Music of Malawi
Encyclopedia
Malawi
music has historically been influenced through its triple cultural heritage (British, African, American). Malawians have long been travelers and migrant workers, and as a result, their music has spread across the Africa
n continent and blended with other music forms. One of the prime historical causes of the Malawian musical melting pot was World War II
, when soldiers both brought music to distant lands and also brought them back. By the end of the war, guitar
and banjo
duos were the most popular type of dance bands. Both instruments were imported. Malawians working in the mines in South Africa and Mozambique also led to fusion and blending in music styles, giving rise to music styles like Kwela.
During the colonial period, Malawi saw rise to very few well-known singers due to the oppressive colonial regime of Rhodesia
and Nyasaland
. One such singer was Tony Bird
a folk rock singer-songwriter who was born in Nyasaland
and performed anti-colonial music about life for regular Malawians during the colonial period. His music is described as a fusion of Malawian and Dutch, and Afrikaner traditions. His popular style led him to tour with Ladysmith Black Mambazo
in the 1980s.
During the Banda years (post colonialism), a lot of Malawian musicians could not express their artwork, due to repression of the arts in Malawi. The repression and censorship in music was largely due to lyrics of a political, controversial, or sexual nature in a largely conservative country. This led to few internationally renowned artists entering the international arena from 1964-1994. Music during this period was restricted to praising Kamuzu Banda and non-political, non-controversial messages. After multiparty elections, however, many artists could now practice their art publicly, and Malawian music began to grow and develop in to the music forms that can be heard coming out of Malawi now.
Since the fall of Banda regime, from 1994 onwards, the country has seen a steady growth in its music industries and in its local celebrities. Due to the period of music suppression, many of Malawi's new and up-and-coming artists are young. Artists like Young Kay are being supported by the veterans in the industry and are working together to give Malawian music a distinct new identity.
Many local artists are also making headway internationally.
Contemporary well-known international artists from Malawi are Wambali Mkandawire
, Lucius Banda
, Tay Grin
and Esau Mwamwaya
.
n kwela
music was popular in Malawi. The country produced its own kwela stars that were not as popular as the South African counter parts, but contemporary Kwela artists like Daniel Kachamba & His Kwela Band have enjoyed popularity. It is a little known fact that South African Kwela music though had its roots in Malawi from the Malawian immigrants that went to work in South Africa and fused their music with the local sounds, creating Kwela. The word, 'Kwela', in chichewa means 'to climb' which is similar to the South African definition, which means to "get up" or "rise".
has little in common with its American namesake. Rural musicians played acoustic instruments, often in very traditional ways. These performers include Jazz Giants, Linengwe River Band, Mulanje Mountain Band and Chimvu Jazz. By the beginning of the 1970s, electric guitar
s had become common and American rock and roll
, soul
and funk
influences the music scene, resulting in a fusion called afroma. New Scene
, led by Morson Phuka, was the most well-known exponent of afroma.
Contemporary Malawian Jazz artists include, Wambali Mkandawire
, South African based Ray Phiri
and US based Masauko Chipembere Jr
.
Jazz concerts can be seen throughout Malawi. Many Malawian Jazz band perform regularly at local hotels and clubs. Sunday Jazz is a popular event in many lodges and hotels in Malawi, where it is a social event for people in the suburban areas to meet and listen to Jazz music on Sundays.
from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(then Zaire) become popular, and result in a Malawian variety called kwasa kwasa.
. The group consisted of Marvel (loius Chikuni), Plan B (Kimba Anderson-Mutaba), Stix (Jerome Kalinani), and Q (Quabaniso Malewezi). They brought to Malawi the urban American sound with chichewa lyrics. They were featured on channel O and performed in Malawi and opened in the UK for hip hop artists like blak twang
. They inspired a new genre of Malawian music in the form of the urban hip-hop and rap music styles that was uniquely Malawian.
Since the days of the Real Elements
, the Malawian hip-hop genre has grown. This includes Young Kay,Third Eye a.k.a Mandela Mwanza, Phyzix, Dominant 1, Incyt, Cyclone, A.B, The Basement,Pittie boyz, The Daredevilz, Lomwe, the Legendary Barryone, Nthumwi Pixy, Biriwiri, Renegade & Pilgrim, Jay-T, international stars like Tay Grin
and South African based St Bosseratti
.
's 1989 visit did a lot to inspire the rise in gospel music, which was also fueled by the country's economic conditions and poverty
.
Popular Malawian Gospel artists include, Ndirande Anglican Voices, Ethel Kamwendo-Banda, Grace Chinga, Lloyd Phiri, George Mkandawire and the Chitheka Family.
