Date Of Article: 3/27/2003
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Mwanyama rediscovers himself
By: Jack McBrams
The last time most readers heard the name Wilfred Mwanyama was probably a couple of years ago when he was featured in Lucius Banda’s Ngodya, Following Jah and Tibo Tibo songs which featured in Banda’s album Following Jah. Not much was heard about the chap, until recently when there were scattered reports about him cutting an album of his own. In an interview early this week, Mwanyama said he has almost abandoned his traditional ragga lines to concentrate on an attempt to create a “new and juicy genre”. “I want to come up with my own genre which is a fusion of rhumba and modern tunes and it sounds like Mozambican zouk,” he said. “It is different from what I have done before because I want to do something which is unique and which people should be able to identify me with. There are too many musicians doing ragga and reggae so I want to create my own identity.” Mwanyama disclosed that the other choice for shifting from ragga to zouk is because he is targeting a certain older audience that buys music. “The problem with the other music genres is that the people who listen to it do not buy music, they just listen and it ends there,” he said. Recorded at Rhem Studios in Blantyre, the album Nzimene Mmatiitanira? is a compilation of the Mozambican zouk, dancehall reggae and a fusion of rhumba and Malawian traditional genres. Popularly known as Wilda Knox, Mwanyama is managed by his brother Lovemore, himself a music promoter and former manager for Mlaka Maliro. The 23-year-old Mwanyama said he started singing a long time ago but got exposure after being featured in Banda’s album. Mwanyama explained that Banda spotted him when, as a kid, he used to mimic some popular music. “Lucius then used to invite me on stage when playing and then he seemed impressed and invited me to record with him,” he said. Chimwana Changa, Ndimakukonda and the title track are steadily rising on the music charts of both MBC Radio 2 and FM 101. He said the album should be out during the third week of April.
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