Chechamba celebrated
Legendary musician Wyndham Chechamba will live on, and thanks to his enormous contribution to the creative industry in the country.
Chechamba, who died on August 27 2021, taught several artists music at Chechamba Music School in Blantyre and his works shined brighter on Thursday during Sounds of Malawi Acoustic Session at Jacaranda Cultural Centre through his sons – Ermine and Richard Jr.
Sounds of Malawi, which returned to the fold last week after a break due to Covid, decided to celebrate the life of Chechamba, who also had a stint at the platform when he was alive.
With Ermine on keyboard and Richard on bass and another member on drums, the audience was reminded of Chechamba’s exploits through their performance.
Leading the three-act band that closed the curtain on the night, Ermine spoke like his father and his singing was like that of his father.
“We miss him but we are thankful that Jacaranda Cultural Centre thought of organising this event to celebrate him. He loved music and he wanted to do more,” Ermine said.
Their set opened with an anthem which their father used to love and it was all instrumental.
“This anthem tells you of the man who loved classical music, he wanted to put together an orchestra and record some songs but his dream of doing this failed because of lack of support and we are ready to do it and we call upon well-wishers to help us,” he said.
Chechamba was talented played several brass instruments and Ermine showed this when he shifted from playing the keyboard in one song and moved to playing the acoustic guitar.
Having opened with an instrumental, they then moved to two other songs that their father used to perform and these were ‘Amayi ndi Atate’ and ‘Napolo’, a popular track that has been redone by many artists.
“The beauty about our father is that he wrote all his songs and one can read them and, so, we are looking at raising Chechamba School but we can’t do it alone; we need support but we can assure the nation that we are ready,” Richard said.
Chechamba worked and played with other acts and they included Keturah, who took time out during the session to offer a track titled ‘Linda’, which talks about a girl child.
There were also performances from Code Sangala and The Tribe Band, Agorosso and Waliko Makhala and Jalawe Band.
Code has been at the helm of Sounds of Malawi since it started two years ago hosting it but now he has bowed out, leaving it to Waliko.
The former Big Brother Africa (BBA) representative has since left for United States of America (USA). He left on Saturday.
“I am not going there for good. It’s just that I have two homes, here and in United States of America where my wife comes from. So, I am just going there briefly and so I had to recommend Waliko for the running of Sounds of Malawi,” he said.
Code, who in his performance included a track ‘Achimwene Muzigona Kunyumba’ by Paul Banda, said it was good to celebrate the life of Chechamba, who trained lots of musicians.
JCC Director Luc Deschamps handed over some books to Code at the end and hailed him for building Sounds of Malawi to where it is today.