As some secular artists become 'born again', Malawi has seen a rise in the diversification of gospel music. Particularly in the urban genre. Early hip-hop rappers include Chart Rock and The Strategy. Currently, David (formerly Stix from Real Elements
, KBG and Gospel(Aubrey Mvula) are now the leaders in thie form of gospel rap.
As
we continue analysing the impact and growth of gospel hip-hop or urban music, we cannot just go without mentioning two other up-coming members in this section; based in Lilongwe, the populary known area 18 youthful crew, the Brothers In Christ (BIC) and the King of Malawi Gospel House beatz DJ Kali have taken the spreading of the gospel to greater heights!
, Kumbu and Sonye.
has become immensely popular in recent years, especially amongst the Malawian Rastafarians and along the tourist-filled lakefront.
Music groups such as the Black Missionaries
have become one of the most popular reggae bands in Malawi.
Individual artists like Lucius Banda
, and Evison Matafale
helped to bring the Malawian music scene on the national and international scene. The reggae music of Malawian reggae artists has been music of resistance and of struggle. Many of the themes in the music center around injustice, corruption and equality for all people of Malawi.
peoples. There have also been more traditionalist performers, like Alan Namoko
.
whose music fuses traditional Malawian, and pop and urban sounds.
, and frequent listeners to "Radio One" will know that Malawian's favorite foreign artists are Don Williams
, Shaggy, and South Africans Lucky Dube
and Brenda Fassie
.
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
music has historically been influenced through its triple cultural heritage (British, African, American). Malawians have long been travelers and migrant workers, and as a result, their music has spread across the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n continent and blended with other music forms. One of the prime historical causes of the Malawian musical melting pot was World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when soldiers both brought music to distant lands and also brought them back. By the end of the war, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
duos were the most popular type of dance bands. Both instruments were imported. Malawians working in the mines in South Africa and Mozambique also led to fusion and blending in music styles, giving rise to music styles like Kwela.
During the colonial period, Malawi saw rise to very few well-known singers due to the oppressive colonial regime of Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
and Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
. One such singer was Tony Bird
Tony Bird
Tony Bird is a folk rock singer-songwriter who was born and grew up in Nyasaland in Southern Africa. He is known for his Dylanesque vocals and for his songs which describe life in colonial Nyasaland from a progressive anti-colonial point of view....
a folk rock singer-songwriter who was born in Nyasaland
Nyasaland
Nyasaland or the Nyasaland Protectorate, was a British protectorate located in Africa, which was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Since 1964, it has been known as Malawi....
and performed anti-colonial music about life for regular Malawians during the colonial period. His music is described as a fusion of Malawian and Dutch, and Afrikaner traditions. His popular style led him to tour with Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...
in the 1980s.
During the Banda years (post colonialism), a lot of Malawian musicians could not express their artwork, due to repression of the arts in Malawi. The repression and censorship in music was largely due to lyrics of a political, controversial, or sexual nature in a largely conservative country. This led to few internationally renowned artists entering the international arena from 1964-1994. Music during this period was restricted to praising Kamuzu Banda and non-political, non-controversial messages. After multiparty elections, however, many artists could now practice their art publicly, and Malawian music began to grow and develop in to the music forms that can be heard coming out of Malawi now.
Since the fall of Banda regime, from 1994 onwards, the country has seen a steady growth in its music industries and in its local celebrities. Due to the period of music suppression, many of Malawi's new and up-and-coming artists are young. Artists like Young Kay are being supported by the veterans in the industry and are working together to give Malawian music a distinct new identity.
Many local artists are also making headway internationally.
Contemporary well-known international artists from Malawi are Wambali Mkandawire
Wambali Mkandawire
Wambali Mkandawire is a Malawian jazz musician.He was born in the Congo to Malawian parents from the Mlowe village in the north and then later lived in Mzuzu. He wanted to become a musician but his grandparents were against the idea since he was still a student. When he dropped out of school in the...
, Lucius Banda
Lucius Banda
Lucius Banda is a Malawian musician and politician. Until August 2006, he was an MP for the district of Balaka North, but lost his seat because he was convicted of having fake academic qualifications. He was sentenced to 21 months of hard labour in Zomba prison, but released in November 2006,...
, Tay Grin
Tay Grin
Tay Grin, real name Limbani Kalilani, is a best-selling Malawian hip hop artist. He is popularly known by his best selling album,Proudly African...
and Esau Mwamwaya
Esau Mwamwaya
Esau Mwamwaya is a singer from Lilongwe, Malawi. He is best known for his collaboration, The Very Best with London based DJ/production duo Radioclit. His music has been described as an Afro-Western mix of dance, hiphop, pop and the traditional music of Malawi.Esau Mwamwaya was born in Mzuzu,...
