Of Valentine Day and Love: Love, The Universal Commodity

They were people of the 3rd Century, when the world was very much a loosely meshed network, and great pockets of territory remained untouchable and untouched.


But it can be said that the two Roman martyrs- who happened to have fallen on the incidental luck of having five things in common: the name Valentine; 3rd Century as the time canvas on which they left their legacy; Roman ancestry; staunch Christian believes; and shared a vulnerability to those ‘human weaknesses’ now elevated to strengths called passion, charity and compassion- were men of no specific world.


Like their legacy, they could have lived in any era and country because of the universality of that heart-attacking weevil christened love.


The Two Valentines, after which Valentine’s Day is aptly named and remembered every February 14, might not have seen it coming; that their humble efforts could one day touch and influence the world. But their acts of love, compassion, passion and charity left an indelible mark in their ancient world, an impression that has gently holed through the long ages and now stays with us, if not within.


Today, people across the world treat February 14 every year as a special day to celebrate love and affection to either loved ones, friends or even strangers as a measure of how much they care for them. Some even go a step further than the usual sending of Valentine’s cards by donating to charity or passing candy gifts along.


Mutual exchange of love notes and messages has also become part of the norm that the heart-shaped outline, the figure of the winged Cupid, fresh flowers and, in other countries, dove-shaped curios have come to symbolize modern love.


Love, as they say, is the round heart around which the human soul flourishes. The result has been that the story of man cannot be separated from love or hate. This is one of the reasons early Greek and Roman philosophers never ceased to be intrigued by it, and dedicated whole life times, or at least part of them, trying to break its parts into bits and chunks of sense. For the Greeks, a philosopher was not worth his salt without adding a tree on this half-explored desert, one that dresses up through up through continued studies, opinions, experiments and varied conclusions.


But reputable Greek writers such as Hesiod and Homer, and other reputable voices in the names of Anaximander, Anaximenes, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Zeno, Melissus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Protagoras came to one conclusion: love may be inseparable to man and the history of human existence, yes, but it (love) lives longer than the human being (life span).


It is dynamic, too. Look at Valentine’s Day, for instance. It merely started with acts of charity, but has now come to be associated with romantic, even erotic, love- thanks to changing trends in the High Middle Ages, when the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer, who so loved, as many of the people in that era, courtly love that they mixed the two recipes of pour charity and courtly love to set up a concoction of more outward expression.


At first, people could feel it in the heart and embark on charitable causes without showing it outside (pour charity), now they could show it (affection) and cerebrate it openly. This was unlike the real cerebrations associated with February 14, a month replete with one or two sorts of historical cerebrations throughout the ages.


Roman history, for example-of which the two Valentines are part- sheds more light into the fact that February was a month of cerebrations. The feast of Lupercalis (which used to fall on February 15) comes to mind. Historians have come to agree that this festival later came to be associated with cerebrations of the two Valentines’ lives.


St. Valentine is largely regarded as the patron of lovers, a development that has become part of the historical background of St. Valentine’s Day in such countries as Rome and, now, other countries including Malawi.


As the days go by, and some original aspects of the day get diluted in the name of present freedoms, changing times and dynamism, one thing is bound to stand the test of time. At least that is the impression one gets after wandering through the writings of Gorgias, that Greek philosopher who may be dead and soil now, yes, but still lives in ink and paper.


Gorgias made his impressions of love and the changing times clear, and said while some aspects of love, including the way people express it were bound to change with the changing times, the word of mouth, recorded messages (as in letters, memory cards and other forms of written communication) and physical presence (being there for those we love and care about) would remain a powerful means of putting one’s emotions, impressions and ideas across.


Of the word of mouth, for instance, he said: “Words are tremendously powerful and produce the most godly like effects in smallest, most obscure bodies; for words can put an end to fear, assuage grief, effect joy, love, affection, and increase pity. The same argument applies to the power of words with respect to the soul’s disposition as to the disposition of drugs with respect to the body’s nature.


“Just as different drugs draw off different humours from the body and some put an end to an illness, others to life, so it is with words- some cause pain, some pleasure, some fear, some courage, and some drug and enchant the soul with evil persuasion. It is possible to see that the power of the word of mouth (as in trying to convince someone you really care), though it may lack the appearance of compulsion, has the same strength,” said Gorgias.


Gorgias adds that love and the word of mouth form a powerful combination, one that will naturally produce in many men and women great love, desire or hatred. As for recorded messages, he says a carefully worded communication will produce the same desire as the word of mouth.


Then, there is the question of being there (physically present) for someone (or sending images) and how that fans the fire of love. His take: the sculpting of statutes and production of images affords the eyes divine delight, and will increase love and desire for physical closeness.


“If, therefore, the eye is entranced by the body and (say) a woman delivers up her soul to an eager contest of love, what is so strange in that? If love, being divine, has divine power from the gods, how can the weaker reject or fight against it?


Today, as if following Gorgias’ bidding, the effect of a Valentine- a card that one sends, usually without putting the actual name on it, to a loved one or somebody they care about- has not dissipated’ nor has the word of mouth ceased to carry seeds of persuasion and effectiveness. What has changed, if anything, is the technology.


People can now communicate through various means, other than the traditional card-sending gesture. And Mike Mangani, Managing Director for Salima-based ‘Get a Card’ shop, sellers of memory cards in infuriated.


“The business of selling cards (greeting, well-wishes, love, among other card types) was hot just five years ago. Now, with the proliferation of internet communication, mobile phone text messages and others, we are taking to the back stage. In fact, I had six employees three years ago; now, I only have two because there is no money coming. The good thing, though, is that people are still communicating,” said Mangani.


For Chawezi Tembo, a Diploma student at the Malawi Institute of Journalism, there is no reason for memory card sellers to complain. The proliferation of new technologies has just made communication easy, and increased the infectious rate of love.


“As people get increased access to channels of communication, it is the whole country that stands to benefit from, say, stable relationships and marriages. When there is stability in these set ups, we may one day work up to discover that with simple acts of communicating one’s affection and love on Valentine’s Day, we have come over some of the biggest challenges in this millennium: HIV and AIDS, promiscuity, and HIV and AIDS,” said Tembo.


But this, too, will not be strange. Pierson Ntata, Director for Chancellor College-based Centre for Social Research, says people are always in the process of shaping and re-shaping, adapting and re-adapting, themselves to the environment they live in.


Always, some things are bound to change, and others not- as human beings react to circumstances around them.


But some things never change entirely, he says, only small moderations are made to accommodate new trends.


That could be one of the reasons Malawians have reacted differently to the challenge of HIV and AIDS. Others have warmly embraced Western cultures and others have not.


Traditional Authority Karonga of Karonga (district) agrees. Malawians were not known for expressing their love in public, and on a specific day as happens on Valentine’s Day. It (love) more or less lived in the heart, a family secret analogous to a one-month-old fetus.


You do not go about advertising it; you, sort of, keep it in the heart, yet it is a treasured thing.


“But now things have changed. It is becoming common for old people to show their affection in public on February 14. That is change, and we cannot object to it wholesome. But we must remember, also, to keep our culture intact. Lest we lose both our love and culture, a disaster of catastrophic proportions because we will have nothing to call our own,” said Karonga.


The traditional leader, in summing up, says while people may not fight against love per se (because love will never change and is eternal), they can change some aspects of it- the way people express it, for example.


“Respectable people cannot kiss and cuddle in a shopping mall just because of February 14. That is against our culture. But people can send each other cards, though this was not part of our culture. In adapting to the environment, you single out the positives, add them to what you have been practicing all along, and a nation will never adopt corrupted morals.”



Whatever the case, the truth remains that, at first, Valentine letters were sent anonymously. But, with new technologies such as cell phones (and their famed text messages), e-mail addresses, newspaper messages, among other things that make it equally difficult to be anonymous, it may be a matter of time before one of the aspects associated with Valentine’s Day (the sending of anonymous messages) may go with the winds.



But love and affection, outstanding survivors through out the long ages, will be there on February 14 next year.

Bath and Tile: The answer to all your tile needs

The builder or construction engineer’s life will no longer be rough and lonely.


Malawi Bath and Tile and Tile and Tap, which became the country’s sole Somany ceramics’ authorised distributor in 2011, is the new friend for all your tile needs in either rural or urban areas.


Realising that the individual of today gives place to the individual of tomorrow, and that the need to set high quality tile standards is growing ever-more pressing in the world, Somany has set the pace in the production of trend-setting, durable, and high quality tiles.


And, despite increasing competition in the building and construction industry, Somany products have continued to fare well, mainly because of the producer’s dedication to quality. That is one of the reasons some of Somany’s authorised distributors, including Bath and Tile and Tile and Tap in Malawi, were invited to participate at the 25 – 29 September 2012 ‘International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings’ in Bologna, Italy.


Somany Ceramics Limited’s Head of International Business, Amit Bhatnagar acknowledged that the “support of our business partners has made Somany a force to reckon with, which has led to Somany enjoying a strong ranking in the Global Ceramic Industry”.


It comes as no surprise, therefore, that, as one of the highest producers in the world, it is Somany that supplied tiles for the underground train systems in India and the United Kingdom. In Africa, it has been supplying tiles to a number of 5-Star hotels, creating a reputation as one of the leading producers of high-quality ceramic products.


“Actually, we would like to target hotels here in Malawi. If the tourism industry wants quality tiles; if those who want to construct complexes want quality and durability, Somany is the right choice,” says Irfan Nathanie, Manager for Malawi Bath and Tile and Tile and Tap.


For being the only distributor of Somany ceramics in Malawi, Malawi Bath and Tile and Tile and Tap is now stocking world class tiles, saving local companies and individuals the hassles of importing such products into the country.


“We have the capacity to meet any demand because Somany operates in 80 countries worldwide. Using technology from Italy, the company’s reputation as a supplier of tiles continues to grow worldwide.


“Somany has the capacity to produce 30 million square metres a month, with a generous guarantee period,” says Nathanie.


Nathanie says people who are looking for wall and floor tiles can now celebrate following the availability of such products in the country, courtesy of Malawi Bath and Tile and Tile and Tap.


