Bald head Jesus against Faith Mussa

On May 31st this Week and on a Sunday singer and musician Faith Mussa updated his profile picture which gave his fans the all new dreadlocked Che Muphuwa image.

For Faith he simply accompanied the picture with a few words saying '[I have] been posting too many old pics in the past few months... I guess it's time I reveal what's been hiding under the Hoodie'.

And oh God, over 1000 people reacted with close to 300 comments. Some condemned while others commended him.

One Wanangwa Ishbak wrote: Koma mbali ya uzimu sukuyenera kupanga m'mutu chonchi. Gospel artist ameneyo? Kapena ayi? (You are not supposed to do that with your hair from a spiritual aspect. Can that be a Gospel artist or not?)

Another question came from one Talune Tembo "Kodi Mwasiya kuimba Gospel?"(Have you stopped singing gospel[music]?) To which another commentator Daniel Mababa came with a rejoinder “walowela” (He is lost!)

For Roderick Phillipo his comment was "Vuto losokoneza culture/tradition ndi mawu a Mulungu. Mulungu ananena pati kuti ma locks si achikhristu?" (The problem of confusing culture with the word of God. Where did God say having locks is against Christianity?)

This was challenged by Cynthia Kaira who asked Phillipo: "Bible mawerengadi Inu?" (Do you really read the Bible?)

The two tussled over this as follows:

Roderick Phillipo: Owerenganu ndithandizeni ndi mawu oletsa locks (Thou that read help with the scripture that forbids locks)

Cynthia Kaira: Bible limanena kuti tisapote Tsitsi (The Bible says we should not plait hair)

Roderick Phillipo: Post the verse please. Actually not even a verse, but the entire chapter kuti context ya verse tiyimvetsetse bwino. And while we're at it shall we pick you apart based on what you have on your profile? There's a lesson in this question.

This was interesting indeed that The Daily Times screamed on its Entertainment page: "Faith Mussa’s hairstyle attracts mixed reaction".

He told the publication: “I just did it for a change really. I am tired of cutting my afro. I want some freedom with it. I knew some people will obviously bad mouth me for it but again, you know I can’t please everyone,” he said.

He also said he was loving the comments that people were making on the new hairstyle. The arguments and counter arguments took me to a track by reggae legendary Bunny Wailer called 'Baldhead Jesus'. The song begins like this:

 [Intro]
Praise Him, praise Him
Praise Him, praise Him
Praise Him, He's the king of kings

[Verse 1]
I have never seen the image of a bald head Jesus yet
I have never seen the image of a bald head Jesus yet
He's a humble and dreadlock Nazarene man
Look in yourselves and try to understand
Why you've never seen the image of a bald head Jesus
Yet

[Verse 2]
All ye bald head Jesus followers start to fret
All ye bald head Jesus followers start to sweat
He said to follow Him and He will make thee fishers of
Men
But you've just left the barber shop and gone back
Again
And you've never seen the image of a bald head Jesus
Yet

[Verse 3]
There is no synagogue that was built by Jesus Christ
There is no synagogue that was built by Jesus Christ
He taught on the hill and in the valley
Performing miracles and didn't get no pay
No synagogue that was built by Jesus Christ

[Chorus]
Give I the older time religion
Give I the old time religion
Give I the old time religion
For it is good enough for I
If it was good for Moses and Aaron
If it was good for David and Solomon
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
Then it is good enough for I

That's how far the song goes. Basically it challenges those that are pushing Faith Mussa to appear Gospel, to first remember that Jesus was a dreadlocked bearded son of Man. And now do those that are accusing Faith Mussa of not cutting an image of Gospel musician ensuring that we are able to see the image of Jesus Christ in them?

As Bunny sings: I have never seen the image of a bald head Jesus yet, so please leave Faith Mussa alone! Will you?

Atoht inspires Patience Namadingo & Faith Mussa

Like I said before right here Ellias Missi known in showbiz cycles as Atoht Manje is a self-made artiste who started his career by toying around with dancehall before discovering what more agree is closer to a Malawian beat.

He craftily used his crackly voice for dancehall in tracks like Majelasi and Lululu until he did Tizipepese, mistakenly called by his fans as Mabvuto.

My description of this beat then will not change now as I still think it’s a fast paced beat or merely hurried up beat sounding like a fast paced traditional Manganje beat. What is strikingly noticeable is that he is self-taught in the aspect of producing tunes that have come to be liked by music lovers.

It is ChePatuma built in the Sikiri tempo that captivated many including fellow artist Patience Namadingo.

Immediately after seeing how this track performed on the music scene Namadingo came up with his and called it Goliyati which took after Atoht's ChePatuma style.

