The quartet of Skeffa Chimoto, Dan Lu, Lulu and Zambia’s Mampi gave an impressive opener to their three-show Easter tour of England, at the Leicester gig on Friday that left most of the patrons longing for more.
Most patrons were clearly disappointed because the four could not dish out most of their known songs, apparently because “we could only do so much with the band.”
On behalf of colleagues, Skeffa continuously apologised to the mixed nationality crowd that thronged the Athena Theatre, for failing to give out “all you expected.”
“We understand your feelings. I can assure you, on a good day, I can perform for three hours continuous, but we appreciate because we only managed to rehearse with the band for one day, which was not enough,” apologised Chimoto.
It was so clear throughout the show that communication breakdown between the singers and the band marred the smooth flow of otherwise great show.
Midway through the show, Skeffa had to come in to redo the keyboard notes as Lulu did his usual wizardly with the lead guitar while providing backing to Skeffa alongside Dan Lu.
On average, “this was 50 percent of what I expected,” remarked Victor and
Martha who travelled from London for the show in Leicester.
This was a common discourse, with patrons murmuring on their way out as the show closed just slightly after 2am, on Saturday.
“Some of us expected to dance until 5am,” said Khama Mindiyela with Rhoda Mainala echoing: “I was yet to start dancing.”
“They surely, should have done better than this,” said Wolverhampton based Mercy and Yamikani.
While it was the amount of time on stage that disappointed patrons, the promoters, GRAJO, were not impressed with the amount of support the show received.
In an interview, director Grace Mtolera-Mujungu said was “very shocked that Malawians and Zambians still can’t support each other.”
“We brought Zimbabweans here and this room was too small. You could not even dance freely. But look at this disappointment,” said Mujungu.
She claimed that several Malawians de-campaigned against the show; most of them claiming that “it had been cancelled.”
“Some were writing on Facebook that tickets were sold out, which discouraged a lot of people who had prepared to patronise the show. I am disappointed with Malawians, but I will not stop. We will bring more,” she promised.
Comparatively, the crowd in Leicester could only fit a quarter of the main theatre at Bingu International Conference Centre, in Lilongwe, but for Skeffa and Dan Lu, “it was ok, being the first show.”
After all, the jamming machine, as Chimoto is popularly known, was able to mesmerise with his numbers such as ‘Chinamuluma Chakuda,’ and ‘Ulendo.’
It was Dan Lu and Mampi’s dancing antics that connected with the crowd more. Of course, Lulu’s leg twist dance, earned enough hand clapping from the sizable crowd.
At the close of the show, the Malawi trio paid tribute to departed gospel singer Grace Chinga. They performed her song ‘Thandizo Langa.’
Meanwhile Dan Lu has revealed plans to work on a single with Mampi.
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