Malawi artists in the chase for international recognition

Malawi dances to their resounding rhythm, and now let the world have a taste of local flavours to the brim as local urban artists have overcome border barriers through international music collaborations.

Lately, heavyweights in Malawi music have combined powers with other renowned international artists, a development with absolute potential of elevating the country’s creative industry to greater heights. International collaborations are not alien to Malawi, they have happened before but they had minimal impact on the consumers.

Speak of afro-urban music; Dan Lu did two songs with the cream of Nigerian music, Mr Flavour and Kcee. In hip-hop, Tay-Grin has been branded man of the moment with his Chipapa hit which includes services of another Nigerian award winning 2baba also known as 2Face while Third Eye was involved in a major international project.

For those who embrace the Dancehall genre, Malinga Mafia has always been representing, he worked with Jamaican artists and producers in another masterpiece.

The other two sons of Malawi, BFB and Blasto have been involved in another superhot project; they have recently worked with South African legendary rapper, HHP in a track titled Pasopa. An improvement in music production is the secret towards good quality local music; Malawi can now boast of a myriad of skilful record producers. In this respect, artists get a headache as to which producer to work with due to their abundance.

In an interview with Malawi24, Blantyre based music producer, Patrick Manyozo who is popularly known as Tricky Beats, said that Malawi music is convincingly progressing.

Manyozo falls in the golden generation of local producers whose remarkable contributions are a recipe for an improved Malawi music industry. International artists have also been propelled to work with local Emcees because of quality of Malawi music. In a separate interview with this publication yesterday, Yesaya Nkhwazi another renowned audio producer commended Malawian artists for a good job. He said:

“It’s great international artists are recognising the talent that has been bestowed upon Malawi. These collaborations are really good for our industry and help to grow the support beyond boarders.” Yesaya who is also a rapper has advised local artists to continue producing quality music since the future of Malawi music lies in making great music because if something is great it will be appreciated.

Malawians pray for international awards which they believe can be achieved through international collaborations.

For nearly a decade, Nigeria and South Africa have been dominating in continental awards.