A presentation of Kwela music by the Malawian musician/composer Donald Kachamba (by Gerhard Kubik)
Performers:
Donald Kachamba
Flute, Guitar, Vocal
Moya Aliya Malamusi
One-string base, Rattle, Vocal
Gerhard Kubik
Clarinet,Guitar, Vocal
Stuwadi Mpotalinga
Rattle
Donald Kachamba, born in Blantyre, in 1953, is considered one of the
outstanding musician-composers of the middle generation in south-eastern
Africa. Born in a musical family he has contributed enormously to the development
of the kwela (flute-jive) tradition. Kwela a verb meaning "to climb up",
"to rise", "mount" in several southern African Bantu languages became a
code-word for a jazzrelated form of music which emerged in southern Africa
during the 1950s. Kwela was inspired by contemporary American jazz forms
of the Swing period in Jazz history. It soon assimilated, however, african
musical forms of various southern African regions, such as sinjonjo, vula
matambo, saba saba, resulting in a novel and original blend of musical
traits.
Special techniques were developed on musical instruments, for example
an unusual oblique embouchure for playing the metal recorder-type flute
which marks the kwela-sound. This flute, although industrially manufactured
at the time by firms such as the Hohner Company, Trossingen (Germany),was
adapted by kwela musicians to perform the current southern African dance
music. Specific construction, tension and playing techniques also characterize
the one-string bass which displays remote historical connections with the
african ground-bow, although it was inspired by the bass in 1950s skiffle
groups. Guitar playing techniques also deviate considerably from standard
"classical" guitar playing, even in the number of strings. A five-string
tuning is used in Donald Kachamba's group, in which the lowest string alludes
to the fundamentals of a musical bow. Instead of the flute, an E-flat clarinet
is used in many of Donald Kachamba's compositions.
Donald Kachamba is the last surviving representative of the kwela tradition
in southern Africa today. Since 1972, he has been on extensive, sometimes
world-wide tours almost every year, covering 33 countries in Africa, Europe
and the Americas. In May 1988 he was touring Finland on invitation by the
Institute for Workers‘ Music, Helsinki, in May 1989 he performed at the
Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zürich. In 1991 the band
toured Belgium and Germany. From this tour resulted the CD "Concert Kwela
-- Donald Kachamba et son ensemble" LDX 274972 CM 212, Le Chant du Monde
1994. In 1994 Donald Kachamba was invited to the colloquiwn "Music and
Anthropology" in Lisbon 28 September to 3 October to present one of his
films. Thereafter he gave lecture performances in Berlin, Frankfurt and
Salzburg. The most recent European tour was in January 1995 to Holland,
Belgium and France (on invitation by Radio France, Paris).
Moya Aliya Malamusi is an oral literature researcher who has performed
with Donald Kachamba since the age of eight. In 1989 he founded the Oral
Literature Research Programme at Singano village / Chileka Malawi with
an office and a small ethnographhic museum. He has conducted field research
trips in Zambia, Malawi and most recently in Namibia (on a three-year project).
He is a student at the University of Vienna for an M.A. in cultural anthropology.
Professor Dr. Gerhard Kubik is a cultural anthropologist who has worked
and lived in Africa and Europe since 1959. He is the author of several
books and over 200 published articles dealing with cultures, oral literature
and particularly the music of sub-Saharan Africa. He has performed with
Donald Kachamba since 1967 and became a permanent member of Donald Kachamba's
Kwela Jazz Band in 1974. Professor Kubik and Moya A. Malamusi were working
as Senior Research Fellows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
from January to March 1993, giving lectures at various American universities.
Stuwadi Mpotalinga is with eighteen years the youngest member of the
group and one of Donald Kachamba's disciples. He joined the band in November
1990.
LP records, writings, films and videos (compiled by Gerhard Kubik)
The Kachamba Brothers' Band (Booklet by G, Kubik and LP record by
Daniel and Donald Kachamba), Zambian Papers No. 9 Lusaka 1974, available
from the Institute for African Studies, University of Zambia, P. O. Box
30 900, Lusaka, Zambia
Donald Kachamba's Band. Siemanje and Kwela from Malawi
Donald Kachamba's most representative playback compostions, with most
of the instruments played by him alone and combined by him in montage technique),
AIT Records Kenya Ltd., GKA 01, 1979, Available from AIT Records, PO Box
41152, Nairobi, Kenya.
Donald Kachamba's Kwela Music: Malawi Twist, 16-mm film, black-and-white,
Ecncyclopaedia Cinematographica;B 2328.-- Available from the Institut fiir
den Wissenschaftlichen Film, Göttingen (Germany), publ, 1978
Donald Kachamba's Kwela Music: Simanje-manje, Cha-cha-cha, 16 mm
film black-and-white, Encyclopaedia Cinematographica, Göttingen E
2329, publ. 1978
Musiker aus Malawi, Opeka nyimbo, Musician/composers , southern Malawi
Double-Album, LP stereo, MUSEUM COLLECTION MC 15. -- Available from Museum
für Völkerkunde, Musikethnologische Abteilung, Arnimallee
23/27, D-1000 13erlin 33, Published 1989. (Notes by G. Kubik and Moya Aliya
Malamusi)
Kachamba Brothers 1967, Part 1. Betacam-SP video. (Original 16-mm film,
edited). Camera: Gerhard Kubik. Commentary: Donald Kachamba, Copyright
Donald Kachamba/Gerhard Kubik, 1993
Gerhard Kubik (assisted by Moya Aliya Malamusi, Lidiya. Malamusi and Donald
Kachamba):Malawian music - A framework for analysis. Zomba 1987.
-- Available in Malawian bookshops and at the Department of Fine
and Performing Arts, University of Malawi, P. O. Box 280, Zomba,
Malawi
African Guitar. Solo fingerstyle guitar music, composers and performers
of Congo/Zaire, Uganda, Central African Republic, Malawi, Namibia and Zambia
Audio-visual field recordings 1966 - 1993 by Gerhard Kubik. (With pamphlet).
Sparta (New Jersey): Stefan Grossman 1995. This one-hour video is available
from Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, P.O. Box 802, Sparta, New Jersey
07871, U.S.A. FAX: 201/7260568.
Donald Kachamba's Kwela Band, popular
african music (Damaschkeanger 51, D-60488 Frankfurt) in cooperation
with Archiv der Musik Afrikas Mainz, pamap 103 CD (76:39 min)