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.        

 

   

The Incomplete ‘Unfinished Project’

I am impressed with Wailing Brothers’ maiden album rightly named – ‘Unfinished Project’.

They don’t even waste time to get down to business. The opening track ‘Mwatero ndi Inu’ is a loaded dice. It leaves you scampering all over the place for cover; running away from own shadow apparently. It’s so allegorical reminiscent of compositions of their first known leader Evison Matafale – not that I am disregarding the fact that the band was started by Elias Chokani.

This track leaves you with so many questions whose answers are in the chorus – ‘It is as you say’. 

This particular track, like the rest that have been led on vocals by Chikumbutso Simbi, is a revelation of more than one thing; the sibling band leadership of Paul and Takudziwani Chokani has realised their deficiencies in delivering vocal output. I might speculate that this is perhaps the reason they had Matafale in the initial stages.

My observation is not without proof as it has been rightly represented in the tracks that Taku is on vocals which clearly show that this voice gift God did not provide him with when He bequeathed him with the skilful manner he puts on display when given a lead guitar.

In the track ‘Afritune’ the band has been very naughty with experiment where they play African drums that have been well intertwined with reggae elements coming up with a piece of work oozing refined creativity.  There could never have been any better way to pay their tribute to their fallen brothers and cousins in Elias and Luis, Gift and Musamude Fumulani and of course Matafale, than in the ‘Afritune’.

The track does not demand stringent vocal levels that separate the novice from the elite. It has therefore suited the voices of its lead vocalists Taku and Paul.

‘Levi’ is a track which like ‘Mwatero ndi Inu’ is serious minded reggae track. This is the album’s other best, done by Chiku on the vocals and like ‘Mwatero ndi Inu’ it is inclined towards religious, or is it spiritual foundation.

The flair with which the works of ‘Unfinished Project’ has been appropriated is easily noticed in these tracks. This is the more reason why, unlike those who faulted the revival of Wailing Brothers, I still maintain that we really needed a different voice of reggae in the industry. 

This is a superlative variety; I would hate to call it an alternative to productions by Black Missionaries because to do so will be playing into the hands of those who are chanting that music is a mission and not competition in reference to the departure from the Blacks by Paul and Taku to reawaken Wailing Brothers.

‘Sindidzakusiya’ is a love track full of praise of a beloved woman which is another delivery from Chiku offered in a typical reggae beat, riddled with the usual rub-a-dub thump that goes with a serious bass line.

“Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’, the highly promoted track in the album is a mixture of the complicated and the simple and not so complicated vocal pitch arrangement.  Of course the mistake has come about with the inclusion of this complicated vocal counter which clearly shows that it does not suit Taku’s natural vocal strength. 

Even the best instrumentation that goes with this track is failing to conceal this vocal inadequacy; when you have the opportunity to listen to the track especially when being performed live, and then you will get the perfect opportunity to appreciate my observation.

I am not sure who is behind the compositions in the album as the information on the sleeve does not say anything. Of course this is one information aspect that lack in Malawi music. However, going by quasi-religious themed tracks that have been vocalised by Chiku, I would be tempted to believe that those putting up the voices to these tracks in the album are also the ones that composed them.

Take for example a track called ‘Tikudikira Munthuyo’ which has been built on a Biblical story of slavery that the Israelites suffered at the hands of Pharaoh. Apparently this is a prayer to God to save them from servitude.

Toza Matafale who is known to do covers for his late brother Evison with a kind of clinical imitation that can be mistaken for the original voice of Evison, going by his live stage performances with The Blacks and lately with Wailing Brothers, did not live up to the billing in ‘Nkhawa Biii’ also in the album.

I have said before that covers or what others mistakenly call ‘copyright songs’ that are based on compositions of the greats ought to have a unique element that should add value to the original and not devalue it. I am afraid this performance has achieved the latter.

‘Hungry Tiger’ one of the three English tracks in the album is also another reggae piece which forces you to listen to all its intended delivery. It has been done with mature weightiness. It has a ring to some vocal productions of Jamaican Alvin ‘Keith’ Porter of the Itals, but again as earlier observed it has a religious connotation. Why, because there is Chiku on the vocals.

