Flood Church in Blantyre on Monday, which was a Martyrs’ Day holiday, turned into heaven on earth as musicians, led by Sam Mjura Mkandawire, took the audience on a-close-to-five-hours praise and worship session.
It rained cats and dogs ahead of the free-of-charge praise and worship session, dubbed The Gratitude Worship Concert, but this did not keep people away from patronising the event, which spilled over to the evening— having started in the afternoon.
There was also a derby involving Bullets legends and Nomads legends at Kamuzu Stadium, a few kilometres from Flood Church, but the concert pulled its own numbers that relished the praise and worship session from start to finish.
It was a praise and worship session that saw Mkandawire, the winner of the Airtel Trace Music Star contest, and friends interact with the audience throughout, with patrons singing along to most of the praise and worship songs that were served.
The day also turned out to be special for Mkandawire, who was celebrating his birthday, and, at the very end of the concert, his backing team sang a ‘happy birthday’ song for him.
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“Being my birthday, the concert was all about showing gratitude to the Lord for the gift of life and this is why we also made it free of charge,” he said.
Mkandawire, who journeyed all the way from Lilongwe with his team, hailed patrons for showing up for the concert.
“There were rains, but people still showed up. I am thankful,” he said.
Mkandawire said he was looking forward to holding more of such concerts.
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Most of the praise and worship songs that Mkandawire, who put up a strong backing team that included wife Chisomo Chimoto and Gabriel Simenti, served were known to the audience.
The band he assembled had talented instrumentalists, including Dalitso Mizaya on drums and Dan Khoviwa.
As the headliner, Mkandawire, who focused more on the singing rather than playing instruments— as he does at other shows— led the way, before inviting acts such as Simenti, who led in one song, and then Shyreen.
As if this was not enough, Mkandawire, who has starred with several top artists including Mtebeti Wambali Mkandawire, later introduced Paul Kachali, who raised the bar of the praise and worship session.
Armed with an acoustic guitar, the former Zathu Band member delivered a fine set and, backed by Mkandawire, people were drenched in the rains of praise and worship songs.