.
Kwela
In the late 1960s, South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n kwela
Kwela
Kwela is a happy, often pennywhistle-based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s....
music was popular in Malawi. The country produced its own kwela stars that were not as popular as the South African counter parts, but contemporary Kwela artists like Daniel Kachamba & His Kwela Band have enjoyed popularity. It is a little known fact that South African Kwela music though had its roots in Malawi from the Malawian immigrants that went to work in South Africa and fused their music with the local sounds, creating Kwela. The word, 'Kwela', in chichewa means 'to climb' which is similar to the South African definition, which means to "get up" or "rise".
Malawian jazz
Malawian jazz bands also became popular. In spite of the name, Malawian jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
has little in common with its American namesake. Rural musicians played acoustic instruments, often in very traditional ways. These performers include Jazz Giants, Linengwe River Band, Mulanje Mountain Band and Chimvu Jazz. By the beginning of the 1970s, electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s had become common and American rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
influences the music scene, resulting in a fusion called afroma. New Scene
New Scene
New Scene is a theatre located in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia....
, led by Morson Phuka, was the most well-known exponent of afroma.
Contemporary Malawian Jazz artists include, Wambali Mkandawire
Wambali Mkandawire
Wambali Mkandawire is a Malawian jazz musician.He was born in the Congo to Malawian parents from the Mlowe village in the north and then later lived in Mzuzu. He wanted to become a musician but his grandparents were against the idea since he was still a student. When he dropped out of school in the...
, South African based Ray Phiri
Ray Phiri
Raymond Chikapa Phiri is an African jazz, fusion and mbaqanga musician born in Mpumalanga. He became founding member of the Cannibals in the 1970's...
and US based Masauko Chipembere Jr
Masauko Chipembere Jr
Masauko Chipembere is a Malawian Jazz musician. Chipembere was born in Malawi and was raised in Los Angeles while his parents were in political exile. He is the son of political nationalists Henry Masauko Blasius Chipembere and Catherine Chipembere...
.
Jazz concerts can be seen throughout Malawi. Many Malawian Jazz band perform regularly at local hotels and clubs. Sunday Jazz is a popular event in many lodges and hotels in Malawi, where it is a social event for people in the suburban areas to meet and listen to Jazz music on Sundays.
Malawian kwasa kwasa
Influenced by the 1980s music from the Congo, Malawi's own kwasa kwasa music grew. The 1980s saw soukousSoukous
Soukous is a dance music genre that originated in the two neighbouring countries of Belgian Congo and French Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s, and which has gained popularity throughout Africa...
from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
(then Zaire) become popular, and result in a Malawian variety called kwasa kwasa.
Malawian hip-hop/rap
Malawian urban music really began with the popular group Real ElementsReal Elements
The Real Elements is a Malawian hip-hop band that gained notoriety in the 1990s and 2000s. in Malawi. The group consisted of Marvel, Plan B, Stix, and Q. The group holds a special place in the Malawian music industry because it propagated Malawian hip-hop and paved the way for the Malawian hip-hop...
. The group consisted of Marvel (loius Chikuni), Plan B (Kimba Anderson-Mutaba), Stix (Jerome Kalinani), and Q (Quabaniso Malewezi). They brought to Malawi the urban American sound with chichewa lyrics. They were featured on channel O and performed in Malawi and opened in the UK for hip hop artists like blak twang
Blak Twang
Blak Twang who also uses the pseudonyms of Taipanic and Tony Rotton, is a British rapper who grew up in Deptford, Lewisham, South East London...
. They inspired a new genre of Malawian music in the form of the urban hip-hop and rap music styles that was uniquely Malawian.
Since the days of the Real Elements
Real Elements
The Real Elements is a Malawian hip-hop band that gained notoriety in the 1990s and 2000s. in Malawi. The group consisted of Marvel, Plan B, Stix, and Q. The group holds a special place in the Malawian music industry because it propagated Malawian hip-hop and paved the way for the Malawian hip-hop...
, the Malawian hip-hop genre has grown. This includes Young Kay,Third Eye a.k.a Mandela Mwanza, Phyzix, Dominant 1, Incyt, Cyclone, A.B, The Basement,Pittie boyz, The Daredevilz, Lomwe, the Legendary Barryone, Nthumwi Pixy, Biriwiri, Renegade & Pilgrim, Jay-T, international stars like Tay Grin
Tay Grin
Tay Grin, real name Limbani Kalilani, is a best-selling Malawian hip hop artist. He is popularly known by his best selling album,Proudly African...
and South African based St Bosseratti
St Bosseratti
St Bosseratti aka Dingaani Whayo , is a Malawian composer and record producer.Bosseratti has written and produced hit singles for South African musicians, Pitch Black Afro and Ifani .- External links :*...
