Major 1 Records head-honcho, Gwamba, has revealed that he received a seven figure booking fee to perform at the Malawi’s Lilongwe Music Festival (LIFEST).
Gwamba’s assertion follows complaints by Martse who accused LIFEST of disrespect and George Kalulusha’s response to brush off complaints’ lodged by the Mwano and Mkwatimo hitmaker. Kalukusha tweeted that Malawian artists should be more concerned with the size of the cheque rather than fonts of their names on a poster.
In what many considered as a subtle response to both Martse and Kalulusha’s TWAR, Gwamba said he was issued a fatty cheque to brush his shoulders with Joeboy, Chris Martin and Shekhinah, headliners of the 2-day music festival than runs from Friday afternoon.
“I really never wanted to say this but I felt so disrespected when I saw this poster…. But I will give you your show…”, tweeted Martse, arguably one of the Malawi music gladiators.
I really never wanted to say this but I felt so disrespected when I saw this poster…. But I will give you your show… pic.twitter.com/E3Em0xVLbv
— MARTSE FOUNDATION (@martseMW) October 25, 2021
People inferred that Martse was disappointed with the size of the font of his name which is further down the headliners, on the third row – below artists like Gwamba, Suffix, Eli Njuchi, Sangie, Kim of Diamond, Malinga Mafia, Don Tarz, Kell Kay, Faith Mussa, Tay Grin and Namadingo.
But Martse insisted on a later tweet that he was not concerned with the font size. He is yet to reveal why he feels disrespected by the Lilongwe Music Festival Organisers.
However, Kalukusha, in an apparent dig at Martse, urged local artists to be more concerned with the “size of the cheques” that show organisers pay.
“Worry about the size of the cheques not the size of the fonts. What a sub par industry smh” tweeted Kalukusha.
Worry about the size of the cheques not the size of the fonts. What a sub par industry smh.
— George Kalukusha (@GeorgeKalukusha) October 25, 2021
Kalukusha is a line above Martse on the poster.
Malawi24 understands that Martse clapped back at Kalukusha privately with a call full of unpublishable expretives.
Ironically, Gwamba who is on the fourth’ pew below Faith Mussa but at par with Sangie, Eli Njuchi and Suffix said he smiled all the way to the bank with a six figure cheque.
“I’m getting paid 7 figures to perform at that show. I got my 50% and I signed a contract. I will go the show and give it my best, get my balance and go home. Plus, it’s for a great cause. That’s what matters to me” tweeted Gwamba who is signed to Prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s Major 1 Records.
Ndipo in other news, I’m getting paid 7 figures to perform at that show. I got my 50% and I signed a contract. I will go the show and give it my best, get my balance and go home. Plus, it’s for a great cause. That’s what matters to me. See you at the show 🤞🏿🤞🏿 Let’s have fun 🤞🏿
— Gwamba 🇲🇼 (@GwambaOfficial) October 25, 2021
While Gwamba did not mention Lifest as the show that paid him an amount ranging between K1 million and a one tambala short of ten million (K9,999,999.99), LifEST indicated on its poster that the festival also aims to help fight against gender based violence and raise mental health awareness.
Gwamba, who had previously beefed with Martse, is two rows above Martse and commands a relatively bigger font than the Adidas hitmaker.
Meanwhile, other tweeps claimed that some artists are in money laundering business to concern themselves with font size of their names on a poster. However, the person who made the allegations did not specify whether such artists appear on the Lifest lineup.
“Madolo akumenya Money Laundering nde mapaka aziganiza za font?”, tweeted Khonfucius.
Madolo akumenya Money Laundering nde mapaka aziganiza za font?
— Linga (@Khonfucius) October 25, 2021
