Paul Banda lauds youth support
Veteran musician Paul Banda on Sunday stole the limelight at a poetry show at Blantyre Cultural Centre (BCC) when he enjoyed incredible support from the youthful audience.
Paul launched his music career before most of the audience was born, but they struck a chord with his music as if it was done in recent years.
One of the fans Secret Nasawa, who is a radio personality for Ufulu FM, reacted: “This is my first time to see Paul performing live on stage. And his music makes me feel complete although I don’t know most of the songs.”
Mtendere and Malilime were the two songs that connected well with the audience, who demanded encores.
Paul was the last one to perform, but the audience waited for the last minute to be treated to his stage magic, which kept them on their feet from the word go.
He rendered his spirited performance after the poetry acts of Sylvester Kalizang’oma, Raphael Sitima, Robert Chiwamba, Joseph Madzedze and presidential mimicker Frank ‘Atcheya’ Naligonje, who wowed the audience with his side-splitting skit.
Naligonje’s performance attracted applause from the audience when he recommended the guest artist Paul whom he described him as one of his early ‘boys’ that he has worked with in his early political career.
Before kick-starting his act, Paul hailed the audience for rendering support to the arts.
“Let me take this opportunity to thank you all for making it to this event today. We exist because of your support. May you continue supporting arts such as music and poetry in the country,” said Paul.
Despite a technical glitch, which saw a guitar and foot drum stop functioning for some minutes, Paul put up a sparkling performance with the backing of the youthful Malimba Band.
Paul also hailed poets for putting up a good show which satisfied him.
“I am a big fan of poetry and these days I like the fact that poets have revolutionised the art. It feels good,” said the veteran.
Five Star Entertainment, organisers of the show, said they were satisfied with the turn up and promised to organise more events featuring the veteran musician.
“We are impressed with the event and we are looking forward to organize more shows that feature Paul,” said Linda Sekeni, the firm’s operations director. n