.
Malawian gospel music
Gospel music is one of Malawi's most popular music forms. It became popular in the 1990s. The PopePope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
's 1989 visit did a lot to inspire the rise in gospel music, which was also fueled by the country's economic conditions and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
.
Popular Malawian Gospel artists include, Ndirande Anglican Voices, Ethel Kamwendo-Banda, Grace Chinga, Lloyd Phiri, George Mkandawire and the Chitheka Family.
As some secular artists become 'born again', Malawi has seen a rise in the diversification of gospel music. Particularly in the urban genre. Early hip-hop rappers include Chart Rock and The Strategy. Currently, David (formerly Stix from Real Elements
Real Elements
The Real Elements is a Malawian hip-hop band that gained notoriety in the 1990s and 2000s. in Malawi. The group consisted of Marvel, Plan B, Stix, and Q. The group holds a special place in the Malawian music industry because it propagated Malawian hip-hop and paved the way for the Malawian hip-hop...
, KBG and Gospel(Aubrey Mvula) are now the leaders in thie form of gospel rap.
As
we continue analysing the impact and growth of gospel hip-hop or urban music, we cannot just go without mentioning two other up-coming members in this section; based in Lilongwe, the populary known area 18 youthful crew, the Brothers In Christ (BIC) and the King of Malawi Gospel House beatz DJ Kali have taken the spreading of the gospel to greater heights!
Malawian R&B
Malawi's genre R& B is growing and has been made popular with artists like Maskal, and Dan Lu. There has also been other new upcoming Artists like Young Luv, Theo ThomsonTheo Thomson
Theo Thomson is a Malawian born musician, song writer and record label owner. Thomson is owner of the Blantyre-based Matalala Recording Studio.He lived in the UK, where he began to gain an interest in music a performing and moved back to Malawi to expand his music career. His father is a former DJ...
, Kumbu and Sonye.
Malawian reggae
Reggae has always been popular in Malawi. Malawian reggaeReggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
has become immensely popular in recent years, especially amongst the Malawian Rastafarians and along the tourist-filled lakefront.
Music groups such as the Black Missionaries
Black Missionaries
Black Missionaries are a popular reggae band from the African country of Malawi.The Black Missionaries are primarily active in the city of Blantyre, and members reside in Chileka. The band had originally five members, namely Evison Matafale, Peter Amidu, and three of the seven sons of Robert...
have become one of the most popular reggae bands in Malawi.
Individual artists like Lucius Banda
Lucius Banda
Lucius Banda is a Malawian musician and politician. Until August 2006, he was an MP for the district of Balaka North, but lost his seat because he was convicted of having fake academic qualifications. He was sentenced to 21 months of hard labour in Zomba prison, but released in November 2006,...
, and Evison Matafale
Evison Matafale
Evison Matafale was a Malawian Rastafarian whose music rose to popularity in Malawi. He was the founder and leader of the Reggae band Black Missionaries. Matafale rose to fame and became one of Malawi's favourite musicians by 2000 through the release of his debut album, Kuyimba 1, in 1999...
helped to bring the Malawian music scene on the national and international scene. The reggae music of Malawian reggae artists has been music of resistance and of struggle. Many of the themes in the music center around injustice, corruption and equality for all people of Malawi.
Traditional Malawian music
Traditional Malawian music has also found some commercial success, like the folk fusionists Pamtondo, whose music uses rhythms from the Lomwe, Makuwa and Mang'anjaMang'anja
The Mang'anja are a Bantu people of central and southern Africa, particularly around Chikwawa in the Shire River valley of southern Malawi. They speak a dialect of the Nyanja language, and are a branch of the Amaravi people. As of 1996 their population was estimated at 2,486,070....
peoples. There have also been more traditionalist performers, like Alan Namoko
Alan Namoko
Alan Nomoko Namoko was a blind blues and jazz musician from Malawi.Namoko played banjo and sang in Chewa and Nyanja languages. He became an influential figure in Malawi's music scene in the 1970s and 1980s. In later years, he toured around the world...
.