Recently Faith Mussa has also released Selofoni which others still believe it is pointing at Atoht Manje's influence.

While for Namandingo it is unmistakable that it’s a copied style, honestly for Faith I cannot say with certainty that it indeed is. There are several differing elements that has made me doubt if indeed there was an inspiration from Atoht.

What I like about this whole scenario though is the fact that at least for once the inspiration is coming from within. We have complained before that there is just too much copying from international musicians.

I have always wondered if we have a Malawian genre.

I was once tempted to believe that the 2012 hit by Fikisa called ‘Ademwiche’ which is commonly but wrongly (or rightly?) known to the public as ‘Akamwile’ was going towards charting the way for Malawi.

It has however proven that our quest for a fixed and well established Malawian genre, has been tedious at times and it will not end any time soon.

The other day Lucius Banda told us that we were there with his ‘Zulu Woman’ beat while Edgar and Davis thought a beat like ‘Kale-Kale’ was it; so were the sounds that emerged from the Lhomwe belt of the likes of Alan Namoko and Chimvu River Jazz Band and Michael Mukhito Phiri.

But it is the people that thought this was it, because as you can see, even Namoko had no idea what he was churning out, and this is the reason he thought his backing band was a Jazz set piece.

Robert Fumulani, likewise, had no distinct genre for Malawi and in one of his tracks he did what he thought was a fusion of reggae and Khunju traditional dance and called it Khunju Reggae.

Peter Mawanga and a certain sector of the industry believe he has cracked the elusive code to establish the much sort after Malawian genre with his type of music; but the response has only fascinated the ear of those that can read music.

Ever heard of Honjo? It is a sound that emerged from the folds of Ndirande and this was Sunny B proclaiming the discovery of Malawian beat with what he was panning out.

Up in the north, Body Mind and Soul has what it calls ‘Voodjaz’.
Body, Mind & Soul started like a reggae band, but band leader ‘Street Rat’ claim that after reflecting on the importance of sharing Malawi ancient culture in modern time and after much thought and experimentation they created a new music concept they call ‘Voodjaz’, a subtle mix of traditional rhythms with a jazzy feel.

Now when all is weighed and measured may be the attraction of Atoht beat by the other artists will mean something, of course not the Malawi genre yet but something considering the elements that Faith has put is his Selofoni track.

Computer Manipulated Reggae Music

You remember those days when artists would go into the studio and separately record all the guitars, drum beat, vocals and all the attendant instrumentation without having to programme it using a computer and lose out on human artistic display.

There are a group of music lovers that are now making choices to stick to the old kind of music production and are therefore shunning the heavily computer manipulated music.

Reggae music is considered organic music and this is the reason it has a sub-genre called roots rock which purely created using human innovation and somehow sticking to the one drop concept where the foot drum is evenly spaced for effect.

While you would expect the old guys to be interested in the same, there is a youthful and unsung talented reggae star in the making Chipiriro Kuntenjera, a banker by profession who has started a project to record an album that will be recorded using the old ways.

His challenge is that because there is too much dependence on the computers when it comes to music and sound production we are losing out on having talented studio session artists not to mention studios that can have that kind of patience and skill to put up with such a challenge.

What is disheartening is that these days many so called musicians plunge into the world of music without any appreciation that music is an art and that they ought not only be at their artistic best when producing it but they also must realise that they have those musical juices flowing into their veins.

Ever wondered why Bob Marley or Peter Tosh music is still competing shoulder to shoulder with the latest reggae productions on world scale?

These days because most of the bassline, the drumbeat, the lead and rhythm guitars are just robotically programmed in the computers and then its several variations picked and recorded as a form of an instrumental background that is fused with the vocals it becomes laughable when an artist is called to perform their music with a live band.

If the production won’t be perpetually off key the whole live performance time then just realise that they are in fact not performing at all but just lip-synching pre-recorded music that is playing in the background.

It’s like a magician performing his trickery by setting a large screen before the audience and let some video recordings of his supposed frolics play. People are robbed in such instances.

Now if we have artists like Chipiriro who is currently practising hard at one local studio in Chirimba in preparation for the live recording, they need to be encouraged because this is the preservation of skills and art, not only of playing musical instruments but recording music using the less deceitful means.

You rarely find the later day Eric Paliani, Collen Ali, Peter Likhomo and even the youthful Faith Mussa or Patience Namadingos who will courageously grab a guitar and perform live without disappointing.

What is even reassuring is that even when foreign musical artists come to perform in the country they love to associate or use the skills and talents of those that will give us their raw displays and delivery when it comes to playing the musical instruments.

I await the day when even the urban artists in the country who are now bulging the music industry seams take up the challenge and start giving the consumers the raw talent and skill which matters more in the world of art.