm? Is it because, maybe, he cannot dance?

“I think that is a very good observation. I never thought about that [laughs]. I will think of doing it. But, definitely, it’s not because I cannot dance. I have learned that the concept of music videos is not embedded in dancing. I used to think that way before, but I now realise that concepts differ. It’s possible to do a music video without dancing,” says Chimkango.

Breaking the silence

Chimkango acknowledges that, somehow, his gospel-music silence has been so prolonged it has become a famine.

“I have just recorded ‘Khalamaso’ produced by Gracian Mokwena. I am thinking of launching it this August,” says Chimkango.

The silence is, then, about to be broken. Are the social injustices ready to roost, too? The answer is beyond him.

Poets’ Silent Melancholy

Creativity should, ideally, be exciting.

In a conducive environment, it can open the floodgates of success and reduce the bricks of poverty to ashes.

This is especially true when we consider the fact that it is not enough to make a name in the arts; those who join the industry must also be able to acquire a certain greatness, and become richer and happier than those who opened the way for them. This state of affairs should apply in an ideal world of creativity.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in Malawi. The creative industry, instead of being exciting and well-paying, is grisly. Take, for instance, the case of poets- yes, those unique human beings who are capable of compressing the world they know and the world they create into stanzas.

One would think that the Felix Njonjonjo Katsokas, the Nyamalikiti Nthiwatiwas, Hudson Chamasowas, Sylvester Kalizang’omas, Evelyn Maotchas, Joseph Madzedzes, among others, would be living the fruits of their creativity.

However, theirs is a vindication that, sometimes, justice is blind. Poets who have produced albums will tell you that they have fought tooth and nail to prompt the Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) to protect and safeguard their works, with little success. Even when Cosoma stickers were the in-thing for musicians, the poets were left out, alternatively at the mercy of their own devices.

And the situation has remained largely unchanged. Poets who release poetry albums are left to safeguard their works against piracy by themselves. To make matters worse, when musicians are lining up to get their loyalties from Cosoma, the poets- who have taken the radio airwaves by storm and are riding on a new wave of popularity- watch from a distance.

They wish they could be the ones showered with such monetary rewards because they deserve to lay their hands on the loot, too. However, always standing in their way is- not piracy perpetrators- but authority figures who were supposed to protect them.

In fact, instead of promoting justice, and recognising that poets, too, are covered by intellectual property instruments, the copyright authorities behave like a mysterious adult who looms over a child’s world- large and menacing and insensitive.

Add to the dish the problems of piracy and the picture changes from hopeless to ruthless.

Why should this be case when the copyright authorities are armed to the tooth by the laws of the land? Why should this be the case when the copyright authorities have a vast fund of experience in planning and carrying out anti-piracy programmes.

It is high time the copyright authorities abandoned their, sometimes, snap judgments and embraced the reality that poets have created a niche on the market and deserve as much protection as all intellectual property rights holders. 

Only progressive thinking can put an end to this fruitless misunderstanding. Let’s remember that unity in purpose is the stuff of serious minds.

Of course, sometimes the poets put the copyright authorities in dilemma. For instance, when some clueless poets incorporate folktale and village songs in their act, they make their story commonplace, forcing the copyright authorities to face a Hobson’s Choice as they walk the thin line of distinguishing the poet’s original work from stuff owned by the entire nation (the case of folktales, for example).

To make matters worse, some poems sound like a brunt-edged knife that fails to sparkle with wit; being shallow, uneducated, uninspiring and loosely-compacted. Where are the sparkling, sharp-edged stanzas of the 80s, 90s, early 2000s?

Of course, some say the poets of yester-year sounded similar, a sure sign, they say, that they lacked imagination. Whatever the argument, at least the stanzas were married to wit, followed established techniques, and the messages were educated.

Whatever bone one may have to pick against the poets, there is no convincing reason for leaving them out in the cold: hungry and unattended to. Let poets enjoy what belongs to them. It’s high time we ended the silent melancholy our poets have endured for years.

Book Publishing Challenges in Malawi: Shelved: General Writers Cry Foul as Textbooks Steal the Limelight

The wide, open territory of general books is becoming narrower by the day.

And, according to Malawi Writers Union president, Sambalikagwa Mvona, the threat to authors of books on general, other than academic, issues is not being posed by outside forces: “It’s textbook writers and publishers who threaten the survival of other writers, especially those whose focus is not on helping students pass examinations.”

Mvona, one of Malawi’s established writers, is not speaking from a position of ignorance.

He remembers that, not long ago, before commercial interests started dominating the world of publications, a golden glow suffused the bookshelves.

Not that it is wrong to publish textbooks books and stock them on the bookshelves, he enthuses, acknowledging that academic books play the role of an engine that liberates users from ignorance.

He, however, observes that textbooks can quickly turn into an instrument of repression for creativity, especially when publishers prioritise them, at the expense of other books.

“Authors who specialise in general issues are failing to get the opportunity to sell their books simply because publishers have developed a preference for textbooks. All of a sudden, the bookshelves are dominated by textbooks.

“Books authored by those who cater for the general public are being ignored. This means writers are being denied the right to eke out a living, and readers are being deprived of the chance to read general books. General books are being stocked at the back of book shelves in book stores,” says Mvona.

Mvona says, consequently, Malawian youths have developed the culture of “reading in order to pass examinations; instead of reading and studying books in a bid to widen their knowledge horizon. This is a disaster in the making”.

