The ‘Reggae by Foot Concert’, slated for Civo Stadium in Lilongwe on April 29, has started, following the “successful” pre-Reggae by Foot show held last Thursday at Motel Paradise in Blantyre, organisers have said.
Entertainers Promotions Chief Executive Officer, Tonderai Banda, said in an interview on Wednesday that the Blantyre show, which brought together the Blantyre-based Black Missionaries and Zomba-based Malawi Police Orchestra, marked the beginning of several events lined up.
“Next on the line is ‘Easter Sound ‘n’ Light Mega Gospel Concert’ at the BAT Ground in Blantyre. It will be held on April 15 and will start from 10 am till late,” Banda said.
According to the list of artists made available to us, Gwamba, The Great Angels, Ndirande Anglican Voices, Ethel Kamwendo Banda, Thoko Katimba, Favoured Martha, Billy Kaunda, Skeffa Chimoto, Evans Mereka and Limbani Simenti are among the artists to perform.
“As usual, Team Entertainers will be there with more sound, dazzling lights and more smoke,” Banda said.
‘Reggae by Foot’ is a term derived from the life story of Mr Entertainer Jai Banda, who used to walk on foot in the course of going to activity venues in the 1990s.
This year, Team Entertainers is bringing South Africa-based One People’s Band, formerly The Slaves, to Malawi, as one way of remembering Banda’s early days.
“One People’s Band is coming to Malawi in April and they will participate in a concert themed ‘Reggae by Foot’. The theme is inspired by what my father [Jai] used to do in Chitawira [Township] in the 1990s. He did not have a car by then and he would walk on foot to participate in activities to do with reggae, hence the term ‘Reggae by Foot’. It has been a long time and we want to bring those memories back.
“You may wish to know that it has been two years since I came back from England [The United Kingdom] and we have been able to bring entertainment to Malawians ever since. We have the equipment and we have an international standard stage. Actually, we plan to bring new things at the ‘Reggae by Foot’ concert by, among other things, making the stage bigger, and ensuring that it is big enough to have a room where refreshments will be served and where artists will have a dressing room,” Tonderai said.
Tonderai added that the concert will promote the use of Malawian products and services by ensuring that the stage is constructed using materials sourced from within.
Apart from One People’s Band, local acts to perform include The Black Missionaries, Skeffa Chimoto, up-and-coming artist Purple C and Positive Yut.
“While our aim is to make it a reggae concert, we will also accommodate dancehall since some of the artists are dancehall artists. We are trying to restrict it to reggae and dancehall,” Tonderai said.
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