Malawian pop/fusion
Malawian artists have been know to creatively mix rock, r&b, and the American urban sound to create vibrant fusion music. One such artist is Esau MwamwayaEsau Mwamwaya
Esau Mwamwaya is a singer from Lilongwe, Malawi. He is best known for his collaboration, The Very Best with London based DJ/production duo Radioclit. His music has been described as an Afro-Western mix of dance, hiphop, pop and the traditional music of Malawi.Esau Mwamwaya was born in Mzuzu,...
whose music fuses traditional Malawian, and pop and urban sounds.
International music scene
There is a Malawi Broadcasting CorporationMalawi Broadcasting Corporation
The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run radio company in Malawi. It was founded in 1964. It has two radio stations, Radio 1 and Radio 2, and transmits on FM, Medium Wave and Shortwave frequencies.Its headquarters is based in Blantyre, Malawi....
, and frequent listeners to "Radio One" will know that Malawian's favorite foreign artists are Don Williams
Don Williams
Don Williams , is an American country singer, songwriter and a 2010 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He grew up in Portland, Texas, and graduated in 1958 from Gregory-Portland High School. After seven years with the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers, he began his solo career in 1971,...
, Shaggy, and South Africans Lucky Dube
Lucky Dube
Lucky Philip Dube was a South African reggae musician. He recorded 22 albums in Zulu, English and Afrikaans in a 25-year period and was South Africa's biggest selling reggae artist...
and Brenda Fassie
Brenda Fassie
Brenda Fassie , was a South African pop singer. She was known for her "outrageousness" and widely considered a voice for disenfranchised blacks during apartheid. She was affectionately known as the Queen of African Pop and her nickname amongst fans was Mabrr.-Biography:Brenda was born in Langa,...
.
Music festivals
In 2004, Englishman Will Jameson started Lake of Stars Music Festival which has international artists and Malawians performing together. It currently has been voted by the British newspapers The Independent and the Times as one of the top 20 Music festivals in the world.Notable Malawian musicians
- Black MissionariesBlack MissionariesBlack Missionaries are a popular reggae band from the African country of Malawi.The Black Missionaries are primarily active in the city of Blantyre, and members reside in Chileka. The band had originally five members, namely Evison Matafale, Peter Amidu, and three of the seven sons of Robert...
- Lucius BandaLucius BandaLucius Banda is a Malawian musician and politician. Until August 2006, he was an MP for the district of Balaka North, but lost his seat because he was convicted of having fake academic qualifications. He was sentenced to 21 months of hard labour in Zomba prison, but released in November 2006,...
- tony BirdTony BirdTony Bird is a folk rock singer-songwriter who was born and grew up in Nyasaland in Southern Africa. He is known for his Dylanesque vocals and for his songs which describe life in colonial Nyasaland from a progressive anti-colonial point of view....
- Masauko Chipembere JrMasauko Chipembere JrMasauko Chipembere is a Malawian Jazz musician. Chipembere was born in Malawi and was raised in Los Angeles while his parents were in political exile. He is the son of political nationalists Henry Masauko Blasius Chipembere and Catherine Chipembere...
- Tay GrinTay GrinTay Grin, real name Limbani Kalilani, is a best-selling Malawian hip hop artist. He is popularly known by his best selling album,Proudly African...
(Limbani Kalinani) - Evison MatafaleEvison MatafaleEvison Matafale was a Malawian Rastafarian whose music rose to popularity in Malawi. He was the founder and leader of the Reggae band Black Missionaries. Matafale rose to fame and became one of Malawi's favourite musicians by 2000 through the release of his debut album, Kuyimba 1, in 1999...
- Esau MwamwayaEsau MwamwayaEsau Mwamwaya is a singer from Lilongwe, Malawi. He is best known for his collaboration, The Very Best with London based DJ/production duo Radioclit. His music has been described as an Afro-Western mix of dance, hiphop, pop and the traditional music of Malawi.Esau Mwamwaya was born in Mzuzu,...
- Real ElementsReal ElementsThe Real Elements is a Malawian hip-hop band that gained notoriety in the 1990s and 2000s. in Malawi. The group consisted of Marvel, Plan B, Stix, and Q. The group holds a special place in the Malawian music industry because it propagated Malawian hip-hop and paved the way for the Malawian hip-hop...
- Wambali MkandawireWambali MkandawireWambali Mkandawire is a Malawian jazz musician.He was born in the Congo to Malawian parents from the Mlowe village in the north and then later lived in Mzuzu. He wanted to become a musician but his grandparents were against the idea since he was still a student. When he dropped out of school in the...
- Ray PhiriRay PhiriRaymond Chikapa Phiri is an African jazz, fusion and mbaqanga musician born in Mpumalanga. He became founding member of the Cannibals in the 1970's...