The veteran writer says, when students have achieved their purpose of passing examinations, they forget about books altogether, thereby fermenting that shameful culture of book phobia in the country. He says Malawian readers and policymakers should realise that general stories, told either through fiction or non-fiction books, help people live fruitful lives.

It is, in a way, like what author Joan Didion observes in the opening line of his work, ‘White Album, when he says: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

Mvona observes that too much focus on textbooks has a way of negatively affecting a nation because “all work without pleasure fails to satisfy the imagination”.

He says what distinguished fiction books from academic ones is their ecstatic embrace of impossible, sometimes amusing, impossibilities.

However, this sentiment is not new. The author of ‘Stress for Success’, Peter G. Hanson, once observed that, “If you don’t close the door to your work, it spills over into other areas of your life, making it hard to give anything your full attention- particularly leisure.”

“The end result,” says Mvona, “Are bored people. We need to serve the interests of textbook authors and general authors for the nation to develop,” he says.

As things stand, Mvona observes, it is as if textbooks are a fatal seduction, distracting us from the entertaining light things in life and the fertility of the imagination. The current trend pins our future to reading to pass examinations and nothing else.

Victimised giant

While the saturation of textbooks on the shelves makes the situation appear as if it has become easy to get one’s work incorporated in school curricula, the situation on the ground is different.

Historian and renowned author, Dr. Desmond Dudwa Phiri, who has 20 books to his credit, says curriculum developers seem to have a disdain for Malawian books.

“I have authored both textbook and general books but curriculum developers do not appreciate our efforts. I have authored books on the country’s history- History of Malawi Volume 1 and History of Malawi Volume 11, but they, still, are not included in our school curricula. Yet these are the only books in Malawi that cover our history from the earliest period, the Amwandionerapati, to the 2009,” says Phiri, adding:

Yet Phiri is no ordinary man. In 2009, he was elected by the Pan-African Press Association to the executive club of 23 great African writers after assessing three samples of history and play writing. The only other elected writer came from Zimbabwe, meaning that only two authors from Central Africa made it into the exclusive club.

Some of his books, including ‘The Chief’s Bride’, were in the school curriculum in Botswana for five years. Just recently, he signed a contract with a Kenyan publisher and bookseller to reprint one of his works.

“We are not getting the support we need. In my case, my books sell more outside the country than Malawi. This should not be the case. We work very hard, in the service of the nation, but we have very little to show for it, and this is because of failure to appreciate the great minds we have in this country,” says Phiri.

Business versus charity

On their part, booksellers say they cannot shoulder the blame of fronting textbooks at the expense of other equally-important books because they are in business first.

But Book Sellers Association of Malawi interim president, Maureen Masamba, describes assertions that book sellers prioritise textbooks for the sake of wads of cash attached to them as “a difficult opinion”.

“To begin with, we just provide the platform for authors to sell their books. We are not the owners of the books; we just sell them. The process starts with publishers, who decide what books to publish and, on our part, we generate money through commission,” says Masamba.

Masamba, however, acknowledges that textbooks sell more copies than other books.

“From our perspective, as outlets, if we place a book of fiction next to a textbook, we are likely to sell the textbook quicker than the other book. Again, this goes back to our reading habits. People are reading books with the aim of passing examinations nowadays. As people who are in business, we capitalise on this demand,” observes Masamba, adding:

“If writers have a complaint, it should be directed at the lack of a reading culture in the country. Due to this culture (of not reading), other books even gather dust on the shelves while textbooks exchange hands very quickly.

Thus, stocking books for the sake of it is no longer a viable option for the vast majority of book buyers, and booksellers are just dancing to the rhythm of massive appeal.

Familiar trap

Book Publishers Association of Malawi president, Alfred Msadala, says publishers appreciate the value of books, but consider issues of their own survival when it comes to making decisions on which books to publish and, in effect, make available on the market.

“The publisher is a business person who has to generate working capital from his business. Without that (working capital), we close shop,” says Msadala.

Msadala has working examples. He cites the case of MacMillan Malawi.

“Do you know why MacMillan Malawi is no longer operating on the (local) market? They were barred (from stocking textbooks) by the World Bank and are serving suspension for six years. Because they were barred, they realised that they could not generate enough working capital by publishing the other types of books that cover issues such as myths, legends because of low financial returns,” says Msadala.

In other words, enthuses Msadala, publishers have to know why they are there. Of course- and authors of general books may not like this- the publishers are in business.

No wonder then that, increasingly, the musings of authors are inflected with a scent for money. The textbooks have simply become the fountainhead of this money-revolution!

Shelved: General Writers Cry Foul as Textbooks Steal the Limelight

The wide, open territory of general books is becoming narrower by the day.

And, according to Malawi Writers Union president, Sambalikagwa Mvona, the threat to authors of books on general, other than academic, issues is not being posed by outside forces: “It’s textbook writers and publishers who threaten the survival of other writers, especially those whose focus is not on helping students pass examinations.”

Mvona, one of Malawi’s established writers, is not speaking from a position of ignorance.

He remembers that, not long ago, before commercial interests started dominating the world of publications, a golden glow suffused the bookshelves.

Not that it is wrong to publish textbooks books and stock them on the bookshelves, he enthuses, acknowledging that academic books play the role of an engine that liberates users from ignorance.

