Rebranding for the better
Youthful singer and guitarist Patience Namadingo might not be way up yet and stand shoulder to shoulder with some musicians but he surely has a bright future.
Listening to his songs one notices his magic and creativity, he simply loves what he does, he has passion for music and no wonder his latest single ‘Msatimusike’ has received an overwhelming response from people.
The track is only a week old since its release but it has soured on Malawimusic.com pulling over 2,000 downloads.
For those who might not know, Patience started working on this single longtime ago and he once performed it during the Sunbird Search for a Star competition where he was involved in coaching the contestants.
Mtebeti Wambali Mkandawire, who is arguably one of the greatest musicians the country has ever produced and recently just launched his ninth album titled Calabrash Breath once commended the work that some young artists are doing and Patience’s name was among the list.
The gospel artist, famed for the hit ‘Mtendere,’ has proved that he is a singer because his voice is good no wonder Sunbird Search for a Star which has now gone back to E-Wallet felt it wise to utilise his massive talent to polish the voice for the contestants.
He might have disappeared from the scene at some point where some quarters even felt he was losing his steam having come out strongly with his Tili Ndi Yesu album, but he was reviewing his sound and just like Johnny Walker, he never stopped walking.
Patience says he is totally in love with Malawi and that he wants to be Malawian hence embarking on a new project of rebranding his music which will see him releasing an album titled Lero.
“There will not be a song titled Lero in the album but this is just a theme hence naming the album Lero. The album should be out later in the year but as I said I am taking my time and I am not in a hurry,” said the musician.
He says the songs for the new album are under microscope and that he will be working on one song at a time.
“This album is a serious project, I am not just doing it for the sake of releasing an album but I want an album which will conquer the world. An album which will bring out the word wow,” said the guitarist.
He says he decided to release his new baby ‘Msatimuseke,’ just to show people what he was doing under ground.
“I realised that the only way to go international is to be Malawian, I am not saying what I have been doing in my previous albums was not Malawian but the songs lacked something and so in this project I have been more aggressive,” says Patience.
Just like Wambali observed, he said upcoming artists have to be commended as they are doing well, fusing different genres with the country’s traditional dances but he noted many do not stick to one genre and that they change focus now and then.
“I want to be original whether I sing R&B or any other genre but I should make sure that it sounds Malawian. I should not do R&B which makes me even change my accent and sound like an artist from US,” says Patience.
The guitarist says that as Malawian artists they need to stick to their own Malawian touch observing that if they sing like Nigerians, Zambians or South Africans, they will always come second.
For those who have listened to the song ‘Msatimuseke,’ they will attest that it is a good song, Patience has weaved it well with mature lyrics that compel one to listen to the track up to the end.
This is the song in which the guitar has also stood out something which has missedout in many of the songs being released.
It is a song that has the gospel message in it, it touches “your soul” and going deeper you discover that apart from enriching the song with mature message, he has also strengthened it with elements of the country’s traditional dances.
In the song, Petience moves within the regions and one travels to Nkhata Bay to appreciate the traditional dance known as Malipenga.
Patience, who recently also teamed up with another exciting talent Faith Mussa to hold a special concert in Blantyre, said there is more to come from him.
“Actually this song ‘Msatimuseke’ has cost me close to K100,000. I actually recorded the song in my bedroom; I hired a studio which I mounted in my bedroom for this song alone for seven days. With the studio in my bedroom you can imagine what it meant, it means all the space was occupied and so I was sleeping on the floor,” he explains.
He further says that having mounted the studio in his bedroom, he hired three producers with the first one being a session producer.
“Everything in this song has been live and it has not been that easy to record it but since I want to give Malawians the best I had to cough more money. Actually having worked with the first producer, who recorded the song, I had to engage another producer now for mixing,” says the singer.
Patience says that having finished recording the song, he then had another month of listening to the song to appreciate the lyrics and the sound adding that he had to consult different brains for input.
He says the original version of the song was running for five minutes and seconds.
“It was long and needed to be trimmed and this actually was the feedback I got from those I consulted. So I had to sacrifice one verse and cut it to four minutes,” says Patience.
According to him, the song was not even ready after trimming it as he had to consult artist of the moment Sonye, whose song ‘Tsika,’ is enjoying airplay in almost all the corners for his input.
“I have listened to Sonye’s song ‘Tsika,’ and I have seen creativity in it. It’s a song which has a Malawian beat and so I decided to get his views on what he thought of my song and so he pointed out a few grey areas and accepted to polish it up since he is also a producer,” said Patience.
He says people had ideas in the song and that ‘Msatimuseke,’ is a product of team work starting from the beginning up to the end.
“Finding an identity of who you are is not easy and that is why at some point I took a break. It was not only a break to review my music career but also to review my relationship with God. God has favoured me all these years and so when He was looking for me, I also have been looking for Him so we have met half way,” says the guitarist.
The multi-talented artist, who has of late also been starring as a comedian, says he realised that music is not only about entertainment but as a business.
Now Patience says he is looking forward to the best of music having fallen short and that he is now matured than yesterday.
“Music must define who we are, we can sing what we want but we should strive to be original. Big up to those musicians who are in this identity project and there are so many musicians doing this but we need to do more and that entails being an army if we are to be recognised in Africa and in the world,” says the musician.
With two albums to his credit namely Tili ndi Yesu and Goshen, Patience says he will not completely dump the style he taken in his previous albums but he will be mixing so as to come out with the best.
For now his song ‘Msatimuseke’ is a fine product which will surely stand the test of time and the country can only hope for the best as they wait to sample more songs in his Lero project.
A vibrant writer who gives a great insight on hot topics and issues
