On a chilly Sunday afternoon in the commercial city of Blantyre, art lovers showed up to sample Kabula Diaries, a new stage of arty displays and dialogs at Chichiri Underground Cinema with renowned poet Q Malewezi the first performer.
For those who have in the past years patronised Chichiri Underground Cinema, the event led by Prince Chikweba and team, it reminded them of the movies on a big screen before the venue closed shop.
It was a unique event that kept the audience which included former minister and politician Aaron Sangala active as people got treated to an exclusive act by Q, who travelled all the way from the capital city Lilongwe to Blantyre which is also known as Kabula hence Kabula Diaries.
Q who is also a producer, was impressive on the afternoon with his thought provoking poetry that touched on a number of issues in society including love.
Backed by former Zathu Band member Paul Kachala, Maggie Kadrum and Titus Mizaya, the stage saw the beautiful and powerful connection between poetry and music.
Mizaya showed his abilities on the percussions whereas Kachala moved souls with his vocals as well as his playing of the keyboard and guitar with Maggie Kadrum also showcasing her skills on the bass guitar and vocals and even had time to dish out the title track of her debut album Nkhwiza, which she released last year.
Q’s poetry resonated well with the audience with most of the verses taken from his 2023 release Son of A Preacher’s Son.
On the line-up included pieces like ‘Kapilire’ in which Q originally worked with Sindi but on stage, it was Maggie Kadrum, who did the work. The poem takes one through the counsels that women give to fellow women or mothers to their daughters when readying to get married.
With protest poetry part of the bill, Q also did not skip ‘Father and Son’, a poem that is a dedication to his late father Justin Malewezi and he committed it to the audience saying that “we all in one way or the other have lost our loved ones”.
Q dressed in a traditional shirt and jean trouser said he enjoyed the moment and hailed organisers of Kabula Diaries for creating such a platform.
“It is a great honour to start with, it is an amazing platform, and the best part of my experience was having the time to really get to the heart of what I do. I think in most events you do not get such kind of opportunity,” he said.
It was an expedition well-travelled by the audience driven by Q and crew and by the time the award winning poet announced that he was doing the last poem, people were contented but still thirsting for more.
Chikweba said there was more to be served in Kabula Diaries and that next up on the ladder is musician Eli Njuchi, who will offer something different from his usual performances.
“A lot of people know already that Kabula is referred to Blantyre, so, this is something to do with the nature that we can create in the creative arts just to celebrate, entertain and have a good moment and also inspire more creatives to come in a space, express themselves and grow,” he said, adding that the idea is to have an event one Sunday every month. Maggie Kadrum and Kachala said they relished performing with Q.