He, however, observes that textbooks can quickly turn into an instrument of repression for creativity, especially when publishers prioritise them, at the expense of other books.

“Authors who specialise in general issues are failing to get the opportunity to sell their books simply because publishers have developed a preference for textbooks. All of a sudden, the bookshelves are dominated by textbooks.

“Books authored by those who cater for the general public are being ignored. This means writers are being denied the right to eke out a living, and readers are being deprived of the chance to read general books. General books are being stocked at the back of book shelves in book stores,” says Mvona.

Mvona says, consequently, Malawian youths have developed the culture of “reading in order to pass examinations; instead of reading and studying books in a bid to widen their knowledge horizon. This is a disaster in the making”.

The veteran writer says, when students have achieved their purpose of passing examinations, they forget about books altogether, thereby fermenting that shameful culture of book phobia in the country. He says Malawian readers and policymakers should realise that general stories, told either through fiction or non-fiction books, help people live fruitful lives.

It is, in a way, like what author Joan Didion observes in the opening line of his work, ‘White Album, when he says: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

Mvona observes that too much focus on textbooks has a way of negatively affecting a nation because “all work without pleasure fails to satisfy the imagination”.

He says what distinguished fiction books from academic ones is their ecstatic embrace of impossible, sometimes amusing, impossibilities.

However, this sentiment is not new. The author of ‘Stress for Success’, Peter G. Hanson, once observed that, “If you don’t close the door to your work, it spills over into other areas of your life, making it hard to give anything your full attention- particularly leisure.”

“The end result,” says Mvona, “Are bored people. We need to serve the interests of textbook authors and general authors for the nation to develop,” he says.

As things stand, Mvona observes, it is as if textbooks are a fatal seduction, distracting us from the entertaining light things in life and the fertility of the imagination. The current trend pins our future to reading to pass examinations and nothing else.

Victimised giant

While the saturation of textbooks on the shelves makes the situation appear as if it has become easy to get one’s work incorporated in school curricula, the situation on the ground is different.

Historian and renowned author, Dr. Desmond Dudwa Phiri, who has 20 books to his credit, says curriculum developers seem to have a disdain for Malawian books.

“I have authored both textbook and general books but curriculum developers do not appreciate our efforts. I have authored books on the country’s history- History of Malawi Volume 1 and History of Malawi Volume 11, but they, still, are not included in our school curricula. Yet these are the only books in Malawi that cover our history from the earliest period, the Amwandionerapati, to the 2009,” says Phiri, adding:

Yet Phiri is no ordinary man. In 2009, he was elected by the Pan-African Press Association to the executive club of 23 great African writers after assessing three samples of history and play writing. The only other elected writer came from Zimbabwe, meaning that only two authors from Central Africa made it into the exclusive club.

Some of his books, including ‘The Chief’s Bride’, were in the school curriculum in Botswana for five years. Just recently, he signed a contract with a Kenyan publisher and bookseller to reprint one of his works.

“We are not getting the support we need. In my case, my books sell more outside the country than Malawi. This should not be the case. We work very hard, in the service of the nation, but we have very little to show for it, and this is because of failure to appreciate the great minds we have in this country,” says Phiri.

Business versus charity

On their part, booksellers say they cannot shoulder the blame of fronting textbooks at the expense of other equally-important books because they are in business first.

But Book Sellers Association of Malawi interim president, Maureen Masamba, describes assertions that book sellers prioritise textbooks for the sake of wads of cash attached to them as “a difficult opinion”.

“To begin with, we just provide the platform for authors to sell their books. We are not the owners of the books; we just sell them. The process starts with publishers, who decide what books to publish and, on our part, we generate money through commission,” says Masamba.

Masamba, however, acknowledges that textbooks sell more copies than other books.

“From our perspective, as outlets, if we place a book of fiction next to a textbook, we are likely to sell the textbook quicker than the other book. Again, this goes back to our reading habits. People are reading books with the aim of passing examinations nowadays. As people who are in business, we capitalise on this demand,” observes Masamba, adding:

“If writers have a complaint, it should be directed at the lack of a reading culture in the country. Due to this culture (of not reading), other books even gather dust on the shelves while textbooks exchange hands very quickly.

Thus, stocking books for the sake of it is no longer a viable option for the vast majority of book buyers, and booksellers are just dancing to the rhythm of massive appeal.

Familiar trap

Book Publishers Association of Malawi president, Alfred Msadala, says publishers appreciate the value of books, but consider issues of their own survival when it comes to making decisions on which books to publish and, in effect, make available on the market.

“The publisher is a business person who has to generate working capital from his business. Without that (working capital), we close shop,” says Msadala.

Msadala has working examples. He cites the case of MacMillan Malawi.

“Do you know why MacMillan Malawi is no longer operating on the (local) market? They were barred (from stocking textbooks) by the World Bank and are serving suspension for six years. Because they were barred, they realised that they could not generate enough working capital by publishing the other types of books that cover issues such as myths, legends because of low financial returns,” says Msadala.

In other words, enthuses Msadala, publishers have to know why they are there. Of course- and authors of general books may not like this- the publishers are in business.

No wonder then that, increasingly, the musings of authors are inflected with a scent for money. The textbooks have simply become the fountainhead of this money-revolution!

Malawi's Fiction, Non-Fiction Writers: Aubrey Kalitera: A Victim of Malawi’s Second Nature

His stature did not match the nature of a man born as an elevated genius.

