I still want to do more
Musician Piksy is one of the artists in the country, who makes his bread and butter through art – music to be particular.
The Blantyre-based musician has walked a long path to be where he is today and the artist continues with his exploits but despite all his achievements in music, Piksy still believes he needs to push and do more especially putting Malawi on the international stage.
For Piksy, the country still needs to produce artists that can take the international stage head on and be part of the different international events and reach out to the world.
Recently the country’s renowned South Africa-based actor Eugene Khumbanyiwa, expressed concern with Malawi not having any representation during a concert for a cause involving top African artists.
Once again, the line-up of artists on the concert was dominated by musicians from West Africa with a few from Southern Africa.
Piksy maintains that there is great talent in the country and that there was need to work extra hard to have this talent shine on the international stage.
“Though I have achieved a lot, I still feel like I am not where I want to be and I am working towards that. To be recognized by other countries not just Malawi and Zambia or neighbouring countries. My dream is to invest in a song that will sound Malawian so that I can be able to sell it outside,” Piksy said.
Musician Erik Paliani also said recently that the country has more to offer to the world but it needs to continue being creative and utilise its culture to stand out.
Piksy said he was targeting releasing more songs this year although this year has been hard for the creative industry.
“It’s been hard with Covid-19 pandemic but this has also challenged musicians to be creative and also think of other ways of making money. I did also say recently that as musicians, we make a lot of money at times, we need to start investing it so as to avoid experiencing challenges especially when some things come up just as has been the case with the pandemic,” he said.
The ‘Unamata’ star continues to impress with his music and some of his compositions have clearly shown that he takes time when stitching his songs.
“Composing a song is not that easy but for me I take it as a gift from God and hence it’s easier for me to compose but it also depends on the concept. But I am just thankful to God for this gift but the only challenge that gives me problems always is the concept,” he said.
Named Artist of the Decade in 2019, Piksy has made strides in music and build his name as a solo artist and today he has three albums.
“I also plan to release a joint album with Sangie which will come out later this year. I will keep working hard and mostly importantly I encourage up and coming musicians that they should be focused and build from what they have on the ground,” he said.
Piksy has also risen to become the UNFPA Ambassador and this for him is an honour.
“UNFPA actually gave me a task to uplift a young rapper by the name of Taqwa, who I featured in my ‘Tizathana ndi Corona’ song. The project delayed because of the pandemic,” he said.
The youthful artist, who last year decided to show the world that he was making inroads in the music game by establishing a water business, has albums namely Maso which he released in 2012, Mthunzi in 2014 and then one compilation of his singles that came out in 2018.
“I just call the third album as Singles Collection and I am currently working on my fourth album Mtunda. This album has delayed because I want to make a masterpiece and I also want to include some international collaborations,” he said.
Born in Ntcheu District with both parents from the district, Piksy’s parents used to transfer a lot such that he has been to a number of districts in the country.
“This also means that I have been to several schools in the country both primary and secondary and this also applies to tertiary. I actually did accounting at Malawi College of Accountancy in Blantyre and I almost became a chartered accountant. I only stopped because the school and examination fees were too high,” Piksy said.
Before going into full time as regards music, Piksy worked with three institutions but it was at Charles Stewart where he worked for some years.
“When I was at Malawi College of Accountancy, nobody knew me as an artist because I was concentrating on school. I was doing music with Nthumwi Nicodemo at that time but I made sure that no-one in my class connected me to that because it would have disturbed my studies,” Piksy real name Evans Zangazanga, said.
According to Piksy, after one album Machitidwe A Atumwi Sendeza Analysis,his colleague Nthumwi Nikodemo told him that he had resigned from active music and that he wanted to concentrate on work at MIJ FM.
“I repeated his decision and I followed suit. I concentrated on my work as an accountant but still could produce some music at my place and sometimes at Guns Records with Chris Chintali. Songs recorded that time came out and one of them is ‘Moto’. I also did some songs with the ‘Sendeza’ producer Thocco Phiri and one of the songs being ‘Otinyoza’,” he said.
But Piksy was not active until Nd’efeyo Entertainment approached him to jump on a song with their new catch then Maskal and together they collaborated in the track ‘Wa CV’ in 2009.
“Maskal had a lot of shows and fans were requesting my presence because ‘Wa CV’ became a very big hit in that year. So, ‘Wa CV’ to some extend brought me back to active music and then Nd’efeyo signed me as their artist,” he recalls.
In 2010, Piksy went on to release ‘Unamata’ which became a hit and the success of the track was followed by his being signed by Airtel Malawi as their brand ambassador.
“This is why when I look back, I say God has been faithful. Music is a career worth pursuing and the country needs to support the creative industry. I did a couple of successful projects with Airtel Malawi such as ‘Yabooka’ and ‘Timaitha’, just to mention a few,” he said.
It was during this time that Piksy quit his job to concentrate on music.
“I decided to quit my job and concentrate on being an artist. It worked for me despite doubts from my parents. The name Piksy became a household name and I went on to win awards including being nominated in top awards such as Kora,” he said.
Over the years, Piksy has also collaborated with several musicians and he continues to do so.
