Scores of fun seekers and followers Saturday night dropped at Robin’s Park in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, to welcome Anthony Makondetsa’s recent release, Fuko Lokondedwa.
The launch, coming on the heels of a performance at DNC at Chinamwali in Zomba on Friday night, saw a half full hall. Business, which was scheduled to start at 8:30 pm, came to full life an hour later.
In spite of the low-note beginning, with technical hitches here and there, the list of performers did not disappoint when the man in control of the stage affairs Fraternal DJ, real name Raymond Sekeni, called them on the stage. Fans were mesmerised to the bone, if their jive and sing along on the dancefloor is anything to go by.
First on the menu were Chileka outfits such as Konzie Masimbe, Toza Kapito–aka Evison Mourner, Yanjanani Chumbu and Moda Fumulani, who, backed by the Black Missionaries Band, provided a reason to do some reggae dancing.
After them came Edgar ndi Davis Band led by Uncle Layi. Among the songs they gave to the audience was the age-old Albert Gwirani’s composition Tsoka Liyenda which reminded people of the old school music greats.
When Giddes Chalamanda took over the stage, he dished out a lively performance, playing Napolo and Che Meri, before fans asked the octogenarian to play Baby Come Back.
Davis Njobvu, co-founder of Edgar ndi Davis band, took over the stage with the help of Edgar’s temporal replacement, Mwai Maloya. The two took the people on a rollercoaster ride of jiving to songs like Tikadasankha Kale, Fanuwelo, Energy Saver and Galu coupled with their colourful dancing antics.
The king of the night then appeared on stage several minutes after midnight to give Blantyre his seventh album.
Makondetsa went straight into business and proved he is not called Mr Cool for nothing as he kept on engaging the fans during his entire performance. His playlist was not very different to the one he gave at Lilongwe Golf Club. He started with Muyuda, then Ali Pompano, Fire Time, Sudzampeza, Betelehemu and Fuko Lokondedwa before playing Muyuda for the second time due to public demand.
This time, Peter Amidu, playing the bass guitar, proved what an instrument can do to live performances by playing the song Muyuda just using the guitar. Makondetsa finished with the title track of his 2009 album, Mbumba ya Abraham.
Wrapping up the fun of the night was Piksy, Maskal and Black missionaries led by Anjiru.
In an interview, long time music promoter Jai Banda, who was part of the audience, said the show was fine and entertaining except that the patronage was not impressive.
“The show was well patronised but for a launch, the expectations were high. Malawians were supposed to come in large numbers to support the home boy. There is indeed a big need for Malawians to support local artists if the music industry is to grow,” said Banda.