He says, with its two outlets- located in Blantyre, opposite the United Democratic Front headquarters, and in Area 4, opposite Zanzibar, in Lilongwe- Malawians are guaranteed unlimited access to Somany ceramic products.


In fact, as if to ensure that there is a continued flow of such products, Malawi Bath and Tile and Tile and Tap also imports some materials from China.


“Our company also serves as direct importers of tiles, accessories, furniture, bath fittings, toilet sets, shower cubicles, sinks, and unique sinks. As I am speaking, we have just received new stocks of products such as cornices, complete doors, finger chairs for kids, and many more,” says Nathanie.

Quik Stik: Tying your world together

The Malawian people have,, somewhat intriguingly, lived and died for decades believing that the best quality is found only in imported materials.


But, as History has already begun to bear witness of Quik Stik’s international standard products, this imports-are-synonymous with-quality bluff has been a fallacy.


As Quik Stik Managing Director, Faraaz Ibrahim Patel, testifies, the company has, at last, managed to make its presence felt on the local scene, thanks to customers’ growing realization that there is no substitute for quality, and that not all imported products are quality products. All is happening barely two years after the company joined the building and construction industry in 2010.


“We joined the industry after noticing a gap. We realised that everything was being imported from South Africa, and decided to give Malawians products whose quality is as good as that found in South Africa and other countries,” says Faraaz.


Adds Faraaz: “We supply high quality tiles and agrout, an adhesive used for sticking tiles so that they last longer and meet people’s expectations. We actually target all members of the general public because we realise that we all need quality products if we really want our standards of living to improve.”


What is more? Quik Stik’s tile adhesives are manufactured locally, thereby creating employment opportunities for local people, and saving the much-needed foreign exchange. This is one of the company’s ways of contributing to national social-economic development.


The company, which employs 30 people despite being in Malawi for just two years, has a network of distributors in Blantyre and Lilongwe, giving those addicted to importing products that are locally available no excuse for externalizing forex.


“We are happy that, so far, people have started recognizing our products and are buying from us. At first, when we just started, business was slow. But things have picked up, and we are happy that Malawians are supporting us. But we still need local hotels to support us by using our colour adhesive because it’s a good product,” says Faraaz.


However, Faraaz observes that, for the industry to contribute fully to national development, there is need for the government to put in place incentives. He says there is need to consider decreasing taxes on raw materials, considering that local companies create employment and save the country’s foreign exchange.


Meanwhile, Quik Stik has announced that it will shortly launch another cheaper and better product in the name of Supa Fix.


Faraaz says Supa Fix is another tile adhesive, and tile grout product manufactured locally.


“We are looking at the construction industry, distributors, and end-users. We will, as usual, make the product available to customers through distributors such as Dekay Suppliers, Limbe Atomic Hardware, FocuS Tea Trading, Accurate Tiles, Bath and Tile, H & H Hardware, Nics Hardware, among others,” says Faraaz.

When Justice Disenfranchises Women

...A typical case of how Malawi's property distribution laws affect women


Life, for 24-year-old Chikondi Mtchini, has become a struggle against the recurring bouts of despair which threaten her.


“I have been robbed by the court,” says 24-year-old Chikondi Mtchini.


Since mid-September this year, that’s how the mother of two begins her stories- with a grotesque parody of court judgment.


What has infuriated Mtchini is the way current laws disregard the needs of women when it comes to the distribution of property after divorce.


“I married my husband in 2007, and tried my best to help him take care of the family. I used to sell malambe (juice extracted from the baobab seed), so that we could find it easy in life. However, we have issues with my husband, and that led to divorce. Instead of distributing our property equally, the court gave my husband more than me and our children,” Chikondi says, struggling for speech.


“I feel that I have been oppressed and do not know what to do with my two children. As a jobless woman, I have become so stranded that I am staying at the house of my sister, herself a married woman,” Chikondi says.


She said her husband, whom she married in 2007, abandoned the family in February this year, prompting her to withdraw K120, 000 from his account so she could buy food, take care of education expenses for one of her children, and pay off a landlord who was threatening to grab family property.



Can of worms

When the husband came home and learned that she had used K120, 000, he chased her from their matrimonial house, which prompted her to refer the issue to Village Headman Magasa in Blantyre.


Magasa confirmed handling the issue, but said, from the way the two parties exchanged words, it was clear that no counsel would flatten their bumpy relationship.


“We, as chiefs, make it a point to settle issues that arise among our subjects from time to time. But, sometimes, and this is normal, we find it prudent to refer matters beyond our jurisdiction to the formal justice system,” the chief says.


In fact, what Chikondi and her ex-husband did is what the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) promotes through its primary justice programme- a Malawi Government initiative aimed at sensitizing community members on the need to prioritise the traditional justice system.


CCJP primary justice regional coordinator for the Southern Region, Dalitso Chris Mipando, says primary justice has inherent advantages over the formal justice system. He cites the example of people being able to make peace after their issues are settled by chiefs, religious leaders, political leaders, marriage counselors, among others.


“That’s the beauty of primary justice. Former enemies become friends again, and co-exist in issues of community development as if nothing wrong ever happened, “Mipando says.


He adds: “However, for primary justice to achieve its intended purpose, community members need to realise that judgment cannot favour both sides. But when parties to a case are not satisfied with the decision of the primary justice system, they are free to go to the formal justice system.”


Magasa knows all these processes well and, realising that there was more to the issue than would be settled by the traditional (primary) justice system, he authored a letter which the Mtchinis had to present at the Blantyre Magistrates’ Court.


“We presented the letter at the Blantyre Magistrates Court on 29 August 2013,” Chikondi says. “But I am not happy with the judgment because, in the end, the court ordered the husband to pay K2, 000 to each of two children we had every month (amounting to K4, 000) and K3, 000 for my and the children’s rental fees.


“Out of all the property we owned together, the court only gave me chairs, one double bed, and plates, which it distributed equally between us. But the husband got a refrigerator, three television sets, home theatre, plates, and spoons, among others. What pained me most is the fact that the court bluntly said I had no say in property distribution because I don’t work,” she says.


Now, Chikondi says life is no longer the same for her, as her child has stopped going to nursery school because we have no money,” Mtchini said.





Contrasting signs

However, our investigations at the Blantyre Magistrates’ Court revealed that the court, filed as Cause Number 195 of 2013 involving Mtchini and Patrick Kankhwangwa, gave Chikondi more than one refrigerator, chairs, and plates to the woman.


For instance, court records indicate that Chikondi was allowed to retain custody of the two children, and was given a television screen, home theatre, beddings, dining set, clothes, and kitchenware while Patrick- the ex-husband- got a decoder, display, clothes, kitchenware, and refrigerator.


The court also ruled that the husband should be providing K7, 000 to the children monthly.





Reality check

Speaking about the issues, national coordinator of the Malawi chapter of Women in Law in Southern Africa Educational Trust, Seodi White, says magistrate courts are mandated to distribute family property when the value of the property is question does not exceed K2 million.



White said, when it comes to judgement, there were two schools of thought on the distribution of moveable marital property.



“Ordinarily, the law is a little difficult but, according to the two schools of thought, property is either distributed equitably, which is half-half, or by considering one’s contribution in he acquisition of such property,” White said.


Section 24 (b) (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, which was also cited in he case, stipulates that on the dissolution of marriage, women have the right “to a fair distribution of property that is held jointly with a husband; and (ii) to fair maintenance, taking into consideration all the circumstances and, in particular, the means of the former husband and the needs of any children.”



At a recent meeting in Lilongwe, Chancellor College based expert Ngeyi Kanyongolo observed that Malawi’s laws were not gender-sensitive, attributing the development to the many problems faced by women who seek recourse from the justice system.



“When we ask officials at the Law Commission, they say that they do not look at that (gender) when formulating laws,” she observes.



May be because justice, as they say, is blind. It knows no Chikondi Mtchini.

The Enduring Story of Artists Elson Kambalu

He has since learned to turn his silence into an ecstasy of imagination.


But visual and performing artist Elson Kambalu is quick to confess that, as recently as 1999, his silence used to be riddled with regrets and unanswered questions.


“Having just graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from The Polytechnic- a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima)- and a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, I was busy looking for a job,” Kambalu says, adding:


Adds Kambalu: “I had not yet discovered the artist in me and was busy looking for a job. I found none, and that, kind of, affected me. I could sit down and ask myself all sorts of questions. All I could do, during my quiet hours, was to think about this and had no time to think about other things I could do with my life.”


Artistic rebirth
As it were, his flight to the world of employment soon crashed, but, still, Kambalu failed to hear the distant, rumbling calls emanating from visual and performing arts.
Fortunately, the reign of this state of confusion was short-lived.


“I found myself experimenting with art. I started by scribbling down hopeless figures and, somehow, came to realise that there was an artist in me. This happened by accident, though; I found myself in the arts by accident,” Kambalu confesses.


His subsequent interaction with visual artist Nyango Chodola, combined with his interest in the art works of David Kelly, and Cuthy Mede, a pre-colonial artist who once lectured at Unima’s Chancellor College.


Thus begun the artistic journey of Kambalu, a man of two homes: Blantyre and Lilongwe.
The La Galleria Africa Director has moved from the undesirable position of job-keeper to the creator of visual art products. Who would have known, 14 years ago, that Kambalu would be staying amid things that do not even realise the world they are in- making a living out of the imagination, brushes, paints, easels, art papers, canvasses, sketching pads, among others?


Kambalu’s discovery and curiosity have opened a new world of self-consciousness for him, so much so that he has turned a despairing situation into fruitful life. He has even converted the banquet table of his Bachelors Degree in Business Management and Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing into a refuse dump of history.


His is a world away from business calculations, mathematics, though he still needs his marketing skills to market his, and other artists, works. Buoyed by the ambition, he wants people who have indicted language for causing so many upheavals in life to, equally, indict sculptures on the same charge.


“As a self-taught artist, I have come to realise that art works can stimulate debate and inform a nation’s conscious. That’s what I do. That’s what I want to do,” Kambalu says.


Curving a niche
Watching Kambalu translate his imaginations into visible features on the canvass, one is convinced the man adores his new-found ‘friends’. With his hands, he ‘breathes’ life into the shadows of his won imagination.


