Saturday 24 February 2018

Lyrical Pen’s top 2017 Stars

So much happened in the music cycles in 2017 and the pen was really busy. Along the way the Pen angered local Hip-Hop star Fredokiss for what it felt was his unprofessional and childish conduct but the fact remained that he stole the limelight in the year.
Much as everyone else did their best, there can always be one winner with the pen as is the case with any other awards and recognitions. I might not be in agreement with several people but according the Lyrical Pen, these were its 2017 stars. Anybody can come up with their list.
TOP ENTERTAINMENT ACT - Patience Namadingo
Unlike other musical awards organisers who struck off initial awardees from the list because they had disagreed, it is not the case with the Lyrical Pen. At the moment the pen has issues with Namandingo for painting the whole media fraternity on Facebook with one brush of condemnation for a mix-up of his mother’s picture in one daily.
Regardless of this fact this has been Patience’s year. We saw a different brand of the all new Namadingo that performed to mammoth crowds in Blantyre and Lilongwe venues. He also worked wonders singing in different places to raise money for the Queen Elizabeth Children Cancer Ward. He also showed the world the comedian in him. For all this he is the pen’s top entertainer for 2017.
TOP MALAWIAN MUSICIAN – Atoht Manje
The pen concluded that Ellias Missi known in showbiz cycles as Atoht Manje shot himself to the top of the game.
Not many really considered Atoht as one to make a mark amongst the youthful musical group of Lilongwe where he emerged from until he started dropping tracks like Majelasi, Lululu, Tizipepese, and etcetera.
Atoht is endowed with a crackly voice which is suitable for dancehall or ragga genre. The tracks like Majelasi and Lululu really came riding this genre until Tizipepese, which his fans call Mabvuto came in. It’s fast pace bordering on something that can best be equalled to a Congo beat or merely a local hurried up beat like fast paced Manganje as he would love to call it.
When one listens to Atoht’s productions with a trained ear, you would easily notice that his lyrical structure is messed up. He literally follows his heart, the result of which is a general appeal to his fans but an immediate shock to music teachers.
The same applies with Che Patuma, the track that he made to grab the top musician for Malawi in 2017 according to the pen.
TOP URBAN MUSICIAN – Fredokiss
The pen settles for Fredokiss not to appease him for getting angry at its ‘venomous’ ink, but because he proved that the local hip-hop genre is so influential that it would be foolish for anyone to pay it a blind eye.
He held three free shows in Ndirande, Masintha and Mzuzu where he parked the venues in a way that no meeting, be it political or religious could achieve. With politics and religion you know their manipulative power where they will try to profess popularity by parking vehicles with people that they ferry to such spots for obvious reasons. For Fredokiss it was just consumers of his niche products walking by foot to the venue.

In the year, Fredokiss who is also known as Ghetto King Kong released hit song “Njira Zawo” which features Lucius Banda. This is the rendition of Lucius’ “Ali ndi njira Zawo”. An additional to Dear Jah Jah, another hit.

TOP LOCAL ALBUM – Sunset in the Sky
Lawi’s second musical toil in ‘Sunset in the Sky’ is the pen’s pick for the best local album of the year slot. The album launched at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) on 2nd December in Lilongwe is a show of artistic progress of one talented artiste.

The Afro-Soul musician and producer has in the album tracks like Timalira, Dance with me, Therere and Yalira Ng’oma to mention but a few. The album has 25 tracks in total that touch on spirituality, life and wide range of issues.

The album has taken a good four years to put together and the proof of well thought composition is evident, making Lawi a top brand.

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