After some conspicuous silence on the music scene, two of the country’s most popular acapella groups drew multitudes to the ‘One Soul Concert’ held at Comesa Hall in Blantyre on Sunday.
It was clear accapella-starved audiences waited for this moment for years as most of the seats in Comesa Hall were occupied by as early as 1:30 pm.
Per h ap s the mo s t conspicuous feature of the concert was the fact that performances started after a word of prayer had been offered, a departure from most gospel shows where prayer is regarded as an external element during performances.
The Joyful Souls were first on stage, diving straight into the past by performing tracks from their previous albums, namely ‘Mombolo Wanga Dzuwatu’, ‘Bwelera’, ‘Nthawi yatha’. Among other songs, they dished out ‘Mwadzidzi’, ‘Chiweruziro’ and ‘Second chance’ to an active audience that jumped and shouted, clapped hands and took pictures.
When We are One’s turn came, the ecstatic audience had the chance to sample songs from the grouping’s forth-coming album. For example, the grouping performed ‘Hear the trumpet’.
We are One music director, Stevie Chiwaya, said the concert was organised to promote oneness in the country and to win a soul to God.
“It does not matter whether you’re an albino; we are all from the same family of God. In fact, all of us are Malawians, and we were created in the image of the same God,” said Chiwaya.
However, contrary to expectations that acapella music compositions are simple and do not follow the tonic solfa (dododo), we are One proved this assumption wrong when they performed ‘Mfumu ya ulemelero’ using the tonic solfa. Not surprisingly, some patrons cheered while others clapped hands as lead vocalist Davie Chiwaya did what he knows best.
By 4:30 pm, it was game over.
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