Time to pay attention to Elli Njuchi

At 19, Chifuniro Steven Magalasi, christened with showbiz name Elli Njuchi, is exactly where most of his peers would want to be, musically.

He is the 2018 best new act UMP awards winning singer/songwriter in appreciation of the track that catapulted him to fame: Illuminati. Or was it the award of best upcoming act? Or the 2018 UMP Awards Best New Comer? To me, it matters less, all I know is that there is an award in the bag and many more are coming to fill this bag to the brim.

Last year he made history in his musical career by being one of the youngest artists to star at the 16th edition of Lake of Stars Discovery held at Kachere Kastle in Nkhata Bay.

Now the young Afro pop and Reggae Dancehall artist has released Extended Playlist (EP) titled The Book of Z.

Ostensibly, there were plans to launch the EP with his newly set-up band – The Hive at Barbecues in Blantyre but had postponed it until further notice due to the COVID-19 scourge.

The EP has since been released digitally and his fans are now able to access it through mobile money and bank transactions.

What has compelled me to opine that perhaps time is ripe to start taking the young Njuchi seriously is the EP package that is unfortunately being sold online at a meagre K2000.

What makes part of the package are the seven tracks in the descending order: Zisunge, Zitheke, Zilu(ngamo), Zitaye, Zitatu, Zithe, and Z. As you will appreciate, the EP is called The Book of Z because all the songs in the musical collection has stories that start with the letter Z.

Then there are three cover pictures that have been artistically and professionally designed to really grab the international interest. There is a list of credits, there is an acknowledgement through what he calls Letter to Hive and finally the juggernaut is the booklet of Lyrics. Now this is what I call serious music project.

At his age, Elli Njuchi has done what established musicians only see in their dreams. They are always in a hurry to release an album without regard to ensuring that marketing and selling a brand goes with its attendant condiments that puts the work way above the rest in terms of quality and class.

What I also find the lyrics interesting is the fact that they help you to get into the brain of the young artist and appreciate that he thinks big when it comes to writing his music. While his peers will do a ‘kick and rush’ kind of work as they try to court fame, Elli seems to have decided to remain steadfast as his eyes are set on the big prize.

The track he is calling Zilu(ngamo) is in fact cries of an abused wife; the track Zisunge seems to be a dedication to his sister Yankho, encouraging her to aim for the future’s best; Zitheke, as he says through several interviews that this EP is full of stories of hard work and self-belief, this is the better song to demonstrate just that.

It among others, validates this hard-working belief through this line: Sititola chikwama ase timasoka; Ngati Sikuphula Tidyera Pamoto.  

This is the track where he is encouraging all endeavours to ensure that the youth are standing on their own; be it through piece works, businesses, hassling in the city or pursuing education. He encourages all to push until it works (Timaphusha Mpaka zitheke).

This EP will definitely help brand Elli Njuchi as a serious competitor in the music game, if it is not locally, he could as well break the international barriers. I declare that its indeed time to take Elli Njuchi seriously.