Sometimes, he says, the ideas are roused from what he knows to be real life experiences. Sometimes, they are simply a rectitude that mimics his struggles and triumph. But, mainly, they are about growing up.


A close observation of Kambalu’s works reveals that they are much about harmony as they are about the conflict that comes with growing up. From the time one sets their eyes on, say, his ‘The Uprising’, an abstract piece of words depicting rising lines that represent opposing forces attempting to get the best out of each other.


“I mainly explore the theme of growing up. There are many things an artist can explore around this issue,” Kambalu says.


That is how the forth-born in a family of eight has been keen to offer arts’ zealots lessons that self-discovery excites human beings in much the same way as it deceives. The excitement that comes after puberty, he enthuses, replete with its wrings with wrong and right, have shaped a life-long career for him.


Kambalu is also quick to point out that, apart from exploring issues of growth and discovery, he is also inspired by his past, and is, sometimes, tempted to depict some facets of that fresh past in his works. His cause is also helped by his interest in people and artistic books.


“At artist should have talent, hard work, develop interest in a wide range of issues, and be educated, to some level. It is because of education that I took to arts’ books. These helped me discover what I was good at, and the sort of stories I had to tell. It also helped me develop perseverance as I developed my skills,” Kambalu says.


Man of three faces
While at was, at first, like a thought too strange to house within Kambalu’s brain, he has grown accustomed to it. In fact, once he made that discovery that “I had a sense of shapes and figures”, his prowess and ambition have shrunk not, establishing him as one of Malawi’s most talented visual artists.


“My farce (at not securing employment), I found, was not tragedy. It, instead, helped me concentrate on learning and nurturing my new-found artistic skills in four grueling years of learning and practice since 2000.


“Today, I cannot believe it that I have evolved into a curator (someone who works of behalf of others to collect art works), art entrepreneur- as owner of La Galleria Africa in Lilongwe- and artist,” Kambalu says.


A hand the reacheth out
While Kambalu seems contented, he decries that Malawi is short on art schools, saying the country needed more institutions such as Bishop Mackenzie and Kamuzu Academy to nurture the country’s raw talent.


“Sometimes, I am made to believe that I am very fortunate that I have attained what I wanted to attain in art. I have also learned a lot from managing my own art gallery, which I bought from Lois Lossaco (owner of La Carvena Art Gallery in Blantyre) last year.


“But others are not that lucky, mainly because we have few art schools in Malawi. That is why on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, I opened Blantyre Art Club in Sunnyside. We want it to be the starting point for people who want to study the arts in this country,” Kambalu explains.


Blantyre Art Club has started offering lessons in visual and performing arts, and is self-funded by Kambalu. Visual art covers drawing, painting, sculpture, and fashion designing, while performing arts has guitar lessons, film making lessons and theatrical performances, voice lessons, among others, on offer.


Kambalu says these lessons are being offered during after-school hours to enable students attend lessons while going ahead with their formal education. Adults are also drawing lessons from Kambalu’s walk in art.


The home of Blantyre Art Club is the studio Kambalu used while working for Liverpool Wellcome Trust –which has just renewed his contract as an Artist-in-Residence, a task that entails working with medical scientists and studying their world- and depicting the same in his art works.


“I want to be in the middle of efforts to create a new generation of artists. I find that the landscape of visual artists in Blantyre lacks fresh energy. The majority of artists seem to be from the 1960s, 70s. What happened to artists born in the 80s? They haven’t been mobilized. That is why I want to concentrate on education other than the finished products,” Kambalu says.

He says also bemoans that local artists are yet to suck from the productive tits of technology, a development he says has hindered their visibility.


Struggles beyond art
Kambalu, “the self-taught artist who hides his real age”, can, sometimes, get into the limelight for historical, other than artistic, reasons. For instance, he was involved in a battle to preserve the first District Commissioner’s office in Lilongwe a couple of years ago.


This was after the government decided to sell the piece of land to foreign direct investors who wanted to construct a shopping complex at the place.


“I was in a bus, and saw people chopping down trees. I did not like the destruction of that monumental building and took the issue with the Ministry of Culture, which suspended the project. I felt so good and proud of myself,” Kambalu says.


This willingness to wrestle the buffalo by the horns could, perhaps, be behind the former Visual Arts Association of Malawi secretary general’s decision to no longer belong to the association.


“It’s true that I used to belong to the association. But I left because, I think, of my radical ideas. I remain in good touch with over 100 members, though,” Kambalu says.
As Kambalu goes back to his silence of ecstasy, he sees, from the transparent windows of Blantyre Art Club, the artistic sunlight creeping, inch by inch, into the new dawn of Malawi arts!

Kambalu to refer heritage sites’ issues to Law Review

Lilongwe-based artist, Elson Aaron Kambalu, says his battle against the demolition of heritage sites will not end with the Ministry of Culture’s U-turn on demolition of the old District Commissioner’s office in Lilongwe, vowing to submit pragmatic proposals during Malawi’s next law review exercise.


Speaking this week, in an exclusive interview at his La Galleria art gallery in Lilongwe, Kambalu said he feared for the future of Malawi’s heritage sites and would not give up the fight until Malawi’s next law review exercise.


Kambalu said, among other suggestions, he would submit a proposal with the aim of safeguarding and preserving the Malawi’s heritage sites.


“We must not remember that we have children who may wish to refer back to things at some point in their life. That is where the issue of heritages sites, and the important role they play in a nation’s history, comes in,” said Kambalu.


“Among other things, I plan to submit a proposal that all buildings built before 1950 should never be demolished, except with a letter and special permit explicitly written and signed by the minister responsible for either land or tourism. This will promote accountability in handling matters pertaining to our heritage sites,” said Kambalu.


The artist added that the issue of heritage sites went beyond the scope of the Ministry of Culture. He disclosed, therefore, that his conservation efforts would also include proposals to review the country’s land laws.


“I think the Land Act should also be looked into, though I don’t know what it exactly says on issues related to heritage sites. All these efforts are part of my heritage sites’ conservation efforts. In fact, Malawians should be possessive of the handful heritage sites we have. We have already lost so many treasured sites over the years,” said Kambalu.


Kambalu gave the example of Dowa district, saying, before Lilongwe matured into a city, Dowa used to perform similar purposes to people of both Lilongwe and Dowa. He said trade used to flourish in Dowa in those days, but nothing has been done to preserve that history.


“So, even Dowa’s legacy should be maintained. We can make some of the treasured sites in Dowa national property, and benefit a lot by preserving its culture,” said Kambalu.
Kambalu came into the spotlight for penning the Ministry of Culture against plans to demolish an old DC’s house in the capital city.

The Ministry has since suspended demolition works at the site.


Meanwhile, particulars of the individual or company involved in the demolition remain unknown even to Kambalu.


“They hide the name of the individual, or company involved,” Kambalu said.

Theatre Ahead of Time: Malawi's Veteran Actor Frank Patani Mwase Tackles Contemporary Theatre Issues

It was supposed to be a perpetual boom that would carry us on. From a passive hobby before 1980, English theatre rose to the status of a vacation between 1981 and 1994. The country was, then, dotted with accomplished actors.


Then, after 1994, the enthusiasm faltered, and English theatre has been struggling to occupy the position it once held.


However, veteran actor Frank Patani Mwase still believes that the sweet path once trodden by the likes of Du Chizisa Jnr., Mwase himself, Kamdoni Nyasulu, Chris Kamlongera, Edge Kanyongolo, among others, can be re-tarred.


“The problem we have,” says Mwase, “is that commercialization has taken the quality out of theatre in that the artist does not benefit, while quality and talent are disregarded by those who benefit from the process.”


Now, the tragedy with ignoring talent and quality is, to quote inspirational author Adam Smith, that “Unless those few…happen to be placed is some very particular situations, their great abilities, though honourable to themselves, may contribute very little to the good government or happiness of their society”.


The other problem, ironically, is theatre for development (TfD. Mwase says TfD should not be mixed up with other forms of theatre as, “by promoting functional literacy at a very basic level, creativity loses out”.


Then, there is the issue of great artists having nothing to show for their sweat and lack of proper venues.


“After 48 years of independence, Blantyre still has no suitable theatre venue. With due respect, Robin’s Park is good, but it was not built with the artist in mind. The place should have proper lights, curtains, and exit points.”


After all these, brain-drain will see fine arts’ graduates from the university are finding financial comfort elsewhere.


“Piracy is another facet. People freely pirate artists’ work and, then, laugh when the artist dies poor,” he says.





The way it begun
Mwase’s theatre interest started at four years during in an Easter play co-acted with his brother. He, then, got baptized into theatre when he attended an Association for Teaching English in Malawi (Atem) festival at Blantyre Teachers College (BTC).


He liked Dr. James Ng’ombe production ‘The King’s Spiral’, as presented by Chichiri Secondary School students. Then, between 1981 and 1982, Mwase found himself testing the drama ropes when he acted in HHI’s ‘Servant of two masters’.


But the defining moment came when, while in Form One, he met Waliko Makhala- then a member of H.H.I.’s drama club. Makhala was rehearsing for ‘The deceased’s attack’.


“I was a silent member of that cast. That is when I met the late Du Chisiza Jnr.,” he says.


‘The deceased’s attack’ eventually won the Atem festival.


That is how Wakhumbata Workshop Theatre was formed. Du left for further studies, Mwase became chairperson of the group, and, with Waliko, toured districts such as Karonga and Mzuzu.





Drawing the audience
The French Cultural Centre (FCC) then joined the fray, with ‘That scoundrel Moliere’ production in 1983 becoming FCC’s debut production. The late Jika Mkolokosa and Paul Paseli were part of the cast.


In 1984, Mwase acted in FCC’s ‘That would be gentleman’. The play was directed by Kamdoni Nyasulu. He also acted in ‘Chauta’s wrath’, directed by Nyasulu but scripted by Chris Kamlongera.


“In the formative years, only the ‘cultural afternoon’- a mixed event that featured poetry, music, drama- drew multitudes,” he says.


