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| Entertainment |
| 2005 was a bad year, say musicians |
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by
Nation Reporter, 30 December 2005
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06:25:15
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The past year was a bad one for the music industry. According to leading musicians, the hunger situation of last year also aggravated the situation, as people did not have disposable incomes to either attend live shows or buy music cassettes.
However, the year proved to yield positive results for individual musicians.
Mlaka Maliro, who released his fifth album Gologolo Pamtengo within the year, noted that there were a lot of problems within the year for the industry.
“For instance, we had problems with advertising our shows — there are a lot of radio stations in the country now and so for you to properly communicate a show, you need to spend quite a fortune. Added to that, adverts have become expensive,” he said.
He added: “And because of the hunger situation, the response from the audience was lukewarm. Also, towards the end of the year, the MRA had introduced a system where they wanted to deduct 20 percent from our collections during performances—this scared a lot of us and we actually stopped performing altogether, waiting to see how the situation would unfold.”
That aside, Mlaka explained that as a individual performer, the year 2005 yielded positive things for him.
“On my part, 2005 was a good year, in fact, the best year for me since I started singing. A lot of things have happened for me. In the past, we used to hire music equipment and transport but this year I have managed to buy our own equipment and a three tonne truck. These acquisitions have helped me to settle down and establish myself,” he said.
Lucius Banda, who probably made more news than any entertainer during the course of the year after he was arrested for allegedly presenting a fake certificate to the Malawi Electoral Commission, noted that the coming in of young artists in the industry are some of the major highs of the year.
“One thing of interest was the coming in of young artists like [Thomas] Chibade, Collins Bandawe and also Grace Chinga Moffat. These artists really impressed me and this is the reason why I have liked this year a lot,” he said.
As an individual, Lucius said he is happy with his efforts during the year, although he feels he could have done better.
“As a musician, I am very proud of the album that I released this year [Enemy]. After 10 albums, for the first time, I came out with an album that was worked on for over two years,” he said, adding: “Of course, I regret that I didn’t give music much attention this year. My promise for next year is that people should expect more from me. There will be less politics because I want me and my band to be stronger and more professional,” he said.
On his part, Ben Michael, who won the Kuche Kuche Music Awards for the record five times in the year 2005, noted that things are getting worse for the industry.
“In terms of music, things are getting worse because music is not selling — maybe it is because of piracy or the fact that they are too many musicians. Honestly, things are getting worse musically,” he said.
Michael also expressed disappointment that some major bands pulled out of the Kuche Kuche Music competition this year, therefore leaving him with hardly any competition.
“In terms of the competition, most of the bands that I really expected to compete against, like Mabingu and Ravers band, pulled out, so there was no competition,” he said.
He further decried lack of government support.
“Government support is still nil but they want to start deducting 20 percent from our live performances. On top of that, MBC has not been paying our royalties for many years,” he said.
Michael disclosed that there are some major changes for him for the year 2006.
“Next year, I will simply be known as Mankhamba, which is my reason surname. So no more Ben Michael, just Mankhamba because I am going back to my roots,” he said.
He added: “I also want to start helping young artists with fine tuning their stage performances, I have the equipment at home and if anyone is willing to sponsor the initiative, the better,” he said.
Joseph Tembo, who made a landmark performance alongside Zimbabwean great Oliver Mtukudzi in a Celtel-sponsored show at the French Cultural Centre in Blantyre, said 2005 was a good year for him.
“Honestly speaking, 2005 has been a good year for me — there was the performance with Mtukudzi among other things. We also has successful shows with Embassy,” he said, but added that the big picture is not so rosy to look at.
“We had problems with the way music was sold on the market as only a few individuals managed to sell their music. This could have been so because of the hunger crisis, I think people did not have enough money to spare on luxuries like music,” he said.
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