Black Missionaries continue to live dangerously

It seems the country’s nomadic band, the Black Missionaries, have not learnt a lesson from their trip to Mzuzu last month when they survived an accident due to malfunctioning brakes of their antiquated bus.

This time around at Mzuzu Tourist Lodge on Boxing Day, reggae lovers lost their valuable time to wait until 4pm for a show scheduled for 1.30pm due to faults the Mercedes Benz, registration BLK 3780, developed en-route to the green city.

Although the band’s leader Anjiru Fumulani puts the blame on the busy schedule they had, some band members confided in The Nation that the bus’ tyres had punctures at Kasungu which took them hours to mend.

“We left Lilongwe in good time in the morning, but we lost a lot of time at Kasungu replacing the tyres which had relentless punctures. After mending them, we didn’t want to take chances but to travel slowly as you know Chikangawa is hilly with a lot of bends,” said the source.

But Anjiru, without denying or confirming the incident, said the band had a busy schedule during the festive season that contributed to the delay of the show.

The band had shows in Mangochi on Christmas Eve, Lilongwe on Christmas Day, Mzuzu on Boxing Day, and were expected to perform at Morgan Heritage’s show on Sunday.

“In shows like these ones, fans do not come on time. So, we start a show when people are ready. It seems they prefer in the evening than round 1pm or 2pm.

“As such, we are also aligning ourselves to their preferences by ending our shows late into the night. For example, the show in Lilongwe ended at 12 mid night whereas here it has ended at 11pm,” he said.

Organisers of the show, Kunyanja Entertainment director Sydney Simumba, said they were impressed with the turnout, although patronage could have been better if the show started as scheduled.

Last month, the band members survived an accident at the Northern Region’s longest slope at Jalawe in Rumphi en-route to Mzuzu for a show which also delayed for hours. n