After Wakhumbata Workshop Theatre came groups such as the FCC Theatre, later renamed Cultural Advancement Theatre. That is how Paul Paseli production, ‘Mine by convenience’, came to grace the local theatre stage.


In 1987, Mwase and Du joined up again to form Malawi Professional Theatre Company. The group later paved way for Tiwuke Performing Arts, whose benefactor was Bazuka Mhango.


It is Tiwuke that turned into Wakhumbata Ensemble Theatre (Wet).


“It was not easy to attract a huge audience in 1987 because Chichewa plays were popular.


“However, the auditorium was full during our first performance. Of course, it was a small auditorium- accommodating 245 people,” he says.


Mwase says, due to the restrictive political situation of the time, “drama was more than entertainment; it was more figurative”.


“Our productions were political in nature and we could tackle issues we cannot tackle now. We did a lot of marketing, and the performances used to be hectic that we could do six performances in four days.


“Eventually, we became popular and could disrupt normal classes at secondary schools,” Mwase says.





The problem with mentoring
Why, then, after embracing great artists such as Viphwa Harawa, Edge Kanyongolo, Mwase himself, continuity seems to be a major problem?


“Mentoring is a difficult thing to do in the Malawian set up because it is not instutionalised. There are no programmes meant to nurture talent.”


Mwase also says mentoring the new generation has been a challenge because “we were ahead of our time”.


“So, as they say, in the absence of wise men, even fools can rule.”


He says economic factors have also drawn most veterans away from the stage.


“You can be a very famous person but, economically, you are not progressing and, at the end of the day, you go back to your poverty. If life cannot be found in art, you go elsewhere,” he says.


Mwase also draws stark differences between modern-day Atem and the Atem of old.


“It has to do with the quality of what we are doing. In those days, Atem enjoyed the support of politicians and administrators such that politically-intonated plays such as ‘The deceased attack’ could be performed before Member of Parliament after scooping Atem awards.


“These days, if you go to watch an Atem play, you must be a parent to one of the students,” he says.





Intellectual discourse versus stage act

He adds that, in the past, the academia and arts groups had strong relations, and this contributed to the theatre boom.


Mwase says Chancellor College Travelling Theatre also promoted fine arts. And that is how names such as Lupenga Mphande and Mupa Shumba- figures associated with establishment of Chanco’s fine arts department- quickly come to mind.


The names Mphande and Shumba spearheaded quality among Atem contestants, and artists wrote plays with the knowledge that their scripts would pass through the critical eyes and minds of Chanco lecturers at the back of their minds.


“The level of judgement and analysis in Atem festivals was top level. While patrons waited for results, Chancellor College Travelling Theatre could perform.


“Even if you were not at Chanco, you could mingle with these people and read top notch books. We could read such books as Wole Soyinka’s ‘The swamp dwellers’. Malawi was going through a cultural renaissance and this is the time the Wokomaatani Malungas were coming to light,” Mwase says.


This bond between the academia and performing arts was strategic: Chanco offered courses in performing art while arts groups offered the graduates the stage to perfect their game.





The calling past



Mwase denies that he has retired from the game.


“Good memories are better than a current disaster. However, we have been working behind the scenes with some of the veterans. We want to come back before the end of the year,’ he says.


This means that theatre-goers will be entertained to plays such as the 1989 production, ‘The Fragments’. The Times of 1989 praised Mwase’s performance, but rated other actors’ performance poorly.


Mwase chooses to differ. “’The fragments’, initially, was not understood because people were used to experimental theatre and wanted straight plays. Actually, we were supposed to perform ‘The me nobody knows’, a Du Chisiza production that was dealing with the sensitive subject of incest, but that play was banned by the Censorship Board.”


In the play, Mwase played more than 10 characters. In one instance, he was ‘Mbale’, in the other he played a prophetic role, then an unborn baby in its mother’s womb, a standup comedian, a street smart character from Blantyre Ndirande township, and so on.



By coming back, he says, the veterans want “go back to that basic understanding of theatre as a movement and rekindle the spirit of old to ensure that we export quality”.



Only then, may be, can the theatre ball fall on the nation with equal violence, giving it the potent of staying power again.

When President Joyce Banda Commemorated 100 Days in Office: Anticipation, ecstasy in Zomba

...A visit to her home district of Zomba was insightful

...Relatives, neighbours talk of Joyce Banda the President




This point in President Joyce Banda’s life could, probably, have been entranced by visions, images, and dreams that connected her to this new-found destiny. Somehow, these aspects of life have become some of the natural ways of coming into touch with new regions of oneself, and discovering revealing connections with the future.


While it may sound strange for the people of Zomba, especially those from Traditional Authority Malemia, to claim that they shared similar visions, images, and dreams with the daughter of their own soil, Banda, two months ago, it would be equally baffling if these people did not now share something in common with her: joy and happiness.


This (joy) is what we found in abundance when we visited Zomba on Friday in our quest to ‘catch’ people feelings on the ascendancy of Banda to the highest office in the land.




Crown hopes


Group Village Headman Kapwepwe, one of the traditional leaders who stood with Banda during her trying times, talks about how the President’s days after being booted out of the Democratic Progressive Party were just this huge battle of who could get the most favours from government among chiefs, because there was so little faith Banda could one day rise.


“Some of us suffered a lot because people were associating us with her when she formed her own party. Just imagine that I have never been given the cloak given to chiefs simply because I was deemed anti-government. Government officials also reduced the number of coupons I am entitled to from 296 in 2010/11 agriculture season to 41 this year. All this was happening because I knew that, with her heart, she would get to the high office of President one day,” Kapwepwe says.


All this happened to him because of the interview he granted to reporters from Joy Fm. This was after the late Senior Chief Chikowi had told public media that all the people of Zomba were supporting DPP’s Peter Mutharika’s presidential ambitions.


“I said ‘No’; that is not true. There are people here who support Banda. And they started victimising me,” Kapwepwe said.


Among other things, Kapwepwe said Banda has done a lot for the people, and points to Mafufuni mosque, a borehole at the mosque, revolving fund initiatives and agriculture schemes, the distribution of cellphones, and the provision of fertiliser coupons bought with her money to chiefs every year as some of the notable achievements.


“She also opened a free secondary school called Msigalira Joyce Banda Foundation where students learn for free, receive free school uniforms and food. She is a caring woman who wants people to be educated and find what they need in life,” Kapwepwe adds.



Ordinary hopes


For Laikia Kusinyala, 36, Banda’s position is nothing more than a mark of hope.


She expects her to drill more boreholes, apart from one she drilled at Mafufuni Mosque, construct feeder roads for cassava farmers, and improve the status of women.


“We also need improvements in the education sector. Our children, especially small ones, travel long distances to go to Nyani Pamtondo Primary. I also hope that the Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme will continue,” Kusinyala said.


She spoke as if she had read the mind of Paulo Salim, a 31-year-old we found a kilometre away. Salim, like Kusinyala, was happy that a daughter of Zomba had become the Malawi leader.


Salim said people knew Banda as a hardworker, pointing at development projects she introduced as Member of Parliament for Zomba-Malosa.


“We have benefitted a lot from her sanitation, education, and health initiatives. In fact, Msigalira Health Centre will be opened before the end of 2012, and we hope that this will reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates,” Salim said.


He asked the President to promote rural electrification, and make sure that “those who live in darkness are connected to the national electricity grid”.


Blood is thicker than water


Banda is so many things to so many people. President, business woman, gender rights activist, Southern Africa’s first woman president, the list goes on. To Vera Malamusi, 29, the president is her aunt.


“She has been like a mother to me: Caring, loving, concerned, and helpful. She has always helped me in so many ways; she is educating my son, who is doing Form 2 at Msigalira Joyce Banda Foundation. Without that chance, my son would have dropped out of school by now. We also have many other people who have benefitted from her charitable works,” Malamusi said.


You would think that, being niece to the First Citizen, Malamusi will be among the chosen few to benefit from Banda. She says ‘No’; Banda is different, she cares for all.


“What surprises me about President Banda is that, often, she helps people who are not related to her first, before shifting her attention to relatives who are in need of help. This only shows that she doesn’t practice favouritism, and treats all people equally,” Malamusi added.


These, workers at the President’s Domasi home said, Malamusi’s speeches are punctuated by smiles. She could be so overwhelmed with her Aunt’s rise to prominence


She pays in time!


MacLoud Nyamuka, 28, has been working for Banda since 2004. He talks of her as an honest employer.


“She has never delayed my salary. Actually, I am paid by the 21st or 22nd of every month, which only shows what a virtuous woman she is. I know she will take very good care of civil servants, and those who work at State residences,” Nyamuka said.


He did not end there; he asked to excuse himself.


“Please, allow me to speak as a Malawian, and not her worker now. So, I will not be speaking as her worker when I say she is a caring individual. She treats all people equally. The one thing about her is that she is a philanthropist, who values human life and dignity,” he said.


All this, Nyamuka feels, is a foundation she has built for herself; one that will help her solve Malawi’s challenges.



The nature of women

Maulana Fulaide, 54, is so happy that, finally, a female President is in charge.


“Women are, by nature, caring individuals who listen to people’s concerns. That is why she has been able to respond to the socio-economic problems facing Zomba-Malosa constituency.


“Because of her, we drink portable water ; poor and vulnerable children have been handed a lifeline to continue with their education, and; women are respected here, instead of being abused. This is because of her example. Men know that, if given a chance, women can do a lot for their communities and contribute towards the development of their areas.


“Ever since I came to know her, in 2006, I have come to appreciate her more and more. Malawians, I think, are blessed,” he said.


Ronnie Kazembe, 43, could not agree more.


“Her pro-poor projects here, including Msigalira Joyce Banda Foundation, have revolutionalised this area. I am a mother of four children, two of them learn for free at Msigalira.



“I also know of orphans, including one I look after, who have benefitted a lot from her charitable projects. She has been feeding them. She has been dressing them, by providing school uniforms, and these children will now have the opportunity to sleep on beds and mattresses because these items have just arrived at the school,” Kazembe said.



