Tam’s exodus from football to music

Tamandani Wazayo Phillip Nsaliwa was born on 28 January 1982 in Lilongwe. He moved to Edmonton in Canada some years after he played football for a local youth side Edmonton Southwest United. Apparently, this was the first boys’ teams in club history to advance to the Under-15 National Championships, finishing fourth in the competition.

He later went on to play for Edmonton North West United and represented the Alberta Soccer Association in all its subsequent youth select teams before moving to Germany at 16.

While in Germany, he played for the Energie Cottbus for one season before returning to Canada.

Nsaliwa has had problems making it into the Canadian National team after renouncing his Canadian citizenship for a German citizenship to allow him to play anywhere in Europe without restrictions.

Just like he has been moving from one country to another, Nsaliwa has also been changing careers and has now settled for music.

According to www.goal.com, Nsaliwa went back to Edmonton with a new mission—to record his debut album. He told the website that he has always loved hip hop music which gave him the inspiration to venture into music.

The footballer-cum- rapper, who goes by the name Tam in the music circles, has roped in a Toronto rap veteran Choclair in his latest track Brand New.

Nsaliwa told goal.com that he initially wanted to collaborate with Kardinal official and Choclair but it did not work with Kardinal.

“I admire the likes of Kardinal and others but for now, I’m really grateful that Choclair was willing and able to collaborate with me even though I am a soccer player that he had never heard of before,” the rapper told the website.

In another interview, the Malawian-born rapper told Hip hop Canada that besides music being his hobby, he takes it as a business.

“The deciding factor is the quality of the product, but if you don’t have your business set up properly to beat the system or join it, then you can’t say you’re in the game. You’re just kicking the ball up against the wall and watching it come back to you. I learnt that the hard way about sports, so I am trying to use those experiences to make the right moves with my music,” he said.

The rapper boasted having more downloads of his albums.

“Numbers don’t lie. They never tell the whole story, but they at least give you a reason to want to find out what all the hype is all about. “