In fact, his house- purposely situated far away from the glamorous life of Blantyre Central Business District in Manyowe- did not project the scene of an elevated genius when compared to the grandeur of great personalities in other countries.
And, yet, Aubrey Kalitera- he whose brain churned out more than 20 novels and books, some of which are part of the country’s school curricula- was a great man.
We can, as well, say Kalitera is the answer writer Judith Sargent Murray (1751 – 1820) sought, but failed to get during her life-time, when she queried: “Is it upon mature consideration we adopt the idea that nature is thus partial in her distributions? Is it a fact that she (nature) has yielded to one-half of the human species so unquestionable a mental superiority?”
The answer- gauging by the creativity levels in Kalitera’s ‘Why?’ series or his film ‘To Ndirande Mountain with Love- is an irrevocable ‘Yes’.
Of course, as Murray observed, “The province of imagination hath long since been surrendered up to us, and we have been crowned undoubted sovereigns of the regions of fancy”, but the truth is that Kalitera was a man out of the ordinary. A man born on February 8, 1948 in Maselema Village in the area of Traditional Authority Mlumbe, Zomba, with an elevated genius.
Unfortunately, he was afflicted by the curse of being an artist in Malawi: Rich minds, empty pockets!
Like many creative writers and artists before him, Kalitera bore the blunt of Malawians’ blatant disdain for anything that has a semblance of literature. As renowned author and historian Desmond Dudwa Phiri likes to say, and say again, Malawians are blind to any letters typed in a book.
Phiri’s unflattering observation, to the effect that “If you want to hide something from a Malawian, publish it in a book”, has been ‘approved’ by the nation through its non-willingness to promote local writers and artists by buying their works.
Take, for instance, Kalitera himself. The only time the government supported his works was when it, through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, included his fiction book ‘N’chiyani Mwana Wanga’ on the list of recommended Chichewa Literature books for Malawi School Certificate of Education candidates.
Otherwise, the multi-talented author suffered under the barbarous ‘phobia’ towards any artistic work Malawian. This strange behaviour has the inevitable effect of persuading authors and artists that, somehow, they are not good enough. But that is not the problem.
The problem is that, after making authors and artists buy the idea that they are not good enough, the Malawian- including government officials and private sector players- will use the authors and artists accordingly- paying them peanuts for work that costs a leg- till, at length, the author and artist is turned into someone not very far from nobody.
As proof of it, the Malawian- meaning, government officials and private sector players- spends the whole night at the forsaken artist’s place when they finally give up the ghost- notwithstanding all the deceased’s ill usage.
You should have been there to see this happen! On Tuesday, soon after his untimely death on Monday, his Manyowe home was not as deserted as buyers of ‘Why Father Why?’ ‘Why Daughter Why?’ ‘Why Son Why?’ on the market. If the cash did flow as effortlessly as the sad faces of people that thronged to his home, he would have appreciated the warm-heartedness of Malawians.
You should have been there to see this happen. On Wednesday, as people escorted him to his final lasting place at Henry Henderson Institute in Blantyre, it was as if the nation had supported his creative works all along.

Those who know him say Kalitera had a genteel personality, replete with an abundance of roving wit- attributes he inherited from the communal spirit of T/A Mlumbe’s subjects. Growing up among the ever-smiling people of Zomba, so his admirers say, he bred himself into a likeable personality. It was a bent that could not be straightened even by such influences as town-mongering, civilisation, globalisation, and whatever makes this generation a careless lot.

“He was one of the best writers in the country; a man who did not hesitate to share his knowledge with others. In fact, he was one of the Malawi Writers Union (Mawu)’s reliable trainers,” said Mawu president, Sambalikagwa Mvona, on Tuesday.

What a shame that his books are not commonplace on local book shelves? Who introduced this custom of ignoring our own geniuses? Whatever the case, Murray was right when she suggested that custom, if allowed to take a hold on our lives, becomes our second nature. Thus, the custom of ignoring the works of geniuses such as Kalitera has become our second nature!

“It is a shame that we treat our authors as nobodies,” Mvona said, adding: “Look, we have been talking to the government on the issue of supporting us, to no avail. We have been talking to donors so that they can support Malawians authors, but only the Royal Norwegian Embassy has come to our rescue through the cultural scheme.

“Otherwise, the government seems not to care, the donors seem not to care, and Malawians, too, seem not to care. They only appreciate one’s work when you are gone. We cannot continue living like this.”

Greatness in humility

Born in a typical Malawian village in Zomba, Kalitera rose from a humble background and trod the creative corridors that led to international acclaim. Members of the international community, and the small portion of Malawians that cared, found that, suddenly, his every note was a novel, a film script, or a non-fiction write up on how to become a good writer.

“He was a spring of creativity. For instance, at the Peer Gynt awards last year, he submitted two books namely ‘The Input Substitute’ and ‘Why Poverty?’ He was the only author to submit two books, and that tells you a story about how creative he was. Our loss is great,” Mvona said, adding:

“In fact, we wanted to award him at an event slated for August. So sad he will not be there in person to receive the honours.

And, on this point, Mvona’s voice sounded over all the other voices- full, deep, sorrow-ridden.

Malawians must be as shallow as fountains. They make mockery out of geniuses. And only rise up on dark days like Wednesday (burial day)- when the mood is tinted black and the cheeks are wet with tears of regret- a shameless nation laid low with crushing fatigue and depression.