Asked what she could do for the area if she were elected President of the Republic of Malawi, Kazembe said:” I would establish revolving funds for women engaged in small scale trade. We all know that the HIV and AIDS pandemic has left women in a precarious situation because they now combine care-giving to their everyday chores. Women need money to improve their lives now more than ever before.



“I would also establish more health centres. It is good that Msigalira Health Centre will be opened soon, but women in other villages need similar facilities. I ensure hospitals have medical drugs because having a beautiful health facility is one thing, and stocking it with medicine (is) yet another thing.”



Banda, like Kazembe, is a woman. It may be that she also appreciates these things.



It was all happiness and hopes for the people of Malosa on Friday. Those from such villages as Machinjiri, Mtogolo, Minama, Chupi, and Kasonga said, with Banda in tow, Malawi was enjoying a good spell of luck.



Is this (sentiment) prophetic, with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank re-opening those closed doors for us? Time is a just judge.

Threatre Development in Malawi

...Is progress being made?

Theatre, broadly defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Seventh edition) as the work of writing, producing and acting in plays, is a giant mirror: continually reflecting the dynamic spirit of a nation.


It is a double-edged sword because either its is shaped by political, social, cultural, religious, economic contexts (as people compress their experiences into plays), or shapes political, cultural, social, religious, economic discourse (when big minds pack individual and collective aspirations, hopes and dreams into simple packages of plays.


Whether theatre shapes or is shaped, it still strikes us in varying degrees- driving us into requisite action.


This is the reality English theatre maestro, the late Du Chisiza Jnr., grasped when he thronged the then narrow Isthmus of local theatre-bringing acting to a summit many now struggle to climb-reach. His highly entertaining and educative plays invoked both happiness and sadness in us, introducing us to that other world lived by the minds.


That is the power of theatre: It enables us to live in two real worlds- the mind, and the ground. Most often, the mind-world guides us to the ground, as in cases where we begin to apply hopes raised in plays in real life. Actors and producers have employed this tool successfully in politics.


By talking about a free world in a dictatorship, for instance, they strike a human chord that longs for democracy. A case in point could be Germany, where Johann Herder had advanced the notion of volkgeist(or national soul). By this, he meant a consciousness that produced a particular language in art, culture, particular forms of thinking,customs and traditions.


It did not come as a surprise, therefore, when stirrings of nationalism begun to manifest themselves in activities of the middle classes, the gently, and educated elite- a sure sign that creative writing, just like all forms of writing, can be a powerful means of establishing national identity.


All the playwright does is create thought-provoking lines and make the characters more believable while, at the same time, confronting life’s challenges and problems. That happens when theatre becomes a forum for social critiquing. Some use it to turn into iconoclasts (that is, smashers of accepted ideas and norms).


Power so real that suspicious authorities hate it. That explains why other countries have tried, over the years, to suppress theatre performances, a good case in point being in Victorian England.


The Licensing Act of 1737 restricted the performance of ‘straight plays’ to specific companies (in this case, Covent Garden and Drury Lane), a development so damaging to the future of drama at the time.


It was a disguised blessing.


Theatre did not die. Instead, other forms of theatrical entertainment emerged. These include melo-drama. The phrase means ‘music drama’, but has come to mean a story, play or novel that is full of exciting events and in which the characters and emotions are too exaggerated to be real.


Other new-borns were harlequinade- an amusing character in some traditional (British)
plays, who wears special brightly coloured clothes with a diamond pattern; opera, a dramatic work in which all or most of the words are sung to music; pantomime- a type of play with music, dancing and jokes, that is based on a fairly tale and is usually performed at Christmas; burletta- a name given to a play which included at least
five songs in each act, which satisfied it to be called an opera.


Today, we might call it a musical.


Then, there was burlesque- a parody of the plays that, after the 1737’s Licensing Act which restricted the performance of ‘straight plays’, were authorized by rulers. Harlequinade, adapted from the Italian commedia dell’arte and originally a short drolley at the end of the main play, also became part of the theatre entertainment dish-later evolving into pantomime as we know it today, according to the
Hulton Drama series’ book on ‘The Victorian Scene’.


When the Theatres Act of 1843 at last abolished the situation which had, in essence, prevailed since 1660 (whereby only two theatres, Covent Garden and Drury Lane, were licensed to perform ‘straight’ plays) the other forms of ‘disguise’ theatre did not die; they spiced up performances.


Theatre thus developed, both in terms of quality of plays and infrastructure, and continues to shape people’s perceptions. It also continues to act as a vehicle that takes us to the future unexplored, offering us sweet sensations about worlds we may not be there to see and live.


It is this make-believe sensation that convinced McArthur Matukuta, president of the Theatre Association of Malawi, that here (in theatre) lay the real path towards sustainable social-economic development.


“Theatre can change lives when used effectively as a vehicle for positive living and change,” Matukuta ventures, as if it were the beginning of an old play that is theatre development in Malawi.


Used properly, this art form can become a big employer- filling players’ (actors, play wrights, costume manufacturers, venue owners, producers, among others) pockets with financial resources necessary for self, and national, development.


That is supposed to be the norm, in real sense; not for Malawi.


Players in the (should we say?) industry continue to live hand-to-mouth lives, supplementing what should have been a self-sustaining way of life with petty, piece work.


Matukuta acknowledges that local theatre may not have faced challenges of the magnitude faced in, say, Victorian times, but concedes that Malawi has been facing ideological challenges, challenges that have spilled into a near-disaster.


“We don’t have the infrastructure, lack resources,” he said.


While heaps of one party regimes, self-censorship, prohibitive laws, educational systems centred on ‘serious’ vocations, among others, almost conspired to thwart theatre development in other countries, Malawi has been lucky because even the mighty spirit of the one party regime left theatre largely unscathed.


That is why the likes of Du flourished. What a coincidence that the ‘afternoon’ of the one party regime, between 1993 and 1994, was also the morning of the flower that is theatre: Du rode the back of his theatre ground to propagate political messages. To others, it was just a coincidence; to many, a statement.


A farewell statement to local theatre for all the years spent harmoniously together. At least, there were no major obstacles to its development since independence.


Theatre has walked a fairly paved road, albeit without tangible development.


It is a sad tale for the country’s theatre industry.


“It, really, is a headache for us. For theatre to leave an indelible mark on national development, we need to progress,” said Matukuta.


The country has witnessed a proliferation of theatre groups, many of which explore everyday issues to drive points home. While the lot grazes where Chichewa grass reigns, some have ventured into the valley where the late Du, Gertrude Kamkwatira trod: English plays.


Solomonic Peacocks, Emancipation Theatrical Ensemble, Wanna Do (though lately dormant) make familiar sounds. Of these, some fuse harlequin, pantomime, opera, burlesque, burletta into their acts without knowing it.


While one is about to believe that theatre has been there long enough to develop a local touch, it is disheartening to note that most of our actors, play wrights and producers churn out novice products, observes theatre-goer Jonathan Banda.


“It’s clear that some of our actors, actresses and producers are in theatre for money; otherwise, their efforts leave a lot to be desired. Literally,” said Banda.


Of course, there are plays that are more remembered for their sparkling witty dialogue than literally works, but people sometimes go far with their criticism, said Matukuta.


He says theatre in Malawi has not always been about slow development; there were successes far between, albeit scattered and remote. This explains why his association has adopted a philosophical approach.


Successes, once scattered, are difficult to consolidate So Matukuta and fellow executive members have embarked on a national capacity building tour in a bid to tune and prepare the mind for success.


Matukuta feels that the best way out is through capacity building. A form of ‘deal-with-the-mind, infrastructure-later’ strategy. Between June and July this year (something he says will continue through out 2010), Matukuta has been busy crisscrossing the country on this tour of the ‘mind’.


“We are taking theatre to the grass-roots level. We have already been to Karonga, Kasungu, Nkhotakota, Zomba. We are targeting all the three regions. We are also happy that the Department of Culture’s Strategic Plan, established a couple of years ago, provides for the establishment of infrastructure for theatre performances,” said
Matukuta.


The plan also envisages the establishment of a multi-purpose cultural centre.


Matukuta said Malawians should also be happy with progress made in bringing the reality of an amphitheatre to Karonga.


“Things look promising. However, challenges such as scarcity of venues and high publicity costs (advertisements) threaten progress,” said Matukuta.

Sally Nyundo Dares New Markets

Sally Nyundo clinched the 'Best Reggae/Dancehall Artist' award during Musicians Association of Malawi inaugural awards held in Malawi's Capital City, Lilongwe, on Janury 17, 2014. In case you did not folow his path in music, here is something to give you a hint about who he is.






It is not just once, or twice, or thrice, but day after day, that Sally Nyundo- once a foreigner in the land of music- returns to the companionship of the guitar, the drum, percussions, or keyboard. In this new-found world of music, his only nemesis remains hunger, thirst and exhaustion because they take him home.



Yet, Nyundo has not always been this close to music, and is one of the antagonists of the primordial assertion that ‘musicians are born and not made’ because he is one of the many that have been ‘made’. In fact, his continued involvement with music smacks the famous quote made by the American William James (1842 - 1910), who said: “For a national mind differentiates itself whenever a genius is born in its midst by causes acting in the invisible and molecular cycle”.



“I was nor born a musician. I learned and perfected the art,” Nyundo says.



That may explain why, at the time of the Ndirande-born musician’s birth, no ‘actions’ registered in the invisible and molecular cycle. In deed, so negligible was the scene 36 years ago that neighbours had no idea that the dread-locked artist would, one day, shake the nation with his close-to-life lyrics.



Nyundo is, in a way, a victim- and benefactor- of circumstances because it is the death of bread winners in his family that forced him to resort to desperate measures, including the sale of flitters to supplement household income, and, somewhere along desperation’s path, he stumbled on music. That was in 1994, when he joined the Imagez Band.



He spent six years in the band, playing the guitar and providing main vocals, before going solo in 2001- recording ‘Nyimbo’, an album that captivated the nation’s interest with beats such as ‘Ras Amadya Nzimbe’. Today, Nyundo has seven albums to his credit, namely: ‘Nyimbo’, ‘Bimbi Overstanding’, ‘Usadandaule Malawi’, ‘Nyasa Reggae Revolution’, ‘Tingoti Phee’, ‘Sing Pon It’, and his latest album, ‘Riddim’.





