Iconic musician Mtebeti Wambali Mkandawire was certainly pleased at his resting place at Area 18 Cemetery in Lilongwe on Friday night as his band, Manyasa, announced its relaunch in Blantyre that was tiled with a virtuoso performance.
Dubbed Wambali’s Music with Manyasa Band, the free-of-charge concert gave an opportunity to the audience to enjoy the songs of Wambali, who died of Covid in 2021, as well as appreciate jazz and afro-jazz genres.
Although the band still has a lot of toil to do, Manyasa gave people a memorable night filled with a top two-hour performance that saw them dishing out a number of songs rekindling memories of Wambali.
Dan Sibale, who showed his skills on the saxophone and other brass instruments, led in vocals in most of the songs including ‘Nkhujipereka’, which had to be performed twice by public demand, as well as keyboardist Sam Mjura Mkandawire and Sangwani Munthali, who fronted with songs like ‘Kuchidika’.
The sound was simply sweet to the ear and no wonder; the audience joined the band in singing and dancing to some of the songs.
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Featuring other members such as Godfrey Mbizi (bass guitar), Collen Ali (electric guitar and vocals), Thatcher Ng’oma (classic guitar), Eric Mwalwanda (drums), Super DT (percussion and vocals), Mathews Mphande (trumpet and vocals) and Vita Chirwa (keyboard and vocals), the band even had time to share the song ‘Up and Down the Shire’, an album in which they worked with Wambali.
The other tunes that they served included ‘Zani Muwone’, ‘Mulinane’ and ‘Twasekela’.
Wambali’s manager Vitumbiko Mumba said he was impressed with Manyasa’s music delivery on the night and that this was the beginning of more live concerts to come.
“The band is passionate about Wambali’s music and people could feel the bond that they had with him. This is a relaunch of Manyasa Band and we will be announcing a schedule soon,” Mumba said.
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He said Manyasa was unbroken, with Wambali the only missing character as well as the late Lemekeza Phiri and late Chuma Soko.
Manyasa Band’s performance comes barely a month after Wambali’s tombstone was unveiled in Lilongwe.
Sibale said the journey started long time ago but that “everyone has been hesitating”.
“But now is the time. We will have a tour and this will determine what next,” the veteran saxophonist said.
