By Peter Makossah
With his easy rolling vocals and upbeat, cheerful and rhythmic tracks, he is one of the key figures of African music and the legend Kanda Bongo Man is coming to Birmingham, UK for an exclusive performance at this year’s Malawi Achievers’ Awards.
If this music kingpin doesn’t make you want to dance, nothing will. With soulful solos, this great son of Africa has transformed the African music landscape with his unique brand of music which gave birth to his signature brand of a popular dance rhythm.
Time for some serious ‘kwassa kwassa’ moves on the dance floor as Africa’s most joyful pop star brings the party to town for what promises to be a fantastic night out.
Soukous is the pop music of Africa and Congo’s ‘big man’ is its grand creating master and its joyful, mesmerising, hip-shaking groove has led to stadium-size parties erupting at the many festivals this international superstar has played.
Africa’s international music loyalty, legendary King of Kwassa Kwassa, Kanda Bongo Man will be live in concert to headline the mother of all events for Malawians in the Queensland, the organisers have announced.
The Malawi Achievers Awards UK, an annual glitz and glamour red carpet event which is aimed at recognising and honouring hardworking and illustrious UK based Diaspora Malawians making a positive change in their communities and country will take place at the magnificent CSN International Conference Centre in Birmingham.
The event, dubbed ‘The Malawian Oscars in UK’ will also feature the country’s top-notch music acts Tsika hit maker DJ Sonye real name Sonyezo Kandoje and Afro hip-hop music phenomenon Evance Zangazanga popularly known as Piksy, him of the Unamata fame on April 16th 2016 from 6pm prompt to 03:30 am.
‘Fireworks’
In an interview Malawi achievers Awards UK Project Director, Felix Banda explained that all is set and promises the greatest night of entertainment ever and encourages all Malawians, friends of Malawi to come in their large numbers to join the fun.
Banda explained that Malawi achievers awards UK is not a popularity contest saying people honoured based on what they have achieved in a calendar year.
“This event is not only an avenue for honouring only those who deserve to be recognised, the event also gives a platform for networking among Malawians and it is also an avenue to come together as one people and celebrate together,” said Banda.
Speaking in an interview, Kanda Bongoman says he is very excited to play at this year’s Malawi Achievers Awards and promises music fireworks at the show.
“I am honoured to have been invited to perform at the Malawi Achievers Awards in Birmingham on April 16. For me, Malawi is my second home. I love Malawi and I will give it all and I would like to appeal to Malawians to come and see Kanda live in action backed by a band and my dancers,” said Isambe and Inde Moni sizzling hits maker.
Kanda has a great connection with Malawi having lived for a considerable period of time and toured almost every corner of the country in the 90’s and 2000’s.
He started his music journey as a singer for Orchestra Belle Mambo in 1973, developing a sound influenced by Tabu Ley. Kanda Bongoman’s breakthrough as a solo artist came in 1981 when he cut his first solo albums, Iyole in 1981 and after it became successful, he followed it with a new album “Djessy” in 1982.
The Yesu Khristu singer who is best known for his electric stage-work and antics revolutionised soukous by encouraging guitar solos after every verse and even sometimes at the beginning of the song.
‘Billing’
Kanda is by far an ambitious choice for the Malawi Achievers Award UK organisers considering that he is not only Africa’s greatest music icon, he is a global superstar and Malawi Association UK chairman Martin Guga said the idea to have Kanda as a headliner is a sure way to give patrons to the event a special treatment.
“This is our third time organising this great event and, therefore, we had to come up with something special and that means that we had to think outside the box and we came up with something big for the big occasion,” explained Guga.
Guga explained that with Piksy and DJ Sonye in the mix the event will be a night to remember in a lifetime saying that the organising team is working on final touches to ensure that the event lives up to its billing.
On their part, both Piksy DJ Sonye said he is ready to perform in the UK for the first time and entertain their fans and the international music lovers.
“They will be going to be music explosive. We will give out nothing but the best. We are ready and we are excited to come there and meet out fans,” said DJ Sonye.
“We are ready and equal to the task ahead. We will give the patrons nothing but the best,” said the Kora Award nominee Piksy. “We encourage Malawian to come and support us and the event in celebrating our crème de la crème.”
Malawi Achievers Awards is an event organised by Malawi Association UK, an umbrella body for all Diaspora Malawians n the UK and thrives to recognise and honour people who are making a positive difference to the Malawi community in the UK and their country, the warm heart of Africa.
The event also seeks to bring Malawians and friends of Malawi from all walks of life together to share ideas and knowledge while at the same time promoting the Malawian culture, especially among the younger generation.