Nkasa’s musical confusion

Joseph Nkasa, the touted wordsmith is a unique musician on the local scene for more than one reason.

Like a bee to a flower, politicians have always been attracted to him. But politicians being what they are only use him for a particular purpose and once that has been achieved they tend to leave him waiting for unfulfilled promise. 

They behave like bees indeed, once they get the nectar from an attractive flower, and then it’s a done deal.

Former President Bakili Muluzi got attracted with his fame and as he had successfully done with Lucius Banda, he wanted to rope in Joseph Nkasa to be in his hero worshiping team. He started by promising to buy Nkasa a vehicle.

Of course, the car never came and Nkasa composed the track ‘Anamva’ where he reminded the president about his promise.

Exit Muluzi enters Bingu wa Mutharika. The late Mutharika, according to Nkasa, promised to buy him a house due to ‘Mose wa Lero’ a track that indisputably helped Mutharika’s 2009 Presidential campaign.

Now if you look at all these happenings, one thing that is clear is that it was secular music that he used to touch base with personalities that were perched right there at the pinnacle of the country’s political authority. 

Now when Nkasa came on the musical scene he truly came as a gospel artist. I should start by saying that ever since he started in 1996 his career to date has been decorated with 18 albums.

If you look at his first 4 albums you will appreciate his initial gospel bearing. He started with ‘Satana Waponya’, ‘Messiah Alikubwera’, ‘Ndigwireni Dzanja Yehova’ and ‘Kutha Kwafika’.

Now FOUR gospel albums, one semi-gospel of course, never did any good to Nkasa’s name. And what does he do? He decided to jump ship and turn secular with the album ‘Kupupuluma’.

Now after soaring so high with secular music and even after making himself a name he thinks he can go back and start all over again in the gospel music arena.

It is the word of God that Nkasa now tries to use in order to get money from politicians.

Joseph Nkasa composed a song for former minister of agriculture, irrigation and water development George Chaponda to douse fires that threatened to burn his political career to the ground.

To keep you in the loop, Nkasa’s song intended to spruce up the image of Chaponda who had been embroidered in maize transactions that had bedevilled by claims of corruption.

In the song Nkasa equates Chaponda to Joseph, one of the 12 sons of the Biblical Isaac who became a defacto ruler in Egypt after being sold there by his brothers due to his closeness to their father.

He further claims that Chaponda is paying for his mercifulness to help the hunger-stricken and that people are trying to make him lose ‘his ministry’.

Nkasa declares in the song that the stones that have been thrown at Chaponda with will accumulate to his advantage as he will use it to build a house which will make him the landlord.

In all this the meaning is that Chaponda will use the ridicule currently peddled about his involvement in the maize saga to become the leader of this country.

It looks Nkasa is always on the lookout for any political developments to jump on the perceived opportunity and compose a song. His latest toils is a track called Absalom in which he is attacking Vice President Saulos Chilima for trying to usurp the position of President Peter Mutharika and contest for presidency using a Democratic Progressive Party ticket.

When he did Mose wa Lero for Bingu he claimed never to have received ‘enough’ money with the hit single. But this remains disputable because he has now gone to bed with different politicians for the sake of money.

Nkasa composed a song for the then parliamentary Speaker Chimunthu Banda when he stood for DPP Presidency, but it emerged that it was not successful at all as Chimunthu tumbled miserably.

After the Chimunthu debacle he went into an agreement with PPM’s Mark Katsonga who allegedly paid K7 million for political songs, jingles and live performances all to discredit Joyce Banda government and prop up the name of PPM’s torch bearer.

While the effectiveness of this project had not even materialised, Nkasa joined the PP ranks and did a track for Joyce Banda whom he had discredited in the other tracks.

The JB track which was first heard on her Ufulu Radio and state owned MBC presents a litany of development achievements of the President and why she would be voted to retain power.

While I can neither accuse Nkasa for his lack of ethical sense nor the politicians for taking any routes to seek vain glory, one thing that is clearly standing out is that Joseph Nkasa does not believe in what he sings.

Following up on BEAM’s musical equipment

A couple of months ago, Malawi First Lady Gertrude Mutharika donated sets of musical instruments to University of Malawi's Chancellor College and five secondary schools in the country, namely; St Mary’s, Mary Mount, Marist, St Patricks Academy and Lilongwe Girls’.

The reason the China Africa Business Council (CABC) donated musical equipment worth $10m (K7.2billion) was to support young Malawian musicians to develop and nurture their talents.

This is according to CABC general secretary Erick Wang who made the announcement at a New York event on 25 September last year where Malawi’s first lady was present.

The other details are that the donation was made through the first lady’s Beautify Malawi Trust (BEAM) via Chinese youth initiative called Public Benefit International Challenge (PBIC) where young Chinese students mobilised resources for the acquisition of the equipment.

Where my contention is coming in is the choice made by BEAM on the recipients of these musical instruments. This is so when one considers observations made by the Malawi first lady that the donation will make a huge impact on young musicians.

I want us to look at the take of the two officials thus Mr Wang and Mrs Mutharika. Both said these instruments would go a long way to help young Malawian musicians.

Now, who in their right minds thought these young musicians can be found in these places? I think this was a misallocation.

I have argued before, and I am going to argue now that most of the young musicians that are really struggling to achieve something out of music are in our localities. Most of them completed their secondary school education  and are now making an effort to try their hands on music because they have talent but with no provisions of a place where they can nurture it.

Last time my argument was to include music in the programmes being offered under the technical entrepreneurial and vocational education training system.

I once argued that there has never been one single trade that has generated youthful interest in Malawi at any given time than what music has done. 

Unfortunately this interest is not at Chanco neither is it at those five secondary schools.

A lot of Bachelor of Arts students majoring in music from Chancellor College have nothing to show for it. They have taken a totally different route. Those that have made it big musically are self-taught and have no Chanco connection whatsoever.

Now upon realising that there is a musical donation coming from China, targeting young Malawi musicians, BEAM should have looked around and ensure that those that would really make something big out of this donation really do get them.

Yes, Chanco has students studying music but they are not musicians and they have proven to us over time that they do not become musicians. If you ask me, the effective music institution right now is the Karonga based Lusubilo Music school.

Yes, secondary schools have music as a subject which is not even examinable and it will be total fallacious to take learners there as young musicians of this country.

BEAM should not have gone further than enquiring who young musicians in this country are and how best they could be reached out by merely reaching out to the Musicians Union of Malawi (MUM).

Not sure if the status quo remains, but long time ago MUM – when it was an association – used to have regional offices with special spaces that had musical equipment where young musicians would go practice or learn.

Better still if BEAM was of the view that in following it up with MUM they won’t score any political point, then Mrs. Mutharika would sure have taken advantage of her husband’s rural community colleges concept.

It is in these communities where one would easily find young musicians. Like I have argued before, this is where an arrangement with those in the administration of courses being offered in these community colleges would be asked to come up with a course in music and made use of this donation.

With a huge hunger in the young musicians to perfect their acts, you will be surprised how beneficial this donation would have been.

But with what BEAM has decided to do with it, then it is as good as not having received any donation at all; it only massages our political egos without necessarily bringing out any positive musical results.