For three consecutive years, artist Patience Namadingo has starred at Zambia’s biggest art, music and food annual festival, Zamfest. The artist says the experience has taught him plenty of lessons.
Namadingo says his appearances at Zamfest have given him an opportunity to rub shoulders with Africa’s music great Oliver Mtukudzi in 2017, South Africa’s Mafikizolo in 2018 and its top DJs such as Oskido and Mapolisa, among others.
Out of the many experiences he will recall about his appearances at the festival will probably be the single that Namadingo has recorded with one of South Africa’s afro-folk artists Bongeziwe Mabandla at the end of this year’s festival.
The song titled Apo Niphuna Khona (meaning bring me back where I come from) has been done in two languages, Chichewa and Xhosa with Namadingo taking charge of the Chichewa verses and Bongeziwe doing the Xhosa part.
The Sinjenjemera hit-maker in an interview from Zambia said the song is a reminder to all Africans about where they come from and how they can promote their cultures.
Namadingo said: “It is a song that talks about the African culture and where we are coming from. The culture has been saturated a lot as most of us from this generation would like to experiment the Western feel.
“This is wrong because we are Africans before we are anything else. In the song, we are trying to remind the people where we are coming from, where we are going, how we can sell ourselves to the world and how we can express our pride for what we are.”
He said the song will be part of his upcoming album which he will release this year under the Lusaka-based record label Elation Entertainment.
The artist said the 15-track album will require him to record in Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia.
“We are going to release our first single from the album Vinyo on June 3, on all online stores,” he said.
When Bongeziwe Mabandla surfaced with his debut album Umlilo in 2012, he was hailed as the new face of Afro-Folk, with his effortless ability to weave Xhosa lyrics with traditional music and folk to create something uniquely captivating.