The chorus tells you that once polished just a little bit, then Wailing Brothers Band has a lead vocalist in Chiku, who can take head on any international reggae stage and perform without bringing any shame to compatriots.

‘Dzuka’ has a Robert Fumulani identity. This is a track whose vocalist is drummer Paul Chokani. According to my appraisal he is a notch up than Taku in vocal abilities but this is not to say he has what it takes for him to depart from the drum set and take over the vocal leading mantle. He is still best suited as the gifted drummer whose skills and talent few can match and this is where he belongs.

‘Sing a Song’ whose vocals have been done by Taku is where he is challenging that as long as he lives he shall sing a song. No dispute about that of course, but just like another track ‘Hallelujah’ where he is on vocals, this is where he has proved my conviction right that lead guitar is his place and calling but not vocals.

‘I Love My Guitar’ done by Taku and Paul has the same vocal shortfalls underlining the fact why this album’s title is indeed ‘Unfinished Project’.

This album reminds us once again that for over a couple of decades now, Donald Custom and MacDonald Chimkango remain the best recording backing vocalists Malawi has ever produced and their work in this album is unblemished.

But the vocals on the ‘I Love My Guitar’ piece have progression that tells us all but one thing; that there is still need of a great deal of improvement. The title of the track is in a way a telling testament that Taku better show his love for the guitar by somehow sticking to it more that his attempt on lead vocals.

Those that are true lovers of music in general, and ardent reggae listeners in particular, will doff their hats off for this particular album.

This is one of the few best reggae albums in Malawi but nevertheless it tells us that Wailing Brothers music mission is an incomplete project that needs to be perpetuated not finished.

Hax Momba's seventh revelation

The last time I wrote about Haxi Momba over these pages was in
September 2012 which was also around the same period that he had
released his firth album.

I intend to repeat what I had written at the time that Haxi Momba
arrived on the musical scene with Chibvumbulutso Volume 1, a debut
album which had a hit track 'Kufa Safelana'.

This is a pattern first seen in the country when Evison Matafale
announced that all his albums will be called Kuimba 1 and so on and so forth. The Black Missionaries have lived the Matafale dream as they
are now about to release another Kuimba sequel.

No one gave Momba any chance of continuity, more-so because most of the songs on the album were shameful replete of imitation of either Burning Spear or Joseph 'Culture' Hills.

The more the tongues wagged about how short the future held for his
musical career, the more the albums kept coming from Haxi Momba who started calling himself ‘Prophet’.

Now in this 2014 the Reggae Prophet is back with Chibvumbulutso
Chapter 7. It used to be volumes; I am not sure what has prompted the
change. This is, however, beside the point; the main issue is the
maturity that has been carried in this particular production.

Momba is a kind of an artist who is never short of bringing out all
the issues he feels are bedevilling progress in all aspects of life at
the time.

The latest album is a continuation in keeping with Chibvumbulutso
messages that are not bringing anything new apart from the fact that
it has a latest chapter.

The fact that he had to use expert hands of The Black Missionaries
lead guitarist Takudziwani Chokani has kind of brought some change to the seriousness of the reggae beat.

He has decided to adopt his identity as the one who tries to mimic
Jamaican reggae grandfather Burning Spear or is it the fallen megastar
Joseph Hill.

Like the rest of his albums this seventh Haxi Momba revelations is short
of explaining his spiritual sanctuary. Instead he has brought a new
question of whether he is on the verge on turning to Gospel Reggae
considering the rendition of the hymn 'Siliva Ndilibe'.

Despite trying to sound like Spear or Culture who are confessed Rastas
Momba, however, tries to run away from declaring whether he is a Rasta or not in his tracks like he has always achieved in his previous albums.

He has the temerity to chant some Jah Rastafari in his songs in the
past albums which is not the case in this latest album. He has in fact
sub-titled Chibvumbulutso Chapter 7 as Muyuda Olonjezedwa which is reggae piece hailing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

"Who Jah Bless, No one Curse!" he chants in the track which is
seemingly trying to swim closer to Anthony Makondetsa theme in the
famous 'Muyuda'.