Reaching out

If there is one thing that disposes local musicians to an outright sense of submission, it is the desire to go international. Of course, this ambition may be shaken by resource constraints or altered by shambolic productions, but, still, the musicians keep on hoping.



While the Reggae musician is no exception, he has lived his dreams of going international, and has performed alongside the world’s iconic musicians both in Africa and beyond.





“I first performed in Re - Union Island in 2003 and went to Zimbabwe in 2004, where I performed with Ben Michael and the Zigzaggers Band at HIFA festival,” Nyundo says.



He has also performed alongside Tiken Jah Fakoly, Israel Vibration, Baobab Band, Ibo Cooper, among others. These experiences, says Nyundo, taught him to work hard and believe in his ability.



“I have put what I learnt into my career by assembling my (own) band Run Tings so that I should be able to grow musically in my performances and maturity,” he says.



Asked why local music struggles to make the cut internationally, Nyumbo cuts it down to poor quality recordings.



He says, because the problem lies in the quality of productions and not the music per se, he has decided to put these conceptions to rest by releasing his latest Riddim album, Sing Pon It, “so that my fans should sample and taste how heavy and capable I am as one of the greatest reggae artists”.



Nobody knows how he will manage to do that in the absence of a manager to sell outside Malawi, though.





Disinfecting Malawi music

When everything is said and done, the question remains: Is Malawi music sub-standard?



Nyundo has ready answers: “The fact about our music is that some artists are busy creating music by copying other international artists’ music and trying to make it their own. (And), like I said before, it’s our recordings that, sometimes, let us down in terms of quality. In addition, most of established artists are afraid to break the barriers and go beyond the borders.”



He says the challenges could be overcome by composing mature beats and severing ties with fear.



The government also needs to fully support musicians in much the same way as it aids football, while the corporate world should stop investing in music only “when they are promoting their agenda”.



“The greatest threat to our music industry is piracy and lack of originality among some artists and musicians. Piracy is one big disease that is killing musicians because, despite the hard work invested in a project, the one who benefits in the end is not the artist. Piracy can only be defeated if musicians are respected and buyers are willing to pay what the art is worth,” Nyundo says.



On originality, Nyundo implores musicians to be creative and create their won legacy.





New Reggae sounds

And, as if to show that his bid to give the world the fuller powers of Malawi music will not be stifled by the fatal twins of piracy and lack of originality, the ‘made-musician’ has just released his new E.P. album, Sing Pon It.



Talking of the title track’s strange name, Nyundo says and the tittle simply explains that he has settled for riddims which producers in Jamaica recorded and produced.



A peep at the album reveals that Reggae furnishes the theme while religion and politics are some of the issues that breath life into it . Some of the notable tracks include ‘Bless Me’, ‘Make a Change’, ‘Za ku Ndirande’, ‘Sanasinthe’, ‘The Story’, and ‘Moving Away’.



“And, because I have sang on riddims, already it has international potential to make it big outside Malawi,” Nyundo says.



Nyundo, then, denies that his career has been on and off, blaming it on music promotion trends in Malawi.



He says, for instance, that radio DJs who double as music promoters put personal interests first, a development that has created a plethora of half-cooked music.



“And this has led to a lot of bubble gum music being on top, leaving the real long-life music laid back. So, because I am a musician who refuses to dilute his creativity, I stuck to what I know best, thereby enjoying less air play because most of the bubble gum music dominated the airwaves and transformed once great music minds to listen to more of this noise and half-baked music,” Nyundo says.



He adds: “So, as time passed, good music has become heavy for the listener’s ear (and is) not being respected and appreciated as it used to be thereby killing the international potential of Malawi music.”





Still, Nyundo hopes that, with the release of Sing Pon It, it will be easy to discover new international markets for local music.



“I am confident that I will make it and, as long as I live, I will be one Reggae artist representing Malawi at big Reggae festivals either in Jamaica or across the world. The sky is the limit for me and my career,” he says.



Such self belief, may be, could be one of the means of attaining that feeling of vital significance- a feeling that comes only through exposure and experience!

The Martyr in us

Granted. Life, as one international writer put it, is short, though a little longer than human beings.


This realization has sent human minds into high-level production mode, as they run through the race to make the best out of a short stint.


The Romans and Greeks, people with a long history of martyrdom and martyrs, realized thousands of years ago that life is very important, and concluded that only under circumstances beneficial to a family, community or empire should man take his life away.


Then came the realization that life could buy freedom and, all of a sudden, life became a commodity on which, when taken away, individuals rose to positions of national importance.


Today, martyrdom is as important as a nation’s monetary currency.


A martyr, for a start, is someone who dies or suffers greatly for his beliefs. This raises questions over people who suffer to propagate national causes, and those who suffer or die for personal reasons.


Who, for instance, is a martyr between these three categories of people: those who die for personal gain, but happen to share a common need with a given population that people begin to believe they sacrificed their comfort all citizens; those who do it because of fear that, if they fail to, others will do it, and; those who fall into it because, if they did not, nobody could do it- the courageous type who dare those in authority and challenge them to a contest of either reason, psychological warfare or pure militancy.


Human behaviour experts, notably Michael Clegg Bleby, say real martyrs are those who die, or suffer greatly, for the sake of others- so long as they are indispensable.


Bleby says if an individual suffers death or injury because of opposition to injustices, and it is highly probable that others in that position could have done the same, then, forget about calling such people national heroes, let alone national martyrs. They merely found themselves at the wrong place, for the right reasons!


Real martyrs often sprout if- in the face of a cohesive, political elite, or a bureaucracy of a dominant ruling class- the ordinary man, with ordinary hopes and aspirations, cannot have their voice heard, or have no prospect of a positive response from those in authority. A martyr, like a Biblical prophet, then rises up.


In other words, the behaviour of people is shaped, or can be shaped, by circumstances, says Chancellor-college based sociologist, Pearson Ntata. Circumstances, he enthuses, will always tilt people’s minds towards martyrdom.


Martyrdom is an act of courage; a contest of the human mind against unpleasant social, political, economic, religious, and cultural realities. The martyr’s objective is not to understand the world, oppressive systems, and leaders anymore; it is to change circumstances.


Such people may have some inner arguments about the meaning of their actions, being sometimes wary of their own missions and explanations. But they always do it for the common good.


‘People will always fight against injustices such as human rights violations, and die in the attempt of getting their way,” says Kenwilliams Mhango, Board member for the Human Rights Consultative Committee.


If not, wonders Mhango, why else do people die on hope; the hope that, somehow, the future will be fine- a future they will never be there to enjoy.


As strange as this may sound, martyrdom is in-built for the human being, and is as old as time itself, Mhango says, adding that martyrdom has no time scope.


In fact, argues Mhango, if there was an accolade for the ‘fastest growing word’ in the world, martyrdom would surely have made it tops.


Civil society organisations and political parties point to the late Speaker of Parliament, Rodwell Munyenyembe, as a classic example of Malawi’s modern day martyr: He lost his life in the process of restoring order and peace in a chaotic Parliament.


He died fighting for peace in peaceful Malawi.


“He (Munyenyembe) was a man of peace and order; he is a martyr,” says Edward Chaka, executive director for People’s Federation for National Peace and Development. It is a point Alliance for Democracy’s secretary general, Khwauli Msiska, agrees with.


Martyrdom is timeless because there are always alternative political, religious, and economic dark ages looming, caused, like most before, by the kick back of human mismanagement of ourselves and others, and the scanty basic resources on which modern civilization is based.


The only difference could be that, this time, global is the scale.


The real martyr does not bear the sight of his country collapsing under the weight of tyranny and oppression. He will demand that human rights wear the face of importance as the water we drink.


There are times when these seemingly little efforts have degenerated into revolutions and mass protests. But the extent to which courageous acts broaden into full scale revolutions depends entirely on the scale of oppression.


And whether the efforts of people who engage in martyrdom acts are appreciated, depends entirely on a nation’s perspective.


This brings us to the question of how Malawian society perceives martyrs. The martyr must be dead. The martyr must be male. In the absence of national standards on what qualifies one to become a martyr, society is sure to continue overlooking the living and women.


The truth remains that women have played their role in boosting men’s morale when the men set out on tough missions. They have prepared the man’s mind, putting it in positive, confident frame.


This is common sense. Psychological research findings have it that unity of the spirit is far more important than unity in form.


That is why other people are, or were, called prisoners of conscience. For instance, our own Jack Mapanje saw the lack of unity in his spirit and responded in form by putting his thoughts on paper, getting exiled on the strength of his principles.


Often, the martyr is a peace-minded individual, who will never cease to send out peace signals of one kind or another. When things fail, they fight for what they believe in.


Thus, Martyrs’ day is all about cerebrating the living, and those no longer being- those who recognized their ‘point of no return’, grabbed it, and deposited their blood in the bank of freedom in spirit and form.


Martyrs include those who fight for social, economic, cultural, religious, and political causes. But a real martyr suffers, or dies, fighting for the common symbols of a nation state: national flag, national anthem, national currency, and emblem.


Before the establishment of the State, when chiefdoms stitched communities, political martyrs were hard to come by. It was expected of chiefs not to order their people, but depend on them, and protect them. Except for the occasional tussling over chieftainship, life was a bag of relative peace.


The state, then, came. Tracing its history to 500 BC in Mexico, following the foundation of the Monte Alban as a new Capital for the Zapotecs, the new phenomenon met the need for local cooperation in managing water and other resources, and the provision of security.


A more powerful and centralized form of rule was born!


This gave rise to political martyrdom cases, as opposed to the more dominant religious martyrdoms.


Martyrdom is not an end unto itself; just one of the many routes towards human perfection. But, because what people aspire for never becomes perfect, there will always be one type of conflict or another, and national states will continue to flourish in the richness of these conflicts.


In the process, some will always suffer, or lose their lives, and become martyrs in the eyes of their own, or next, generations.


Martyrs are, in short, life’s children. We are life’s children, too. The martyr, therefore, may be living, and hiding, in us. The martyr could be us.