What makes Kalitera’s death harder to deal with is that he was a gem Malawians failed to tame. And, to prove his gem, he trod on in a country that loathes talent, publishing a horde of books in the midst of adversity.

Book Publishers Association of Malawi president, Alfred Msadala, said despite the challenges faced by Malawian authors, Kalitera showed that it is possible to create works that resonate with international audiences.

“He was unique, knew what he wanted, wrote widely, and many publishers got interested. He was, really, creative and talented, hence catching the interest of international publishers,” Msadala said.

Msadala, himself a writer of repute, said Kalitera was a member of Macmillan, which is a member of the association as well.

But is it not shameful that Kalitera’s works were admired by foreigners such as author, composer, blogger and music historian S.K. Waller? Waller took Kalitera so seriously that she quotes him on her blog, Incurable Insomniac, as saying about a good writer:

"You know what, it is so funny. A good writer will always find it very hard to fill a single page. A bad writer will always find it easy,” Waller quotes Kalitera as saying (Why Father Why, 1983).

Whatever happened for Malawians to dislike sons and daughters of their soil, the fact is that it does not thwart creativity, as Film Association of Malawi president, Ezaius Mkandawire, observed.

Mkandawire said, by producing a movie from the book ‘To Ndirande Mountain with Love’, Kalitera showed that he was a lid that fitted all pots.

“From Ndirande Mountain with Love’ is among the vintage films that Malawi should be proud of. It was made before the boom of this technological advancement where everyone is a film maker because they have a video recorder,” Mkandawire said this week, adding: “It (To Ndirande Mountain with Love) is A very professional (film and) it is in the league of an old great ‘Prodigal Son’, A  film that was short by Norman Phiri for the Scripture Union.”

Mkandawire said, from Kalitera’s life, Malawians can learn that collaboration between authors and film makers can bring the best out of creative minds.

“There must be collaboration between that two, the reason being that not all directors ( filmmakers) can be good story merchants,” Mkandawire said.

However, he observed that turning a book script into a film is not as simple as Kalitera made it appear.

“It is worth understanding, also, that it involves transfer of rights. Unless that is put into a proper consideration, that kind of synergy will always be difficult to pursue. (But) it is important for authors to do just that. The source of stories always comes from authors. Film makers have a role to actualise the stories into film. In that way, both forms of art will have a longer shelf life and create larger audience.”

He said, unlike in the past, when the film industry was small, it is now easy to promote collaboration between authors and film makers.

What is clear, from the life of Kalitera, is that, even when new authors saturate the bookshops with their works, it will be difficult to call to mind new publications and film adaptations that will resemble his. Call it the glory of his creative pieces!

 

Poetry in Malawi: Moving Voices, Static Movement: The paradox of poetry

There will always been poetry; sometimes forgotten, sometimes remembered.

In the case of Malawi, however, poets seem more forgotten than remembered by policymakers, a development that has seen them miss out on national lists of honours.

Consequently, while poets are capable of making the hardest heart dance to the beat of emotions, their industry seems to be a soft spot as their needs are often forgotten in the scramble for national development.

So, despite poetry’s power to create lasting impressions through cadence, rhythm, imagery, among other elements, the Malawian poet remains present, and absent at the same time, in national affairs.

This state of flux puzzles Poetry Association of Malawi (Pam) president, Felix Njonjonjo Katsoka, who acknowledges that the country has invested little in the task of keeping records of local poets and their contribution to society.

And the danger of investing in memory, as opposed to documents, is illustrated by Katsoka who, when asked to name the pioneers of poetry in Malawi, acknowledges that a few prickle his memory.

“To me, they (pioneers) are many but I can only recall a few, G.W. Ngwengwe, Professor Steve Chimombo, Professor (David) Rubadiri, Professor Francis Moto, Jack Mapange., Stanley Onjezani Kenani, Q Malewezi and Chigo Gondwe are slowly becoming heroes as well,” says Katsoka.

The only solace is, therefore, hope; the hope that poets would one day be accorded the respect they deserve in society.

“As a country we will one day regard poets as heroes or heroines. For example, one day the country will realise that, through poetry, Jack Mapange actively participated in the struggle against oppression and fight for democracy,” says Katsoka.

But, until that sunny day, the poet’s place remains obscure.

 It is like the poet’s hand has been too short to lay a grip on the national cake of recognition, with only a few institutions of higher learning keeping records.

“Academic institutions such as Chancellor College (University of Malawi), Mzuzu University are a good source of information where one can get the background of local Poetry. Chancellor College library, for example, has a lot of literally works on Malawian poetry,” he says.

Which raises the question: What have the poets done this far?

“However, so many poets in Malawi have not preserved their works as such it is not easy to find this information. This can be attributed to lack of resources to either publish or record their work,” says Katsoka.

National relevance

The challenge of records’ keeping aside, Katsoka says poets deserve a place on the national honours’ list?

“Just as musicians and other artists, poets have a great role to contribute to national development. If we are to sample Malawian poems, we will discover that most themes tackle issues of national concern, especially emerging ones. These include human rights [child, women as well as minority rights], acceptable cultural values, economic empowerment, family and religious values, good governance and labour relations.

“Of late, [we have had] poems on homosexuality, protection of albinos, federalism and sexual morality including rape. A good example is Robert Chiwamba’s Mudzafa Imfa Yowawa. [Of course] Individual poets have not actively participated in mainstream politics but poetry, through recitals, print and electronic media, has managed to reach out to the larger public,” says Katsoka.