He has also made it his mission to continue mourning fallen local
reggae king Evison Matafale as he has in the 10th of the 13 tracks on the album entitled 'Remember Matafale'.

Chibvumbulutso Chapter 7 is a breath of fresh air for those that follow Haxi Momba with passion as he continues to dish out 'unrevealing' sequels.

Evison Matafale: 12 Years Later

Malawi’s controversial reggae maestro Evison Matafale died on November 27 in 2002. On Friday next week it will be exactly 12 years after he passed on to our ancestors.

Just like in his life, Matafale has lived up to his billing in death as an enigma that still leaves you with many unanswered questions.

Before he came on the musical scene, Malawians never took anyone playing reggae seriously. But when the Rasta musician came on the scene with his first Album KUIMBA 1 in 1998 people started paying attention.

Fate only allowed him a second album, Kuimba 2 that epitomized his Rasta mission and whose voluminous potency each and every single Malawian talked about, and to rightly cap it, he did it with a band he called The Black Missionaries.

Now all you need to do is patronise any Black Missionaries show and you will appreciate the kind of influence that Matafale left behind. His legacy still remains unparalleled because when his music is still played everyone stops a bit, to pay attention. 

So far, Matafale is the only musician in Malawi to achieve a considerable stature by using a type of reggae whose fibrous lyrical content and vocal output has been so appearing to any normal conscience.

His mysterious death in the wee hours of Nov 27 2002 at the age of 33 found that he had established himself already as a fastidious equal rights fighter, who like another Jamaican reggae legend Peter Tosh, had a personality and songs whose lyrical contents carried unquenchable sense of fury, cynicism, irony and of both a poetic and direct nature.

Like before on the very pages, I still say that Malawi government claims Matafale died of natural causes, when he passed on to our progenitors while under the police custody; He was arrested for penning down a letter to the then state President Bakili Muluzi which the government described treasonous, defamatory and a tirade.

Popular pressure left government no space and the president was forced to institute investigations, which were to be carried out by a Human Rights Commission besides another presidential commission.

Strangely, five months later, the two commissions came out with two identical reports, claiming Matafale died a natural death despite the fact that the autopsy showed he was badly beaten and clubbed while in police custody.

The pathologist described his death as having been caused by ‘traumatic injuries’. One of the then famous local Newspaper columnists the late JIKA NKOLOKOSA described the out-come of both inquiries as having been concluded from a bizarre logic.

The columnist wrote in one of his Malawi News column and I quote. “Both inquiries concluded that he (Matafale) died of natural causes. In short, Matafale was ill when the police arrested him and anything they did to him in custody could not be blamed for his death; he was ill and was going to die anyway.

On the strength of this bizarre logic, the police cannot be held responsible for Matafale’s death. Consequently, nobody should take the rap of his death.” End of quote.

The dust seem to have settled, in the hearts of the masses, a belief still lingers, rumour is still milling that the government killed Matafale, but clouded and in the process hidden the truth, which 12 years down the road is yet to be unveiled.

To prove that he had more than a musical and spiritual prodigy Matafale, released a track just five day after the 11^th September American ferocious disaster in which he described it as fulfilment of the prophecy. He called this track ‘TIME MARK’.

In his ‘Time Mark’ he refers to the terrorists as a ‘Whip’ used by God to punish the world. And there is no way a whip can claim victory and overtake the authority of the one using it.

In part the ‘Time Mark’ goes; “It’s everybody’s concern, just by the name of building World Trade centre; more over who will tell me, which Nation on earth does not have its people in America.

Now hear Rasta word, despise it buy hey! Devine piece of advice, This mysterious fall was long dreamt already by King Nebuchadnezzar and I am Rasta Daniel, And I am only here to finish up the revelation, The World of Today, Made up of Iron and Clay, this Kingdom is never to last.”

Commenting on the radio chart show regarding the abundance of his talents and composing skills, Matafale played it modesty again, saying he never sat down and composed songs but believed God just used to give him, he said it was the reason he never denied when people called him a prophet.

