AB Deevado in 17th service mission
By Iwell Thawi, contributor:
Reggae musician AB Deevado, real name Andrew Bishop Mkandawire, is set to release his fourth album titled Do It Right this year, which is part of what he dubs his 17th service mission.
He comes into the limelight after a six-year silence. He released the last album Breakthrough Suffocation in 2016.
Mkandawire said his 17th service is a mission in which he is disseminating the message of doing things the right way through music.
The artist has already released three songs off his forthcoming 12-track project.
“This is a step in the right direction because I have used a live band to produce the three songs,” he said.
The three songs are ‘Zidze Zozama’, ‘Reborn in Covid’ and ‘Undikonde’.
“I am working on a video of ‘Zidze Zozama’ and I should have it ready by next month,” Mkandawire said.
In the song ‘Zidze Zozama,’ Mkandawire seeks to empower youths not to rely heavily on religious and political leaders to change their fortunes.
“These leaders have let the youth down with their unfulfilled promises. As youths, we should rise up and take these leaders to task, hold them accountable and engage them in finding solutions to challenges affecting the youths,” he said.
Mkandawire, whose songs mostly delve into revolutionary messages, said, unlike the past three albums which carried all English songs, the current album will have a mixture of English and Chichewa songs.
He further said that he engaged Fresh Art Band, which is mostly hired by international artists when they come to perform in Malawi.
“I also engaged Shadreck Kalukusha as sound engineer and the recording has been done live at Sound Addicts Studios,” he said.
Mkandawire, however, said his music journey has not been that smooth as he used to take it as part time due to education commitments.
“I am now into it seriously and my focus is way high because I am doing music which is not only targeting the Malawi market but the international platform,” he said.