Katsoka adds that poetry has been used as a tool for advocacy, community mobilisation and communication in general, citing the May 2014 Tripartite Elections.

Indeed, records at the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) indicate that Chisomo Mdala, popularly known as Nyamalikiti Nthiwatiwa, was accredited to conduct civic education last year. 

  “Malawian poetry has been part of the syllabi in all literature courses at all levels of education; for instance, Akoma Akagonera and Ndidzakutengera Kunyanja Ligineti in secondary schools. There are also poems on education and health in general,” says Katsoka, adding that the government acknowledges the role of poetry in national affairs.

Among other recent developments, Pam is now a one of the rights holder associations in Copyright Association of Malawi (Cosoma).

This means poets are represented in activities taking place in the arts industry.

“This includes (involvement in) the arts cooperative that Cosoma has just instituted, policy formulation such as the Cultural Policy and lobbying for formulation of [an] Arts Council, participation in arts festivals such as Lake of Stars, Bwalo la Aluso, MacFest, Blantyre Arts Festival and, of course, Land of Poets,” he says.

Adds Katsoka: “There has also been tremendous support from the media. Radio and television stations have poetry programmes on their menu. Even the print media have space for poetry. Poetry is also enjoying better support from the corporate world.  Companies have been sponsoring poetry activities. A recent example is UGI, which just sponsored the poetry competition organised by Times Television.”

Defining the poet

The only Malawian to have been nominated for the 2012 Caine Prize, Stanley Onjezani Kenani, is on record to have told Weekender  that, in spite of their diversity, poets fall into two groups, based on the way they deliver the message. 

“To begin with, there are two types of poets: spoken-word poets and written-word poets. Quiet often, written-word poets find it hard to memorise their poems for recitals,” Kenani says.

Often, written-word poets focus on the academically acceptable aesthetics of poetry, while spoken word poets often dispense with the academic definition of a poem.

According to Kenani, spoken-word poets do not rely on reading from a piece of paper, saying, “Well, it's spoken word; so, I guess, they don't have to read.”
In Malawi, one of the well-known spoken-word poets is Kadzako Singano, while veteran poet Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga has always been a written-word poet, even though he often appears during live poetry performances.
Kenani draws the line between the two types of poets. “The venerable Malunga - excellent at performing his poems - always reads from a piece of paper [while] South Africa's Napo Masheane - the best spoken-word poet I have ever met - never reads from a piece of paper. [But] both Ben [Wokomaatani Malunga] and Napo are awesome in their own way.”


Mobilisation
Whatever the orientation [written-word or spoken-word poets], Katsoka calls for a shift in focus in the industry.
“As poets, we need to operate as a business. This requires a degree of professionalism; therefore, we must woo experts who will help us develop tangible business plans and assist in managing them. Musicians have managers and promoters; the same should be adopted in the poetry industry in order for poets to leap from their sweat,” says Katsoka.
Katsoka suggests that it is possible to entirely survive on revenue generated through poetry. He, however, observes that, locally, poetry in local languages is mostly accessed for free despite the production costs incurred.

“With the increasing appreciation poetry is currently enjoying, poets should remain united to avoid being exploited by promoters. Ideally, every poet was supposed to belong to Pam, which could have been mediating in any activity involving its membership. This is not the case [and] as a result poets have on numerous occasions been exploited,” says Katsoka.

Katsoka says this is necessary for an industry plagued by lack of support.

“Almost 90 percent of Malawians access poetry through piracy. Despite the tremendous contribution poetry is making, the support from the government and the corporate world is minimal. Poets are not receiving loyalties from any media house. Currently, Cosoma is not collecting loyalties on behalf of poets while musicians are enjoying [the same]. [We also have a] small number of female poets. Potential female poets do not want to expose their talent,” laments Katsoka.

Ground clearance

To solve the problems, he says, Pam has piloted poetry clubs in some schools in the cities of Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre.

“The encounter has shown the potential that female students have in poetry composition and even reciting. However, upon completing secondary education, such budding female poets disappear without reaching full potential,” says Katsoka.

He suggests that poets need also to register their work with Cosoma so that there is a true census of poets in the country. This, he says, would give Cosoma the impetus to offer poets the same support offered to musicians.

Katsoka also asks poets to join Pam in order to promote unity and uniformity necessary in curbing exploitation from the media and promoters.

The government, he points out, should hasten the implementation of the Cultural Policy by instituting an Arts Council.

“There is need for more support for all programmes that are promoting poetry skills among females. For example, poetry school clubs established should be supported by all stakeholders. The programme should also be scaled up so that it is rolled out throughout the country including at primary and tertiary levels of education,” suggests Katsoka.

He also calls for increased awareness on the perils of piracy, with stiffer penalties being given to perpetrators.

 All these efforts are premised on the idea that there will always be poetry: Sometimes forgotten; sometimes remembered.

Writing in Malawi: Dismantling Authors’ Collective Cross

There are books that give a couple of hours’ pleasure, like fellow-travellers on a journey or fellow-guests at a party, then pass out of our lives forgotten; there are books that satisfy mere curiosity— and die with it; and there are books that influence all our years. We may never reopen them; we may even forget them; but something in them has left its mark somewhere in our brains.”

