Gospel has boxed Gwamba’s talent

Duncan Zgambo, the great Malawian rapper known by stage name Gwamba insists that ever since he turned into gospel all his songs are doing remarkably so well, despite people thinking he would lack creativity in gospel material.

He has also done a track called ‘Unatha’ which apparently also tries to disparage his formative creativity in music or better still his career in the secular arena. In the track he seems to be dismissing all his works as ‘useless and swearing songs’ ‘Ukuyimba zotukwana muja unkandiwaza’ – (You used to overawe me when you were singing swearing songs) goes one of the lines.

All this explanation and singing about it means one thing, Gwamba knows he lost his creative gumption the moment he crossed the line because of the perception that is associated with being holly etc. There are always needless efforts to achieve ‘political correctness’ in a religious way.

Let’s look back, in 2013, Gwamba released three singles that turned the heads of the music loving fraternity and gave him their attention. It is tracks like Ndi Ofewa featuring EMM Q, Bola Kusache featuring Nesnes and Ndiyima Pachulu Featuring Bucci, that set his path to stardom, due to the uniqueness of his approach.

Gwamba argues that as a Gospel artist three tracks that he has dropped like "Better" "Alleluyah" both of which features Emm Q and "Nzeru" featuring Maskal can compete shoulder to shoulder with the other three tracks that I have mentioned above.

Gwamba and the rest of us know this is not correct. Well, Gwamba has become wealthy now than before, thanks to his association with his brother-in-law Prophet Shepherd Bushiri. If you were to have two choices, to be Gwamba who is singing secular music but remain a pauper as opposed to Gwamba who is now rich and only sings Gospel, the choice he took is perfect for and to most of us.

What has suffered is the fact that he has decided to forgo the creative approach to his music making excellence of the old.

Gwamba started rapping at the age of 15 in 2005 and this is the portfolio he has built as an artist all along.  It is both a loss to the Gospel and secular music cycles that his mindset locked away his creative juices because we have attached some behaviours that should be followed when you are a gospel musician.

I once wrote that mentality is of essence when any one person decides to venture into music

The argument I am advancing now, I just realise its similar to one that I once raised about the self-acclaimed Honjo inventor San B. He launched his career as a secular artist, and along the way, I thing he did a number of best hits but one I would want to dwell on is what I still consider as a master piece which goes like ‘Mukanena kuti Ha!Ha! Halleluja! Inu muziti Amen, akulu ampingo amve…!”

In the first place, he innocently did a secular song that touched on the gospel and depending on what one wanted to believe, this was either a gospel piece or a secular piece. San B bought the gospel sense and declared himself a gospel artist.

Just like I argued then whether San B or Gwamba wants to believe it or not, when they became gospel artists, they lost their music panache.

Interestingly Christianity, like all other beliefs, somehow is enemy to reality. It finds a way to hide truth by bringing in the underhand of Lucifer.

I am saying this because San B, Gwamba and their gospel followers would think Satan is using me to discourage them from continuing the ‘blessed’ missionary work they have started. But my stand is the two were the best when they had secular sense when doing their music than now when they are spreading gospel.

However, what could be an interesting aspect is perhaps a little recall to where we are coming from as a nation that came to grips with a penchant for good music. You remember when the Joseph Nangalembes, the Robert Fumulanis used to rule the airwaves, was there any divisions like secular and gospel artists.

Would you therefore say Nangalembe was not doing God’s work? Is being secular pursuit of evil? Do we perhaps realize that God can try to change a person to follow His ways by perfecting the person’s social being by using music to do this? And obviously musicians would be involved to achieve this?

Well, I might seem to be digressing, but my point is that musical talent that is in the artists is endowed as the artists sense it; it should therefore not be compromised to please anyone.

If you pause a minute and wonder, would you say a musician is supposed to consider what the audience would want to listen to, or what he or she has to unravel from the gods of novelty in the subliminal.

Billy Kaunda, Lucius Banda, Mlaka Maliro, Skeffa Chimoto and who else? Are these secular or gospel musicians?

Will it be for them to tell us they are gospel musicians or it’s up to consumers to conclude where they belong.

The all great Wambali Mkandawire once declined to accept that he is a gospel musician he instead said his is spiritual music.