Black Missionaries, Lucius Banda to solve clash problem
Chileka based reggae group Black Missionaries and legendary musician Lucius Banda popularly known as Soldier have admitted that the clash of their concerts over the past three weeks including last Friday in Blantyre is not healthy for them as they both feed into the same audience.
The two giants who are crowd pullers have been clashing oflate holding concerts in the same city on the same day thereby dividing fans.
And on Friday the two music heavyweights performed in Blantyre with Black Missionaries at the opening of the Flamez of Fire Entertainment Centre in Chitawira while Soldier was at Mkango Lodge.
The Black Missionaries managed to pull a bigger audience while Soldier said the turnout was not that impressive.
He said the gig which pulled other acts from among others Lambanie Dube, Sam Simakweli and Nepman had the potential of attracting a bigger audience but it did not due to clash.
“Mkango show was not that good at all, the show had a potential but the same problem of clash of shows affected us,” said Soldier.
Last week Sunday the musician and his Zembani Band alongside Dube, Nepman and Simakweli, also performed at New Village House in Blantyre where the show also received a smaller audience having clashed with Black Missionaries show which took place at Afro Motel.
With several people complaining of this scenario which they say is dividing them, Soldier said there was a need for a change and revealed that he would be meeting the reggae group to control the situation.
Blacks’ lead vocalist Anjiru Fumulani also said that the situation was not healthy for their fans further adding that in the past they have always avoided performing in the same vicinity.
“This is not deliberate so to speak but sometimes it just happens but the situation is not good now because we clashed last week and this weekend again. These shows sometimes are not organised by us, this show at Flamez of Fire was organised long time ago and so we decided to honour it,” said Anjiru.
During the show which run all the way to the following day saw Black Missionaries performing for close to four hours in the absence of Anthony Makondetsa, who Anjiru said was down with malaria.
“We will see how we solve this problem otherwise its not healthy but as I said sometimes you have no choice but to honour the shows organised by our different clients and you realise late that you are clashing with another concert,” he said.
Anjiru said they were happy to perform and hoped that this is the beginning of more concerts at the venue.
“It’s a good venue and we hope more artists will be performing here. We do not have enough venues and so Flamez of Fire offers us another place for performances in Blantyre,” said the vocalist.
Random interviews with fans during the concert saw others heap praise on the proprietors of Flamez of Fire Entertainment Centre saying it is a good venue although some said more needs to be done to make it friendly.
During the show Black Missionaries once again shined with the hit ‘Tizingocheza,’ from their yet to be launched Kuimba 10 which was played several times by public demand.
The group revealed that they will launch Kuimba 10 at Robin’s Park in Blantyre on July 31 to be headlined by Lucius and Skeffa Chimoto before taking it to Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
Other artists who performed on the night include Khozie Masimbe, Toza Matafale, Yanjanani Chumbu and Moda Fumulani.
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