This seems to be doing the rounds even though originally uploaded 5 years ago via a VK Russian re-upload, it’s Gaspar Nali from Nkhata Bay in Malawi playing his ‘babatone’ self-made instrument and singing in a dialect of Chichewa a song apparently called ‘Abale Ndikum Gem’ (thank you Google Translate). If African music has a metal headbanging equivalent, this is it. Lyrics are pretty critical of the state of the nation too apparently.(via DJ Not-I)
I dug around and you can see more of Gasper on an interesting documentary about the music of Malawi called Deep Roots. It reminds me of the Congo’s Konono #1, whose founder sadly died recently, the self-made instruments made out of necessity, but they give the music a completely unique sound. I’m sure they’d prefer Western instruments, real guitars etc. but this sounds much more original and has the local flavour of Malawi in it’s roots:
EDIT: As you can see from the comments, Secousse have posted their mix of the track from a few years ago for a free download, as you can’t download this anywhere.
I hope Gaspar does hear about this, and benefits from this viral exposure since Malawi is officially now the poorest country in the world, I doubt many people have bank accounts let alone PayPal, Bandcamp or much internet/phone access at all.
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