Malawian and Zambian artists made history as they converged at New Bingley Hall, 1 Hockey Circus in Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK) to hold a live show.
Dubbed ‘ZaMalawi LinkUp’, the show is the biggest concert for Zambian and Malawian artists in Europe, courtesy of Lifetime Entertainment.
It brings together flawless talents in the regions of Uli Njuchi, Yo Maps, Driemo, Macky 2, Tay Grin Xaven, Kell Kay, Nez Long, Mampi and Rich Bizzy for a showdown.
Writing straight from Birmingham, Driemo the maker of Popo and Trailer hit songs, said he was excited to be booked for the ZaMalawi LinkUp.
He described the concert as a great initiative to cement music relationship between Zambian and Malawian artists.
“It’s a double celebration for me. Firstly, it’s an honour to be invited to perform in the Birmingham for the first time. Secondly, I am celebrating the good news that I have topped royalties.
“Therefore, I want to take this moment to thank everyone for the support you have always rendered to me.
” All my life I have always considered music as a hobby because of the passion I have, but your support eventually made me to turn this into full time career. So, I am grateful for your support which makes me win every day. Let’s celebrate this together,” said Driemo whose real name is Shaffie Phiri.
One her part, Zambia’s Mampi said the Zambia-Malawi music relationship, which dates back to many decades ago, was valuable.
ZaMalawi LinkUp has amplified the tie in the Europe for its global recognition.
Perhaps, Zambia-Malawi music relationship is undoubtedly great mission as youthful musician Eli Njuchi sings in one of the verses of his ‘Yabaya’ (Stings) collabo with Zambia’s Yo Maps. Yes, Zambia and Malawi music collaboration is stinging like a bee to produce the best honey from the African continent. No doubt that.
The professed mission is to take music from Malawi and Zambia to the world through the power of collaboration. And this is apparent in ‘So Mone’ and ‘Bana Pwanya’ which Yo Maps feature Tay Grin and Kell Kay, respectively, from Malawi.
Meanwhile, creatives from Malawi and Zambia, including their fans, are oozing with confidence that the artistic partnership of artists from the neighbouring countries will produce wonders as far as their music partnership is concerned.
Previously, social media users from Malawi and Zambia have been throwing spat at each other. But since ‘Yabaya’, ‘So Mone’ and ‘Bana Pwanya’ were dropped, the narrative changed.
There have been positive vibes coming from both sides, praising the artistic prowess and effective collaboration from the two countries.
Music enthusiasts from the two countries have been taking it to the YouTube and other social media platforms where collaborative songs have been uploaded to complement them.
In fact, fans are pregnant with best results as they have expressed excitement with the collaborations which are currently trending.
They believe they have opened a new window of opportunity if globe exposure is anything to go by.
“These are the kinds of collaboration that will help artists in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to compete well on the globe map.
“We need a slice of market that our Nigerian brothers and sisters have dominated. Yabaya is simply a great time,” commented Gerald Jones on the YouTube link of Yabaya video.
Another fan Pleasant Banda said creative collaborations are the way to go if Malawi and Zambia are to make a breakthrough on the globe music market.
He wrote: “The collaborations between Malawi and Zambia are the way to go if music from these countries is to go global.
“As a Malawian I am happy with the path which artists from the two countries are taking because together we can achieve great results.”
However, numbers have been an issue of great concern which prevent talents from most African countries, including Malawi, from making a breakthrough on the international map.
Many musicians together with their managers, promoters, producers and arts journalists have laboured in vain to produce and promote good content which can fetch local artists a penny and recognition at the international stage.
However, the result has been disappointing as lack of numbers have been a hindrance to the success of many creators since they fail to benefit from online music platforms.
Lack of numbers as pointed out by internet users and social media influencers has had a great impact on the socio-economic status of many artists since they fail to monetise their talent on popular online music streaming sites like YouTube and social media platforms such as Tik Tok.
Founder of Mikozi Network Bright Chiligo said numbers play a significant role as far promotion of local online is concerned.
Chiligo remarked: “Malawi has low online numbers which makes it hard to monetise art using digital means. Therefore, gaining heavy international airplay require growing their audience to a staggering numbers. That is to say the music collaborations that are being played both in Malawi and Zambia are a plus.”
Currently, there are several promising music partnerships between artists from Malawi and Zambia which yield good results. For example, musician Dr. Namadingo (real name Patience Namadingo) signed a music deal with Elation which had taken him to holding mega live shows in countries like US, South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi.
Mikozi Network once entered into partnership with Elation Entertainment Company (Zambia) and Power TV Channel 278, Zambia’s number one music channel to promote Malawian content.
Devlin’s Acoustic Sounds is one of the platforms created by a Zambian artist which is promoting content from both Malawi and Zambia through remixes (mashups).
So far, they have featured mashups of ‘Yabaya’ and a number of songs done by Driemo.
