Mafilika, Zimbabwean artist to perform in Blantyre, Lilongwe

Tom Sangala July 30, 2015

494 1 minute read

Lilongwe-based group Mafilika, which has made strides performing in several places outside the country, comes down to Blantyre after a long time performing at Mibawa Café in Blantyre on Friday where they will share the stage with Zimbabwean artist Melusi Khumalo.

Mafilika, which recently performed in China and has performed with several artists including The Very Best made up of Malawi’s Esau Mwamwaya and Swedish Johan Hugo will be performing in Blantyre in a concert that is expected to offer people classical jazz, rock and reggae.

However, the concert is expected to clash with the l aunch of Bl a c k Missionaries’ Kuimba 10 album at Robin’s Park in Blantyre on the same night.

But the group’s lead guitarist Ernest Ikwanga said they learnt about Black Missionaries launch very late having already organised their concert longtime ago.

“We arranged this show longtime ago and we only learnt about Black Missionaries launch on Monday. But all the same this is not a competition, Black Missionaries are our brothers and our drummer Amos Mlolowah has produced Kuimba 10. This show is special; we will only perform for three hours and then after that go to support our colleagues Blac k Missionaries. So after watching our performance, people will have a chance of going to watch the launch of Kuimba 10,” he said.

Ikwanga said this show is special in that they have taken time without performing in Blantyre and that it will also be a chance for people to watch the Zimbabwean artist, who he described as a talented musician and that they play similar type of music focusing much of their attention on jazz.

“We performed in China recently and last year we performed in Scotland which has given us more experience and so we want people to experience something new through this concert,” said the singer and guitarist.

Khumalo said he has always taken Malawi as his second home and that to perform in the country with Mafilika would give him a chance to promote his second album Reflections.

“I met Mafilika in 2010 in Lilongwe and from there we clicked and what brought us together is the love for Jesus Christ. We started performing together and I am happy that we will be performing together in Blantyre for the first time and can’t wait to get on stage,” said the singer and guitarist, who made a name having released his debut album titled Uthando.

Ikwanga said as Mafilika they will offer a good sound starting with his performance as he also has an album titled Yenda before offering the group’s songs. The other members of Mafilika include Sam Mjura Mkandawire, and Ephraim Chambota.