Madalitso Band collaborates with Ukrainian trio
Madalitso Band, a Malawian duet that thrills audiences with their sound and custom made instruments, has roped in Ukrainian Tik Tu Band in its new single Sitimamenya set for release this Friday.
In an interview, band manager Neil Nayar described the single as a unique audio-visual experience that follows a series of discussions and subsequent recordings by the two sides.
“Sitimamenya talks about advising children who have done something wrong, without getting physical. It’s not the usual driven style of Madalitso’s music, but it takes an influence from the most popular music style in Malawi—reggae. It’s nice to give the audience something different once in a while. We hope the fans will love it,” he said.
The two bands’ collaboration started in May when Madalitso Band received a request from Tik Tu, a trio from Ukraine, for a collaboration.
Then, the duo of Yobu Malingwa and Yosefe Kalekeni recorded in Lilongwe and sent the music to Ukraine where the Ukrainian trio added vocals as well as some instruments and sounds.
Said Nayar: “The idea was to add some Tik Tu vibes but keep it as a Madalitso track in its essence.
“It’s very beautiful to hear a Ukrainian vocalist singing in Chichewa, and when she switches back to her own language you’re truly flying.
“The first time Madalitso Band heard the final song they couldn’t stop smiling.”
He said the video production was mostly in Malawi by Satellite Entertainment while Tik Tu shot their scenes with a green screen and other outdoor shots and sent them to Malawi.
“The video will be live on YouTube from Tik Tu’s channel. The music will be available on all streaming platforms from Spotify to Tidal.
“In Malawi, it will be free to download from malawi-music.com. It’s also available at a ‘name your price’ system on www.madalitsoband.wixsite.com/,” said Nayar.
Tik Tu leader Oleksandr ‘Lesik’ Drachuk, who also mixed the record, was thrilled with the result.
“There is actually a small amount of luck in music production. This time, everything just fell into place wonderfully,” he said in a statement.
Other band members are Nataliia Bahrii and Roman Kuzwere.