When author F.L. Lucas introduced his book, ‘Greek Poetry for Every Man’, with the words above, he possibly had no idea that one Malawian would attempt to dilute the meaning of the expression that some books “pass out of our lives [and] are forgotten” by waging a war that would ensure that the books remain etched in our memories.

But this is what Mike Sambalikagwa Mvona, renowned writer, with 11 books to his credit, and Malawi Writers Union president, has set out to do. And he wants to do this not just locally; the world over.

Mvona argues that it is possible to create a world where booklovers no longer treat books as fellow travellers, valuing them for a short while before letting them slip out of memory, and life, forever.

“What we need to do is to value the contribution of authors in society by offering them better incentives than is the case. This will motivate the authors who will, therefore, create memorable works. As things stand, authors are given a raw deal,” says Mvona.

Mvona says, instead of courting happiness, authors live in a world of dissatisfaction.

“It is publishers, as opposed to authors, who are reaping the fruits in Malawi. The creator of the work, the author, is often left frustrated,” says Mvona.

The situation sharply contradicts the picture he had as a youth. As Mvona grew up, he liked Magwegwe Kondowe’s short stories, and thought that being an author in Malawi was as rewarding as being a bank manager.

Among other works, Magwegwe was famous for his short story, ‘The Pot Cracks’.

Had he known, Mvona would have appreciated the fact that the ‘high’ regard accorded to Magwegwe was ‘lower’ to that of the international writer Mvona also liked, Louis L'Amour. L'Amourgained instant fame and success after publishing his first novel, ‘Hondo’, in 1953.

L'Amour was an American author of French ancestry and his books consisted of Western novels, historical fiction, science fiction, nonfiction, as well as poetry and short-story collections. ‘The Walking Drum’, ‘The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour’, ‘Last of the Breed’ are some of his works.

“I just admired the writings of these authors and that was all,” recollects Mvona.

Maybe he took for granted the politics of an art he would later dearly embrace.

Global wings

Just when Mvona’s mind was getting used to the idea that his struggle for improved contract conditions for authors would be limited to the geographical setting of Malawi, the horizons opened up to him.

Roughly one-year-and-five-months ago, Mvona became the Vice Chairperson for the International Authors Forum (IAF), a global organisation which provides a platform where authors’ organisations share information and take action on issues affecting them worldwide.

According to IAF’s website, www.internationalauthors.org, “There is currently no other independent, global organisation representing authors’ interests in copyright and contracts, and in many countries authors are not formally represented at all. By creating a strong worldwide network of authors’ organisations, IAF can strengthen the presence of authors, and the effective representation of their rights on a global scale.”

Its work is premised on Article 27 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. Reads the Article: “Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.”

So powerful is the IAF that, on March 24 this year, it supported U.S. arts associations that complained about one of the US College Art Association’s latest policies.
The organisations, which included the Graphic Artists Guild, National Press Photographers Association, American Photographic Artists, American Society of Media Photographers, Digital Media Licensing Association, and Professional Photographers of America, published a letter raising concerns with the US College Art Association’s ‘Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts’.
Specifically, the letter questioned findings of a recent study that concluded that “copyright acts primarily as a barrier, encouraging self-censorship; and that artists are in an adversarial relationship with the marketplace”.
The organisations faulted the study findings by observing that the study failed to address commercial applications of fair use made by museums and non-profit organisations in the creation of objects for sale.
They then warned that, “Without participation from all of the stakeholders in the visual arts community there can be no consensus, let alone a set of “Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts”.

 Mvona says he treats his election into the global body as an opportunity to advance the interests of writers in developing countries.

Mvona says he is taking advantage of the fact that IAF is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation as well as the International Reprographic Rights Organisation to advance his agenda. 

“I was elected as Vice Chairperson for two reasons: To focus on the African continent and developing countries; and to try to bring into the basket a lot of developed and least developed countries.

“So far, I have been ensuring that authors’ rights are adhered to in contracts. My recently-published book, ‘A Guide to Writers and Artists’ Contracts’ is part of the efforts to ensure that the field is leveled. We want an end to the situation where publishers have more say than authors. Publishers are generating funds on our shoulders,” says Mvona.

Mvona’s plea to the world

While a one-year-and-five-months-old baby may be deemed too young to muster international languages, ‘international baby’ Mvona seems to be an exception.

According to the IAF website, http://internationalauthors.org, Mvona highlighted the challenges facing African authors to an international audience in Seoul, South Korea, on October 29, 2014 in a presentation titled ‘Challenges Affecting Authors in Africa’.

Reads part of the presentation: “Publishers’ twist from Creative works to Textbooks. Their focus and eyes have turned to text-book publishing as they regard this field as an already available profit-making market that can off-set their printing cost easily as well as making huge profits once drafted into a school curriculum. With the already few publishing houses, very few novels are published and most young writers fail to clinch a publishing contract.  Hence many self-published books are on the market, many of which lack credibility.

“Due to a lack in [sic] publishers for fiction in Africa, most African novels are being published in either Europe or the United States of America. Most of these books are sold in those countries and to make them available in their own countries, the authors are asked to purchase or order them but due to financial challenges they usually fail to do so.

 “There is need to harmonise relations between publishers and writers in order to bridge the gap between these two parties. Publishers need to respect the role of an author as the engine or the owner of the intellectual property by, among other things, honouring the annual disbursement of royalties, adhering to the written contract and promotion of the author’s work.”

