Wambali is back!
The setting is Joe’s Garage in Johannesburg, South Africa. The cast is Wambali Mkandawire and the production is the Malawian legend’s seventh album.
His music fusion style has been celebrated as a pioneering sound in Malawian jazz.
After close to five years of a break, Wambali is currently working on an album that promises the best to jazz.
Not only has he gone international with the recording, the artist has gone an extra mile to give his fans the best.
“There are two more people from outside Malawi who will have an input on the album. There is a Zambian-based Congolese musician called Elve, who plays bass guitar and then there is a surprise in someone who is joining us right here in South Africa. It’s someone people know, but people will get to know about the person when the album is out,” said Wambali.
Other artists Wambali has roped in are Amos Mlolowa on drums, saxophonist Dan Sibale and Grecium Mokoena on keyboards.
“This is new material, but it’s something I could have done way back. It’s just that I had to take my time to bring out something more unique and which can appeal to both local and international jazz lovers. Of course, my target is the international community,” he told On the Arts.
The album is saxophone driven.
“What this means is that the album will be made of songs which can be classified as instrumentals. I have done the vocals and now it’s the time to do something different,” said the artist.
“The other members have done their part and what is remaining is finishing touch ups. It is going to have 10 to 12 songs. The title is a suspense; it will be known when it is out,” he said.
On this new album, Wambali seems to draw from his first international album, the highly acclaimed Zani Muwone, which was an eclectic mix of Malawian, Congolese and West African rhythms.
Produced by JB Arthur at Joe’s Garage, Zani Muwone drew on the considerable talents of a broad spectrum of top Southern African musicians.
In 2002 Wambali was nominated for a Kora Award and the album was playlisted on SAFM/Kaya FM and numerous other southern African radio stations.
Wambali won the South African Music Award (Sama) 2003 for the Best African Artiste.
In 2003, he recorded his second international album Moto, which, however, was not as successful as Zani Muwone.
Wambali was first introduced to Malawian traditional music and Congolese music by his grandparents who were working in Belgium Congo, where he was born.
When he was eight, his grandparents returned to what was then Nyasaland. They settled at their village in Mlowe where Wambali went to school in Rumphi. The village had several ex–miners that introduced them to South African music. Later through the radio, Wambali came across Western pop music. As a teenager, he loved to sing all these styles at school and political functions and purely for the love of it.
On release of Zani Muwone early in 2002, Wambali was invited to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2002, held in Cape Town.
In August of 2002, Wambali was awarded the Wipo (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Award for Creativity, the first time this award has ever been made to an African artiste.
In Mzuzu, Wambali pastors to a mission rural centre and indigenous church.
