Musicians body for music exports

Barely a month after being re-elected as president of Music Union of Malawi (MUM), Chimwemwe Mhango has geared up in his drive to promoting Malawi Music. The body’s president has embarked on advocacy to empower Malawian musicians penetrate international markets.

Speaking to Chill on Wednesday, Mhango said the current situation leaves Malawian musicians far from international standards despite possessing all the required potential to stand out beyond borders.

Mhango said his body has introduced a scheme Music Export Growth Scheme, an arrangement designed to make available grants to the registered independent music companies and artist to assist them with marketing campaigns aimed at international markets.

“We have a number of very good artists in Malawi who can fairly do better on the international scale. We have artists that have already made their name in the country and are now eyeing international audience. We want these artists to be fully supported so that they should achieve that,” said MUM president.

Mhango said in countries like Nigeria and South Africa, government allocate enough resources to artist just like they do with football.

“The scenario is that government does not allocate anything towards arts as compared to football. What we are trying to do is to position our self so that government should recognise the field as it does with football. We want the same allocation they impart in our football national teams to arts as well, so that we achieve our mission. We have seen countries like Japan, America and even Nigeria gaining economic growth through arts. This can also happen with Malawi,” he said.

Commenting on the development, Skeffa Chimoto, said if implemented, the initiative will go a long way in uplifting the image of not only the artist but the nation.

“That will be beneficial to both musicians and country. Note that in most of our songs we carry a cultural element in them. In the same way having penetrated the overseas market, we will also sell Malawian culture and make it known globally,” said Skeffa.

“As a musician, my wish has been to reach more countries overseas with my songs, but lack of support has been a hindrance. I hope with this new initiative the gate will now be open,” said Chimoto.