Gwaladi missing on the scene

The controversial lyrist Joe Gwaladi is currently missing from music arena, a development that has seen him skipping high profiled shows to the disappointment of his fans.

Gwaladi was billed to perform at Chez Ntemba show last Friday alongside other notable local faces, Thomas Chibade, Joseph Nkasa and Lawrence Benjere but he could not make to the show and the organizers could not trace him either.

The raw street singer has also forced this year’s organizers of Lake of Stars to scrap him of the list of the local performers to the international music festival due to what is described as ambiguity of his whereabouts.

Lake of Stars would have been first international performance for Gwaladi who earns his living by plucking guitar in the streets of Blantyre city.

Gwaladi: At large

“We included Gwaladi among the list of artists for the show we had at Chez Ntemba. It was a show purely for artists that do purely local music, but he was not to be found. We could not trace him through phone and am told he stays very far way from Blantyre,” says Kennedy Nkombezi the organizer of Chez Ntemba show.

Gwaladi was last seen in the streets of Blantyre city a couple of weeks ago when he was selling him albums through his own made public address system. And he was once quoted saying was selling his albums by himself due to what was described as “dubious trade agreements with some music selling agents”.

And one of the country’s renowned music promoters Defao Bute said it has been hard for him to be in contact with Gwaladi who has been featured in several Defao’s music collections.

“It's difficult to deal with Joe Gwaladi. You just can't tell where you can easily find him. Some people say he is living in Bangwe, some say in Chiradzulu but I doubt because it has been tough for me to trace him when it comes to studio recordings and other engagements,” Defao explains.

Gwaladi made headlines in 2005 due to his controversial lyrics. He is open and does not fear reprisal due to his choice of words. Among some of the songs that made it big were Khoswe wandilaula, Ndikanaziwa sindikanapanga, Hule simunthu among others.

Nyasa Times 29 Sep, 2011

--
Source: http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/09/29/gwaladi-missing-on-the-scene/
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com