Malala seeks to advance music development
Blantyre –based musician and teacher James Kuchilala popularly known as Malala has started a Raise My Profile project that wants to impart music education knowledge to the youths.
Malala, who studied music at University of Malawi’s– Chancellor College and currently teaches at Blantyre Secondary School said he thought of creating the Raise My Profile project after noticing a very big gap as far as music education is concerned.
He said through the project, he wants to provide a conducive environment for youths to discover and develop their musical skills to improve their socio-economic status.
The musician said the idea to create the project came to his mind after attending the World Cultures Connect Creative and Business Skills for Artists training in Lilongwe.
“While listening to presentations from Q Malewezi and Will Jameson of Lake of Stars, I eas inspired to challenge myself by coming up with a project that would bring a considerable change in the youths,” said Malala.
Some quarters have complained that many of the graduates who have pursued music education end up taking other jobs.
“I have always believed that music is one enterprise that has the possibility of earning a country millions and raising people’s living standards if well managed.
Proper training in various areas of the industry is very essential for promotion of the art so I want to take up a leading role,” he said.
Malala said the country lags behind when it comes to formal music training.
“Very few people have the privilege of getting formal training from Chancellor College in Zomba and Music Crossroads Academy in Lilongwe and yet the market is being flooded by young people seeking to make a name for themselves,” said the singer and guitarist.
He said the project will involve training potential musicians on various aspects of the industry, ranging from music instruments to how to manage themselves as artists.
“There is a lot that needs to be done as far as music education is concerned. I want to train youths into taking music as a profession, not just a part-time thing,” he said.
Malala said with the job market being flooded by desperate job seekers, the project wants to change the mindset of some youths with potential in the art but are always pushing to get a white-collar job.
“The name itself has been derived from the profile idea on the social network Facebook. I discovered that most of the youths who are unemployed or just drop out of school write on their profiles something they are not and will never be,” he said.
Malala said currently, the project will be using some instruments borrowed from the Music Development Centre for a start, with Johan Vanhoutte, a retired Belgian music teacher and founder of the Development Centre assisting in the lesson and talks.
He said the first phase of the project would be guitar playing lessons that would be offered to students during holiday.
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