Maria Chidzanja-Nkhoma: The last original diva

The last original diva

For many, she is an accomplished musician and broadcaster. But there is more to her artistic life as she is also a poet and an actress.

Other than that, she once tried politics. Her name is Maria Chidzanja-Nkhoma.

Born 62 years ago in a polygamous family, Maria is the first born, but from the second wife.

“There are two of us, me and my brother Peter, better known as Chechule because of his music. My father, who died 37 years ago, was a prominent member of society as a businessperson and politician in the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). My mother is alive,” she breaks the ice.

Her musical journey started with MBC Band as a student at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School.

“Around 1970 when MBC Band would come to town, our school would let us go to church on Sunday, but me and friend we would go and watch the band instead. By this time, I was already in touch with people in the band such as the late Frank Kamwendo and William Malikula. They were so encouraging and we used to practise with them,” she recalls.

“They later saw something in me and, during holidays in Blantyre, I performed with the band at Kwacha. I also had a stint with Woodpeckers.”

After she completed her secondary education, she joined music full time as a prominent member of the MBC Band. Her decision to go into music started immediately paying dividends as Maria and her band mates embarked on an international tour.

“With MBC Band, we toured Zambia where we went as far as Ndola and Kitwe; a tour I will never forget. And our first appearance on television was in Zambia. Little did I know but I would be visiting Zambia for at least once or twice a year for performances,” she said coyly.

Hotel Intercontinental in Lusaka became her home ground as she would hold countless shows. At times, the band would perform at Pamodzi Hotel in Zambia.

On account of those performances in Zambia, more opportunities came knocking on her door.

“Intercontinental Zambia sent me to their hotel in Nairobi, Kenya where something interesting happened. I met the head honchos of Intercontinental West Africa who asked me to work in West Africa, as in performing at their hotels. I refused because I had a boyfriend back home,” she laughs incessantly.

Does she regret that decision?

“I have thought about it often, it was a whole opportunity for me in West Africa. But I could not wait to come back home,” she explained, adding: “I was in my 20s and naive. So, I do regret.”

With an incredible musical journey, Maria is not fazed by the fact she has no album to her name.

She explained: “Back then, I had an opportunity to record an album, but due to lack of finances, I could not. But I have lots of music which can make two albums if not three. However, I do not want to go into the studios just for the sake of it, I am afraid of giving people a half baked product.”

However, a career in music then had its own challenges that forced Maria to look for a second best career that would butter her bread.

“I like to talk about my life as a broadcaster because, for me, it’s a second blessing. I went into broadcasting not because I was particularly interested in radio or broadcasting per se, but I had to find something to do to put food on the table

“To succeed in the music career then, you had to belong to a group that would be perhaps based in a hotel that would be paying their salaries. And not all bands had that fortune,” she explained.

She was employed by Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation (MBC) where she worked for 12 years.

“When I saw an advert, I applied for a job at MBC as a back-up plan. But oh boy, what an amazing second choice because my life took a turn that I never expected. And instead of just a job, get to work, make noise on the radio and go home, it became my life. To this day, I can’t imagine not doing anything to do with radio or media.

“The grown up part of me has done more through radio than music because through radio, people have been assisted, I have played an advocacy role and it is gratifying to hear that I did this because I heard you on radio,” said Maria.

From March 1982, Maria was at MBC programmes department where she was an announcer, producer and presenter. She is also one of the pioneers of female news readers.

A journey to South Africa to record a radio jingle for a certain company opened other doors for her, as in 1994, she moved to Johannesburg where she joined Channel Africa, an international broadcasting service under South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC).

Her stay at Channel Africa was worthywhile, she recalls.

“That was a whole lot of different experiences that broadened my broadcasting sphere. I had to travel a lot meeting different personalities I don’t think I would have met had I still been at MBC. In that, my scope of work changed now as at Channel Africa I was doing everything because we didn’t have separate newsrooms. So, we were journalists, presenters, producers and everything,” said Maria.

The job broadened her media sphere for life.

“It helped me with the news aspect since for me, news at MBC had only been about reading as I was not involved with the production part. After five years, I left Channel Africa for UK and US for studies,” she said.

By this time Maria was over 40, but still wanted professional papers.

Years later in 2003, she returned back home to a new environment.

“I did volunteer work at radio Alinafe for about 10 to 11 months until Zodiak Broadcasting Station came along. I started as a part timer, but later I was fully employed in 2006,” she says.

Before leaving for South Africa, Maria was also involved in stage drama: “I was part of Wakhumbata Ensemble Theatre and did two productions with Du Chisiza Jnr and Gertrude Kamkwatira; Cry the Beloved Soldier, a tad political in nature was later banned, but we continued with it and then Check it Out which was a play about HIV stigma.”

Other than that, she was sent to Germany by Malawi Against Polio for a fundraising show and she was also part of the group that started what is now called Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma).

In 2009, Chidzanja Nkhoma also tried politics but did not go past primaries for the Lilongwe City West under the MCP ticket.

Still with Zodiak, Maria advises: “If you are doing something, doing it with a passion and if you are happy about it, everything falls into its place.”