Paul Chaphuka remains an enigma because he came at
a time when there was the rebirth of Malawi music. His one and only album ‘Ndichiritseni’ released at the time he
had just died on May 11, 1997 was only made possible by legendary brothers Paul
and Lucius Banda. What would have become, had he not succumbed to skin cancer
is a subject of conjecture.
But his album is marked in the all highly treasured
archives as one of Malawi’s classic music production, albeit going with the
equally pioneering all famous Balaka genre.
Chaphuka’s career started – or it is better known
to have started – when he played with Mte Wambali Mkandawire and as an instrumentalist
he used to play the bass guitar a departure well registered when he joined
Alleluya Band where he was now playing lead guitar.
The album had many captivating tracks like Nkhoswe, title track Ndichiritseni – which of course is a
Chichewa rendition of Alpha Blondy’s song ‘Heal
Me’ found in the album Dieu. Just
like Alpha Blondy who suffered a mental breakdown that prompted the release of
the track in 1994, Chaphuka too, having realised of his ill health sought God’s
healing power. As they say the rest is history; while Blondy survived, for
Chaphuka, it was never to be.
Lucius and Paul had to finish the album and
together included a tribute Tsalani
in the album. This is all to give you a picture of the priceless sentimental
value that this album has.
Now why I am all rumbling about Chaphuka today is
because Sam Simakweli has taken a ‘leap of faith’ and done a rendition of one
of Chaphuka’s great hits in the album called Mavuto Tawaona.
It is this one that has brought us to talk about
Chaphuka in light of this production from Simakweli who currently brands as Sam
Smack.
When you understand the pain and richness of this
song just like the rest of the tracks in the album, you realise that it would
require a special reason to do a rendition.
The place to look for such a special reason is
obviously in the released newest production and my effort to look for one in
Simakweli’s Mavuto Tawaona did
not help matters as it left me with mixed feelings.
To begin with, this is a classic that,
much as effort would be made to modernise it, there is still need to preserve
its touch. This without doubt should have been achieved with Simakweli’s golden
voice. But for whatever reason he decided to sound like a Nyanja speaking
Zambian.
Smacks is one of the six-pointed stars in the local
urban genre and if any attempt was made to do a Chaphuka rendition everyone
would give it to him if he so decided to bring in the urban elements. Now he
does so by bringing in a guy I am hearing for the first time called Michale Es.
My problem is not because I have never heard
of this guy before. But here is my explanation:
There is a ring to all the classic
tracks that are redone by modern artists. They tend to resurrect the old, by
making it to the top of numerous charts. The reason Simakweli’s effort on this
Chaphuka track has not made necessary noise is because it has not brought any
fresh impetus to the resounding following that the initial track attracted.
Most of the old folks who fell in
love with Chaphuka’s original toils feel short-changed especially with the
rapping which, as most of our rappers do, did not bother to make sense and
bring clarity to own lyrics thereby degrading itself to the levels of noise.
In short, with the bar that was set by Chaphuka,
any attempt to redo his work should be well thought of and should not come in
half measures. Unfortunately this one has.
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