Last week I wrote something about the show organised at Lilongwe
Golf Club by Mibawa. What I dwelt on more was how I thought Mibawa owner John
Nthakomwa is one investor that the Malawi music industry desires his
replication.
One of the performers at the function was one local artist
artists I hold in high esteem. Lawrence ‘Lulu’ Khwisa is a complete musician.
In fact he is a full package that has been sufficiently value added. He is a
guitarist, a drummer, a keyboardist, a vocalist, a dancer and a music producer
all rolled in one.
It’s not all the time that one person can be as blessed as
Lulu is. One thing in the past that made everyone appreciates Lulu, which I
still believe is the case, has been his humility despite his multi-endowment.
However, lately it looks like his talent is going to his
head and as his fan I would be failing in my duties if I will let it pass as if
it is ‘business as usual’.
At this show at the Golf Club I saw a Lulu that attempted to
prove to the contrary the humble image that I have always associated with this
multi-talented artist.
It all started when the patrons started demanding for
particular tracks from several of his albums but he could hear none of such
demands.
“Ndizipitatu mukamavuta. Lero ndiyimba zofuna zanga.
Musandiwuze zochita.” (I will leave if you will be pestering me. Today I will
sing what I want. Don’t tell me what to do). This was the response from Lulu when his fans
made demands to him. When they kept on demanding for tracks that they wanted he
retorted: “Mukupitiriza? Ndizipitatu. Tikatere ndiye timawerukapotu”. (Are you
still continuing [demanding songs]? I will leave the stage. This is where I
call it quit.)
Make your own judgement but to me who has seen Lulu perform
for countless times, I think this was a new phenomenon. It does not augur well
for the image of humility that he has cut for himself over the years.
The danger of such tendency when it creeps in the psyche of
our artists is that it eats away the system and takes away their allure. We
have examples where artists have become big headed and telling off the very
patrons they perform for, only to experience a crumble in line with the saying
that ‘Pride comes before a fall.
Before it comes to this, Lulu has people like me who would
shout out a warning and plead with him to remain what the industry has known
him to be.
When musicians compose, they do it for the fans. When they
perform, the fans they compose for show their love for particular songs and
while artists prepare what exactly they will perform they also need to be
accommodative as Lulu has been over the years.
Because he has always been compromising, his fans have been
attuned to behave in a way where they will express their demands and this
cannot be changed just one day without warning.
Like in this case, Lulu was supposed to be tactical in
sending his message across that he would not be doing what his fans were
demanding. The absence of this tact portrayed a bad image of an arrogant Lulu
who is getting drunk with fame which is ironically coming from the very fans he
wanted to be bossy with.
I hope this is not the new Lulu.
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