Blacks take Lumbadzi by storm
After a year of no showing at Tilipano Leisure Center in Lumbadzi, Black Missionaries Band enthusiasts had another chance to rekindle good memories of dancing and listening to arguably Malawi’s best reggae band on Sunday afternoon.
It was Black Misssionaries’ second coming in Lilongwe this year after earlier performances at the Lilongwe Gold Club and Chez Ntemba.
Although at the onset the show seemed to have been slow, it turned to be one of the best performances by the Chileka-based reggae outfit as patrons yearned for more songs.
The band’s backing vocalist Yanjanani Chumbu opened the dance, dishing out three songs from his debut album released in 2012.
He left the stage to the late Gift Fumulani’s brother Moda who played his late brother’s popular vibes of Kweza Maso, Bwenzi Langa and Tiye Kwathu, among others.
But the good mood was even doubled as Mr Cool, Anthony Makondetsa took over the microphone from Moda at around half past five and apparently drew more revelers close to the stage.
His silky-voice mingled with the quality of instrumentation and biblical lyrics could not let patrons sing along songs such as Mbumba ya Abraham,Usandiweluze, Ndidzakasimba and Muyuda, among other hits.
Makondetsa’s tradition of taking his time on stage to emphasize that Jesus was black even sweetened the mood among patrons further as they nodded in agreement while others laughed.
However, it was the arrival of the band’s front man Anjiru Fumulani at exactly 6:46 pm that saw no patron stand idle.
Anjiru took back the craving audience to Kuimba 1 before dishing out fresh music from Kuimba 9.
Anjiru appeared energetic as he relentlessly sung the songs back-to-back, taking the live concert to a higher level.
Later in an interview, Anjiru described the show as one of the best shows the band has ever had and thanked Lumbadzi fans for attending the show en masse.
“We want to create ‘hunger’ among people for our band. This is the second show in Lilongwe and we are happy that it was well patronised,” he said.
His words were echoed by the band’s manager Ray Harawa who said the band will strive to give out the best to its fans in 2014.
Harawa also disclosed that they have added some sound wattage to their equipment and promised quality sound going forward.
Some of the patrons, speaking in random interviews said they were impressed by the band’s performance characterised by time keeping by performers and also quality sound.