Stock-taking

However, Mvona admits that being the IAF Vice Chairperson has not instantly turned a frustrating situation into a hopeful one.

“Of course, authors would expect that I should influence positive change and reverse the negative situation we are in immediately, but these things take some time. I, therefore, know that local authors are yet to feel the positive impact of my work.

“But I am doing something. I want to see an end to a scenario where authors do not see the contracts they are supposed to be party to. How does one sign a contract without seeing it? These things (success stories) will not be registered overnight, though,” says Mvona.

Will Mvona fall into the pit of religious prophets: Revered outside, forsaken at home? His tenure of office is the judge!

Local Theatre Groups Shun Local Adaptations

It is not often that actors, bursting with unbridled energy, decide to take on the modern world tooling an old act— especially when every modern producer and director’s goal is to take on the world and establish a new order.

However, as if taking one step backward in order to mobilise a giant sprint forward, Zangaphee Chimombo has done just that. Chimombo has created a Chichewa version of Steve Chimombo’s play, ‘The Rainmaker’. The Chichewa version is titled ‘M’matsakamula’.

The development comes at a time when adapting foreign plays has become an in-thing in Malawi, and gives rise to the question: Is Malawi ready to adapt local English plays into Chichewa?

National Theatre Association of Malawi (NTAM) president, Manasseh Chisiza, says local theatre groups and playwrights have never expressed reservations over the idea of adapting English plays written by Malawians, but the challenge has been funding.

“There is no shortage of characters on which to peg plays in Malawi literature but the cost of producing plays that serve as adaptations of our literature is high. This is why a number of theatre groups prefer to adapt foreign plays,” says Chisiza.

Chisiza adds that some local playwrights have fallen into the habit of adapting foreign plays because of the availability of financiers.

“Organisations that engage local theatre groups in adapting foreign plays fund the exercise and, so, local theatre groups lose little, in terms of finances, when they adapt such plays. This is the reason we have witnessed a number of groups adopting the practice,” says Chisiza.

Local is lekker 

As if setting the stage for local adaptations, Chancellor College Travelling Theatre on Thursday premiered ‘M’matsakamula’, one of the greatest works of Professor Chimombo the writer, poet, editor and teacher. So good was he at his game that his 1988 Napolo Poems earned him an honourable mention for the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.

Of late, the country has embraced the practice of adapting foreign plays. One of the local theatre groups that have mastered the art is Nanzikambe Arts, which has adapted plays such as La storia della tigre [‘The Story of the Tiger’- a play authored by the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Italian Dario Fo], African Romeo and Juliet, Hendrik Ibsen's Doll's House adaption, Breaking the Pot, among others. In fact, since its inception in 2003, Nanzikambe Arts has done adaptations of several foreign plays. 

Another theatre grouping is Solomonic Peacocks, which once staged the adaptation of the French play L’ecole des femme (School of Wives) during the finals of the French Drama Schools Competition.  

Cultural erosion

Malawi Writers Union (Mawu) president, Sambalikagwa Mvona, says he has always been surprised that local playwrights prefer to adapt foreign plays instead of utilising the vast sea of literary material available locally.

Mvona says local writers have published books that tackle various issues, suggesting that playwrights could tap from them.

“The problem with adapting foreign plays is that we are diluting our culture. We are also losing out on the opportunity to advertise our culture through plays because what we are doing is exposing foreign culture,” says Mvona.

However, Solomonic Peacocks director, MacArthur Matukuta, says weaving the writings of a local author into a play is not as easy as others suggest.

“One cannot adapt a play without having an agreement with the author because there are copyright issues involved, and I think this is one of the factors that have contributed to the country having very few adaptations of local plays,” says Matukuta.

Matukuta, who acknowledges that funding is another challenge, hopes that the Cultural Policy may help solve some of the challenges facing theatre groups.

He says local playwrights may find it easy to adapt local plays and other literature works into plays by making use of the Cultural Policy’s funding facility.

Otherwise, he does not see local playwrights falling head over heels with the practice of adapting literary materials into plays.

Hope

But Chisiza suggests that all is not lost, but throws the ball into government’s court. Chisiza says the task of ensuring that theatre groups adapt scenes and characters found in local literature into plays hinges on the availability of funding, both public and private.

“In other countries, they have a financing facility for the arts sector. This is why we are pinning our hopes on the cultural policy. That is why we need the Cultural Policy because, without it, we will only depend on political will and experience has shown that there is no political will,” says Chisiza.

He adds: “Otherwise, we have a lot of legends; a lot of literature to be acted upon.”

Matukuta concurs with Chisiza. He says theatre groups fight against countless odds to stay afloat, a development that forces them to shun adaptations of plays from local literature sources.

Says Matukuta: “To begin with, theatre groups have to contend with the fact that they are, virtually, on their own, and that their survival hinges on them generating funds. Secondly, actors themselves have to think of ways of sustaining themselves because the industry has not reached a stage where it can support an individual 100 percent. Definitely, adapting local plays is out of the question because of the expenses involved.

“In addition, there are legal issues to contend with. You cannot just adapt a play published in a book by a local author and hope that you will get everything for free. Agreements have to be made and this is expensive and time-consuming. Again, some of the authors of books that may offer fertile ground for (play) adaptations are not alive, and that is another complication.”

Otherwise, Matukuta sees a fertile ground for adaptations in local literature.