Malawi Mouse Boys head to Australia festival

Although they remain relatively unknown in Malawi, acoustic quartet Malawi Mouse Boys continue to receive international plaudits, the latest being an invitation to this year’s WOMADelaide Festival in Adelaide, Australia from March 6 to 9.

Since they released their internationally highly acclaimed debut album He is #1 three years ago, Malawi Mouse Boys have become somewhat of an international phenomenon, performing at international festivals and touring the US.

According to Sophie Murray, publicity coordinator at WOMADelaide, the festival normally looks at what acts were at Womad UK as a basis.

Malawi Mouse Boys performed at Womad UK two years ago where they received rave reviews and their performance was lauded by the international press.

Last October, Malawi Mouse Boys also toured America with performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and in New York.

And was with the case with Womad UK, WOMADelaide presents several opportunities for the gospel outfit.

“They will get interview opportunities with local and national media in regards to their appearance at the festival,” Murray said.

Malawi Mouse Boys were brought to greater worldwide attention by Grammy-winning American record producer, Ian Brennan, who chanced upon the band during a sojourn to Malawi.

The San Francisco-based producer set up a portable studio to record a group of gospel singers called the Malawi Mouse Boys. The group took its name from the job the members had when Brennan found them.

“In that little stretch of freeway where they live, there’s a tradition where they sell mice on a stick, as snacks, meals to the passing travellers,” Brennan says.

Brennan set up his gear near the road where they were working and asked one of them, Alfred Gavana, to play and sing.

After they recorded that first song, Brennan asked Gavana to invite other musicians to a session in his village a few days later. Brennan spent all day there, eventually zeroing in on a core group.

The Malawi Mouse Boys grew up singing in the village church, where Sunday services stretch for hours

Lead singer Zondiwe says from the get-go, the group had no real expectations. Foreigners had come through before expressing interest, but never followed through.

Getting their voices heard became a mission for Brennan. First he got the album released on a British label.

Last year, he took the Malawi Mouse Boys to England to perform at the Womad Festival. It was their first trip outside their country and they sang in Chichewa to an audience of more than 10 000. They also recorded a second album Dirt is Good.

Nekwankwe says it is a miracle they’ve come this far.

“Maybe we can say it’s a plan of God,” he says. “Because to us, to reach where we are now, using these local instruments, it’s not a joke. In our country in Malawi, we have got many people who are using electric guitars and instruments, but they didn’t reach America.” n