Lest We Forget Aleke Kadonaphani Banda, A script of many lessons

Aleke Kadonaphani Banda is a Malawian script. On this script are written stories of politics and courage. In politics, where he begun at the age of 14, he furnished his life situation; courage and hard work provided the theme.


His story could be likened to the river Luo. Like most rivers with Ocean (big) connections, it starts small, but sure-footed, clawing from Mulanje Mountain. It then pours into the mighty Zambezi River (it is still Luo, somehow, because the waters still carry the scent and famed spirits of Mulanje).


In the big Indian Ocean, where Zambezi rids its chest of all our tears, Malawi begins to live and becomes part of the big story, the ocean. It is no longer Luo or Zambezi; it is a big, mighty, salty ocean.


So, too, with Aleke Banda. It started small in 1953 when, at the tender age of 14, he ascended to the position of district secretary for Nyasaland African Congress in Que-Que, Zimbabwe. His background might have been limited to the basic description of a young man from Tukombo.

No more.

Why? Because, at that age, he was not yet national, let alone regional. He might have been in a foreign land, Zimbabwe, but people still saw the ‘Tukombo’ in him, a community member. Like Luo on Mulanje Mountain.


It must have been difficult also, at that time, to say “Mr. Aleke Banda’. He was only 14. Is that why he was fondly referred to as ‘Aleke’ or AKB? Is that the reason Banda sounds so heavy in the mouth?


Love and admiration force us to define adorable figures in simple, digestible forms. And Aleke was one such individual; a man of courage, high integrity, so hard working, honest, transparent and easily accessible.


These attributes came handy whenever he was caught in the net of adverse circumstances, most of which orchestrated by people who imagined enemies where none existed, and created holes of mistrust in the smooth air. He was hard working, giving out his best at a time other people (ministers, public officials) were busy buying time in a world where there is no spare time.


For instance, in March 1973, he was dismissed from cabinet and banished into internal exile due a Zambian newspaper report that purported that he could be the next best person to replace first president, Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Banda. He paved his way out by asking for special consideration of his case. Men of integrity and courage
fear no reviews.


This was a time, between 1964 and 1980, when government and politics had dropped into a vacuum of objectives that there was no clear direction. Aleke might have realized that instances of courage on isolated and unimportant issues have no great significance, and so invoked that better title deed for real politicians: courage under fearful pressure.


Moral courage is great and admirable in itself; but it must be pointed out that it almost never appears except as part of that greater entity called character. In short, moral courage is allied with other traits which make up character: honesty, deep consciousness and seriousness, a firm sense of principle, candour, and resolution.


As Ernest Hemingway once said, “Courage is grace under pressure”.


Aleke’s heart remained home to all these. A man who knew that all conventions, conferences, and agreements are founded upon the principle of mutual concession. This is the spirit he wore when, in July 1960, he was secretary of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) delegation to the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference in London,
where the country’s first constitution was drafted.


In December of that same year, he was to become secretary of the MCP delegation to the Constitutional Conference at Marlborough House. This culminated into self-government for Nyasaland and secession of Nyasaland from the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.


Not that Aleke, looking at the outcomes of the meetings he attended, did not value compromise. There is always need for compromise, but this compromise should always be on issues not principles. So he held on to the Honourable ship of principles, and held on to the end.

He had inherited these principles from the hours he was born in Zimbabwe, on September 19, 1939, nurtured them for over 50 years of political and public life, and went with them when the sun finally set on Friday, April 9, 2010. A giant star with humble beginnings had fallen in South Africa, and the clouds followed suit in Malawi- they turned black.


Everything, too, seemed to take the direction of black.


Aleke was a shining star because everything he founded lived. Nation Publications Limited and Malawi News are neighborly examples. Now that star has stopped shining, but its soft, gentle light will be felt for a long time to come. A hole now occupies the place he took for himself through hard work and dedication. What remains is an enormous hollow of blackness it scares.


At Tukombo, especially, where he served as Member of Parliament from 2004 to March 2009, it is all dark and gloom. Before that fateful Friday, Tukombo Girls Secondary School, Youth Development Centre and Agriculture Scheme, not forgetting a revolving fund he set up, were living examples of Aleke’s social spirit and forced smiles on people’s faces.


Now, they are a reminder of the Aleke who was, and will never be. At least in Physical form. He lives on in their minds.


These developments came about because Aleke knew that the essence of democracy is faith in the wisdom of the people and their views. But he realized, also, that politicians are not merely seismographic instruments, recording shifts in constituents’ opinion. Voters elect MPs because they have confidence in their (candidates’) judgements and their ability to exercise that judgement from a position where they would determine what their own interests are, as part of the nation’s
interests.


This means MPs should occasionally lead, inform, correct, and sometimes even ignore constituents’ opinion if they are to exercise fully that judgement for which they were elected, as John F. Kennedy rightly pointed out.


So Aleke, of his own accord, resorted to developing Tukombo during his tenure as People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) MP, and people are now happy with what he achieved. The tears that rolled down their cheeks were also tears of joy. Here was a life well lived.


We live our life well when we are, among other things, fit for exact ethical discussions, clear in seeing general truths, active in development, unrelenting in our pursuit of truth ,justice and human rights freedoms, fond of inquiry and constructive debate, penetrated and restrained by common values and a shrewd common sense.


We must also have a tenacity of purpose, a lofty and inflexible courage, an
unbending will that never flinches before antagonists.


Aleke Kadonaphani Banda: What a man to have all these! Contrast these with modern day politicians. Aleke’s characteristics are unhappily out of tune with politics being employed in the Democratic Progressive Party (where constructive criticism is dessent), United Democratic Front (where the will of the leader is supreme to the common will of party followers), Malawi Congress Party (where progress is determined
by how deep you stick your legs into the waters of yesteryears), and other small political parties (where the leader has been the leader forever, dragging their parties into one-man alliances, and party conventions are synonymous with selling power).


A politician in Malawi, it seems, must be the man or woman of the political party; never a man, or woman, of the whole country. The country is so totally given up to the spirit of partisanship that not to follow blindfolded is an expiable offense. Narrow partisanship is killing us.


But Aleke could stand firm, even if it meant giving rise to the term ‘Minority of oSne’. That is what he did when the UDF imposed Bingu wa Mutharika as the party’s torch-bearer. He simply resigned as UDF’s vice-president on May 18, 2003. He was not happy with the turn of events, which prompted the then State President Bakili Muluzi to sack him from cabinet.


The same old Aleke story: Compromise on issues; never on principles.


It is this same spirit which drove him, and others like the late Orton Chirwa, to found the MCP on September 30, 1959. It was a giant, courageous move. Visionary, too. That decision turned out to be the impetus for change.


Given an expanded base of public support, and blessed by a new brand of no-nonsense native leaders like Aleke and Chirwa, Nyasaland came close to setting- or up setting (the way you look at it), the national agenda.


It is like what Bertrand Russel, the eminent British philosopher and mathematician, said about real politics and power: “It is the production of intended effects”.


This means that many people in society have influence, but they do not exercise power unless they can actually change the course of events.


Using this definition, we see that Aleke had both influence and power, but, instead of clinging to it, he and Chirwa gave it freely to Dr. Banda.


The good thing about Aleke’s machinations was that Nyasalanders got inspiration and stopped acting like the ghosts they had become.


Instead, they started to act and behave like the warriors they had once been before the partition of Africa. That was when the Ngoni were Ngoni with the spear, the Lomwe could not be chased from a Kalongonda party, and the Chewa were simply unbeatable with their Alauli (traditional prophets). The Tonga were too dangerous on hill tops
while the Tumbuka could not be tempered with at their own backyard.



Everyone, a warrior.
What the colonialists and partitioners did was to break this invincible spirit and plant feeble seeds. Aleke saw through this and acted in the common interests of people. No outsider could now predict if they could recognize any limits to Nyasas’ lively sense of reparation. The refuddled politicians knew only one thing; that
nothing could stop the likes of Aleke.


It was a long struggle, one in which Aleke, Chirwa, among others, participated. Early European settlers and historians treated them as amorphous, out-of-focus beings, not far removed from local vegetation and animal life, and deserving of a similar fate.
Their aspiration to decide their own destinies became a rubric kept deliberately out of their reach.


Aleke and other nationalists saw where the rubric was hidden and wanted to reach it. They realized, also, the comforting belief that nothing which could be imagined was impossible. These were views shared by many who saw themselves becoming the ghosts in their own country’s history.


How could a majority people become aliens in their own country, displaced within their own homeland when settlers took prime land, and forced to live in fear under the rule of an intrusive minority of new ‘conquerors’.


People got so tired they needed redeemers. It was Aleke Banda and others who were the smiths!

In Blantyre’s Chirimba Township a smith of hope, accomplishment, courage, high integrity, and principles will now lie dead, but peaceful anyway, knowing he achieved what many people could only dream of. A nation, history and long script is now laid for our adoration, appreciation and politics good lessons. Like Luo, starting humbly from Mulanje, he is now part of the larger story, the story of Malawi.


His life might have been winding and long at times, like Zambezi, but it reached its destination in admirable order. It proceeds along a straight line of success. Those who take the same path may not stray.


That came clear after news of his passing on spread: there was an ominous silence- a silence of both mediation and shock.


To rise from an origin both humble and obscure, in 1953, and become the district secretary for Nyasaland African Congress in Que-Que, Zimbabwe; to organise Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia students in that political organization disguised as Bwafano Photographic Club, and edit the school magazine that was Ukuqolotsha Kwe Nyati; to found the Southern African Students Association as secretary general.


To co-found the Malawi Congress Party in 1959; to be part of the negotiating team with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in Zomba, 1960, and fight for the abolition of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland; to found and become first editor for Malawi News.


To become Minister of Finance, Agriculture, Information and Tourism, Trade and Indu-
stry, Works and Supplies, Economic Planning, among others: to be part of the April 19
1960 landmark delegation to meet Ian Macleod, British Secretary of State, and be part of the July 1960 MCP delegation to Lancaster House Constitutional Conference in London.


