Madalitso Band
Musakayike
Bongo Joe Records
2022
Forget The White Stripes and their Seven Nation Army, and lock into the two-man musical army that is the Madalitso Band from Malawi; you will not be disappointed.
Initially, the duo busked the streets of Mtandire, a slum in the country’s capital Lilongwe, between holding down regular jobs as gardener and watchman and were discovered, by chance, by a local producer. Ten years of hard graft followed, during which time recognition of their talents grew exponentially, resulting in appearances outside their native country. Fungo La Nyemba, an album available for purchase only at their live concerts, was produced, and in 2019 Wasala was released on Les Disques Bongo Joe label. It is to this increasingly influential Geneva-based label that the band return for their latest release, Musakayike.
The eight tracks on the album, the title of which translates as “do not doubt us”, are high-energy and infectious in the extreme, although, somewhat paradoxically, the subject matter is often commenting upon the harshness of daily life in what is one of the world’s poorest countries, alongside thoughts on love, romance and success. The duo comprises Yosefe Kalekeni, on four-string guitar (acting as a Malawi banjo), and a cowskin foot-drum which is thumped with the heel, and Yobu Malingwa, who plays babatone, a home-made one-string slide bass. Both artists provide vocals.
With the guitar holding tight to the rhythm, lead singer Yobu’s long-necked babatone serves as both bottom end and lead. This “Malawi banjo music” is derived from South-African rhythms and exemplified by other artists such as the imperious Kachamba Brothers in the late 1960/1970s, and more recently Mouse Boys, Tonga Boys and Gasper Mali, certainly owes a nod of debt to South African Kwela and jive music.
Having toured extensively in Europe, the Roskilde Festival, Womex and Womad, for example, and having featured on BBC’s Global Beats, this release sees their extended live renditions fine-tuned and trimmed back but still retaining the zestful zip and spontaneity which is their hallmark.
The blisteringly hot pace is set from the opening track Ali Nadi Vuto, as the Madalitsos burst from their blocks with a somewhat autobiographical track in which Yobu laments the fact that whether you are rich, perhaps implying the international tours, or poor, the street busking, people will find fault with both. With a guitar sound of which Buddy Holly would have been proud and uplifting call-and-response figures replete with delicious harmonies, this song will immediately bring the summer into your listening world.
Chikondi Sichiona Nkhope, which means “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, presents an infectious groove with its frenetic opening string sounds and steady, relentless, thudding kick-drum beat; Yobu here implores his lady to return to his village to meet his parents.
Thanks to the translated lyrics provided in the sleeve notes, it is clear that the subjects of romance, love and relationships permeate the album. On the title track, Musakayike, the narrator asks the girl not to doubt him, that it could be his lucky day, and in response to her question, yes, he is poor, however
“Marriage is not about riches
It is about love”,
whilst on Diya, again an invocation of the love between two people admired by others, the voices of Yobu and Yesefe complement each other to perfection over a sound that has, at the risk of lazy comparisons, a distinctive Soweto feel.
A similar sound is evoked on Wandiputa Dala, the only track on which Yesefe is credited with lead vocals. Over the vibrant playing, with entrancing slide effects, the lyrics, which refer to the provocation of bees in their nest and their resultant actions, might be interpreted as a metaphor for wider issues.
That the duo are unafraid to express social concerns in their work is also exemplified in Mwandikumbutsa. A truly wonderful track featuring incredibly deep basso profundo vocals and a great, catchy chorus, perhaps inexplicably, to these ears, Ronnie Lane’s Kuschty Rye sprung to mind; the feel generated is somewhat incongruous to the subject matter. The lyrics lament times gone by when folk lived in harmony as compared to today when
“Children are learning bad things
Forgetting that justice is the way”,
with people rebelling and killing each other for no reason.
The pair return to the theme of love in the penultimate track Mwaza, a song of epic proportions. The call-and-response sections are, once again, stunning, and the track’s tempo defies speed limits. Orchestral in scope, the sounds of the syncopated rhythms generated from such a limited range of instruments are nothing short of incredible.
There is no letting up on the final offering either. Jingo Janga (Skipping Rope Dance), the song long-used as the duo’s live encore, sees the high-velocity tempo continue unabated in a final joyful celebration of music at its inspirational best.
Considered the true musical prophets in Malawi, Madalitso Band’s Musakayike makes for compulsive listening, guaranteed to brighten up the dullest of times. Surely only those with a happiness-bypass could fail to enjoy such intoxicatingly accomplished and compelling music? With sounds as joyous as these, there is certainly no reason to doubt them.
Musakayike is released on 17th June 2022 via Bongo Joe
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://madalitsoband.bandcamp.com/album/musakayike