“This talent is God’s work…I do not think I sit down and compose music, I just receive it, as of now I’ve got too much of it to sing…” he seemed wrongly envisioning before recollecting it prophetically “If God gives me this lot of work, yet the world system is to record an album, may be ten songs every year; that’s why we say Rasta will live forever, because we shall always sing this music which God want us to sing; even in the new kingdom we gonna be singing.”

Now for twelve years Matafale is still singing in Zion.

Kenyatta Hill, the True Musical Son

When you listen to the album, ‘Live On: Tribute to Culture’ by the son of the legendary Jamaican reggae outfit’s front man Joseph ‘Culture’ Hill you realise how a true musical son he is to his father.

I really do not know if his situation can be compared to the other sons that took over from their fathers, like the Black Missionaries back home, for example, but in the case of Kenyatta Hill one would really be tempted to believe what is written on the website called http://www.fastlaneintl.com/khill_live_on.htm  that his career began the day his father’s ended.

Kenyatta’s dad, Joseph, who was the front man and songwriter for the Jamaican vocal trio, Culture. He collapsed and died while on a 2006 tour of Europe. The website notes that to the amazement of promoters, fans and critics alike, Kenyatta stepped onstage and delivered electrifying performances time and again - nineteen shows in all - until the tour was complete. And this was unheard of in any genre of music at any time, it states.

“Kenyatta gave of himself so totally – as his father had for so many years – that the two seemed to become one, the eerily similar voices and the vibes igniting the critics and yielding a new reggae mantra ‘magic, not tragic!’” the website reports.

As if what he displayed with the remaining shows of his father was not enough, at the Ranny Williams Centre in Kingston, Jamaica, at the memorial concert for Joseph, the website states that Kenyatta’s performance with Culture was the highlight in the star-studded night and garnered him the rousing applause of the hard-to-please Kingston reggae audience. It further notes that Kenyatta went on to front Culture in a series of performances in the US, Caribbean, Brazil, Argentina and Peru, again leaving audiences amazed and delighted.

The coming on the scene by the young Hill is said to be influenced by elements of dancehall grounded in the roots tradition and motivated to carry on his father’s work. Kenyatta set to writing, finishing songs that Joseph had started and creating new music of his own.

“On his poignant debut single, “Daddy”, (Tafari Records) backed by a masterful roster of musicians, including Sly Dunbar and Dean Fraser, and produced by Lynford “Fatta” Marshall, he confronted the emotional pain and uncertainty he felt after the loss of his father. He cried while he wrote, just as audiences in Europe had cried while he sang,” the website states.

I am getting all that the website wrote because it truly expresses what I wanted to say about Kenyatta having listened to his album this week. The website marks ‘Pass the Torch’ as the complete CD having “a collector’s item feel” which was released in 2007 to long-time Culture fans and critics who have embraced the son, named after Jomo Kenyatta, the first President of Kenya.

“With its very lovely and high level vibe Kenyatta Hill’s first CD prompted one long-time Culture fan to proclaim, ‘Culture is ALIVE’,” states the website matter-of-factly.

The website says indeed Culture, featuring Kenyatta, continues to share the wisdom of Joseph’s conscious reggae, overlaid with Kenyatta’s own lively and youthful musical vision. Kenyatta toured in support of ‘Pass the Torch’ with a number of festival appearances throughout 2009 as well as a highly successful US tour with Beres Hammond in 2009 and 2010.

It was after these tours that in 2011 he released ‘Live On’, a highly-acclaimed tribute to the music of Joseph Hill and Culture with Kenyatta performing fresh renditions of some of their classic compositions. 2011 also saw Kenyatta Hill on tour with a hot new band and expands his musical horizons beyond his formidable roots.

Of course, the father is always the father, but listening to ‘Live On’ one cannot help it but realise that indeed the father, Joseph Hill, is still alive in the son, Kenyatta Hill.

One big question back home would then be: is it the same with the living sons? Is Robert Fumulani still alive in the persons of Anjiru and Chizondi?