To chair the 1972 annual conference of the Commonworth Parliamentary Association
held at Kwacha Conference Centre; between 1963 and 1973, to serve as League of
Malawi Youth and Commander of the Malawi Young Pioneers And then to be dismissed from cabinet in March 1973 by a mere foreign newspaper Report likening him to Kamuzu’s possible heir. To be detained, from January 1980, for 12-and-a-half years without trial at Mpyupyu and Mikuyu prisons; then, to rise again in December 1993 and become United Democratic Front’s first vice-president.


To become, in May 1994, Minister of Finance under the UDF regime, and
then resign from the party on May 18, 2003 to join the People’s Progressive Movement
(PPM) three days later.


To rise to the PPM presidency on January 9, 2004; to get diagnosed with lymphatic leukemia cancer in 2006, and then retire voluntarily from politics to concentrate on
raising awareness on cancer.


And then to die.

To die after suffering a stroke, at Morningside Medi Clinic in Johannesburg,
South Africa.


Thus ends the extraordinary career of a man who had made an indelible mark on the history of his, and our, times. So many things, including Malawi and democracy, first lived in the heart and mind of Aleke Banda before they wore the court of reality and took real form.


He saw a real Malawi in his mind during the colonial period, and patriotically loved his country when it could be pointed on paper. Now Malawi has grown, and will keep him in her heart in Chilimba.


History asks: Did the man have integrity? Did the man have unselfishness? Did the man have courage? Did the man have consistence? Aleke answers no more, but his works and a legacy he has left us with will do that for him.


Malawians only hope that Aleke’s grave will never become a lonely grave, forgotten and unknown.


But history will remember the September 2007 Media Institute of Southern Africa Press Freedom Award for his contribution to media freedom and development; our mouths will profess the Diversity Leader Lifetime Achiever Award of November 2008 as a manifestation of people who die to live in our hearts; while the November 14, 2009 Mzuzu University Doctor of Philosopher Degree (Honoris Causa) for great service to the nation will always remind us of a man from a small community (Tukombo) who influenced his nation.

Somewhere in Malawi, this great son of the soil lies.

Looking for the Malawian incarnation of Mothers’ Day

Leicestershire-born British essayist and lawyer, Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 – 1859), may be long dead, and relatively unknown in Third World countries, but his observation that some things in life belong more to the age than the people of that age ring true today.


For instance, the burial ceremony of a family member in a remote village in Makuni Village, Rumphi, or Bitchayi Village in Salima, is an event of the people, and not the age, in these respective areas because it has no national relevance, while the composition of the Malawi National Anthem by a hitherto ordinary man, Michael Sauka, is a thing of the age because his creation (the national anthem) had eternal characteristics that gave it a life of its own.


In most cases, one of the things that characterise things of the age is the creation of national and public holidays to commemorate them. For instance, The Malawi Government’s calendar of national and public holidays this year saw Malawians commemorating New Year’s Day (Tuesday, January 01); Chilembwe Day (Tuesday, January 15); Martyrs’ Day (Sunday, March 03); Good Friday (Friday, March 29); Easter Monday (April 01); Labour Day (Wednesday, May 01); Independence Day (Saturday, July 06); Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan on Thursday, August 08) and, today, Mothers’ Day, among other events.


The second characteristic of things that belong to an age, enthuses human rights activist Kenwilliams Mhango, is that various nation-states have their own version of reincarnated national days and public holidays.


He cites Mothers; Day in the United States of America, saying “Their incarnation of Mothers’ Day was, indeed, created by someone. It is impossible for, say, all the people of Malawi, to develop the idea that ‘Let us create a Mothers’ Day, or this other day, at the same time. It takes someone: may be the Head of State, or someone in authority acting on a suggestion from people’.”


Student-historian Owen Petersen Misoya concurs with Mhango, saying there is always an individual who brings up an idea. He says, even though the idea of Mothers Day did not originate from Malawi, there must be someone, apart from the Head of State who established the day, who brought that idea.


“We should find that individual, as a nation. And we must record the name of that individual and keep it at heart. You see, we have a very big problem as a nation; that of poor record-keeping. If we cared about records, we would have documented the name of that individual but we have not done that. That is why, I am not surprised, we do not have the record about Mlauli and Mbona- the rain-makers,” Misoya says.


What is the cost of forsaking records?


“People perish,” Fred Kwacha, of Chipembedzo cha Makolo (Traditional religion), says. “And that is why we have pestilence and so many problems in Malawi. People have forsaken Mbona and other ancestors, and are worshipping foreign gods, and all this is because people do not appreciate the good things Mbona and our ancestors did. So, they adopt anything foreign.”


However, while it may be too late to redeem the history- bit by bit- of the likes of Mbona, Misoya says it is not too late for Malawians to trace the individual, or individuals, who came up with the idea of introducing a Mothers’ Day in Malawi.


In the case of the United States of America, for example, the holiday of Mothers’ Day- which is observed throughout the world to honour mothers- the incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, according to official records in the US.


The irony is that Jarvis later attempted to denounce the holiday, angered by the level of commercialization of the day, and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar. This time, though, she was not as successful and, today, people in various parts of the world continue showering mothers with an assortment of gifts.


A questionnaire sent to the Ministry of Information on who introduced the idea of Mothers’ Day- apart from the political leadership- was yet to be responded to by Sunday.


Which, inevitably, means that the search for the one who created the Malawian incarnation of Mothers’ Day is on.







Global perspective

Malawians can, however, find solace in the fact that the origins of Mothers’ Day are well-documented in Greek mythology, dating as far back as the ancient annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to maternal goddesses such as Rhea, the wife of Cronus and the mother of many deities of Greek mythology.


Internet research also revealed that the Ancient Romans, too, celebrated a spring festival they called Hilaria dedicated to Cybele, a mother goddess, which dated some 250 years before Jesus Christ was born.


However, things have so much changed in the past 50 years that no one would bet on Anna Jarvis being pleased!

Depicting the Malawian mother through song

When Plato observed that the soul was “corporeal and eternal”, people thought that the soul was the only thing that could be corporeal and eternal. Only for Aristotle, who was inspired by Plato, to come and declare that music was also corporeal and eternal.


And, as if proving Aristotle right, musicians, the world over, have quickly mastered the art of turning music into a cap that fits every head, every situation. It is as if they have taken a cue from Martin Luther (Senior)’s words that, “My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary”, or social commentator Henry David Thoreau’s proclamation that, “When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.”


Or even Jennifer Donnelly’s observation, in that international best-selling book, Revolution, that “I'm wishing he could see that music lives. Forever. That it's stronger than death. Stronger than time. And that its strength holds you together when nothing else can.”


Not to be outdone, Malawi’s musicians have composed a number of songs glorifying the genius of the local mother and, no wonder, some of the songs have simply resisted the temptation of being swept away by the wind of changing times.







Eternal sounds, mortal voices

One such song is Achikulire Che Paul Banda’s ‘Amayi’, in which the persona- maybe it’s the musician- waxes lyric about his mother.


The persona observes, among other things, that the road was not always smooth as he travelled on the ‘M1 Road from Childhood to Adulthood’, bracing hunger, sickness, resource-constraints challenges to get to where he is at the material moment.


The mother, in which case, could forgo breakfast, lunch, dinner and life’s pleasures in her quest to seek medicine for the sick baby.


But, sometimes, the trouble had nothing to do with these things: the persona simply decided to play trouble-maker.


“…Ndinkadwala

Ndimkavuta

Mwachikondi kundisamalira!”

There go some of the lyrics which culminate in the touching, thanks-giving words: ‘Amayi/ Zikomo/ Chikondi chanu chandipatsa moyo/Ndinkadwala/Ndimkavuta aah! /Mwachikondi kundisamalira!’


Annie Matumbi, not to be outdone, also composed ‘Amayi’, in which he declares that “Amayi tikunyadirani/Pantchito munagwira/Potilera ife/Mpakatu tinakula/Potisangalatsadi/Ndinuyo mayi wathu…”


The persona, in Matumbi’s song, credits the mother for raising him up, and for ensuring that the environment which he grew in was simply conducive.


And, although it is a fact of life that, save for those who were born in the same hour that their biological mother died, almost everyone mentioned the name mother- in whatever language- at some time in their life, the persona asks the listener to shout ‘Amayi’!


And, who can resist such a temptation?


Sir Lucius Banda’s ‘Mayi Zembani’ is also a tribute of sorts to the persona’s mother. So emotional are the lyrics that it is outright difficult to separate the persona from the musician.


The sad aspect in the piece is that the persona’s mother died in the wake of the persona’s birth. So, the persona did not have ample time to feel the warmth of the mother, let alone smell her scent.


Mothers have scents, so said South Africa’s visual artist Patrice Bleby; and the persona in ‘Mayi Zembani’ was so ‘brutally’ treated he smelled death where her mother was supposed to me. And, predictably, life was tough.


“…Tinkakolopa m’chimbudzi/ Opanda sapato kuphazi/Kuvutikira sukulu/Abambo mukumwa mowa” (We could mop dirty toilets bare-footed/As you, father, boozed).


What tribute does the mother get, in the end? A song. ‘Mayi Zembani’.


And a farewell message in the song, too. “Chabwino Mayi Zembani/Muwuse mumtendere/Kumwamba muli Amayi/Mukonze malo anga”.


That’s not all. The mother also gets a band- a whole band- named after her. In the end, she also gets remembered. And immortalised. Because Plato said music is “corporeal and eternal”.


Rudo Chakwera adds another dimension to songs glorifying the local mother through her latest English music video ‘I love You Mother’. For everything there is in life, says the persona, there is a woman.


And, bringing the message closer to her home, the persona says for everything that ever happened in her life, there was that unmistakable touch of the mother.





Predictable lines

There are many others who have waxed lyric about the mother. And there are so many things in common among those who have added their voice to the theme of the mother.


The first one is that most of the lyrics are in Chichewa, which is no strange thing because the personas could be attempting to pass on the message to their mothers in a language that the mothers understand. In a country where literacy levels are higher in men than women, this is a strategic decision on part of the musicians.


The second one is that intrinsically linked to the praise messages is the message of challenges encountered while travelling through life’s shrubby path.


The last, but not least, common ground is that the father is conspicuously absent in the lyrics.