Renowned musician Peter Mawanga on Saturday performed with an all-female band during AGE Africa’s 20th anniversary at 4 Petals Venue in Blantyre, where he underlined his love for promoting girls’ and women’s work.
The ‘Amakhala Ku Blantyre’ star, who has collaborated with several musicians, local and international, surprised patrons when he performed with the all-female band.
The band included Phalyce Kumdana on bass guitar and Chikondi Macheso on drums. This was a departure from tradition, as he usually performs with his Amaravi Band.
Having been out of the limelight for some time, Mawanga—who has worked on a number of projects including Stories of Aids (Mau A Malawi) with United States of American fiddler Andrew Magill—complemented the celebration of AGE Africa’s 20th anniversary by entertaining the audience with his music.
And if this was not enough, the singer and guitarist was joined on stage by USA-based old-timer Jack Allison, who served his popular track ‘Ufa Wa Mtedza’.
Allison, who was joined by former USA ambassador to Malawi Jeanine Jackson, is not new to the country’s music sphere. However, his music was done long time ago, during the one-party regime to be precise, before he left. Mawanga said the event was a heartfelt reflection of the impact AGE Africa has had on girls’ education in Malawi.
“We were honoured to highlight the stories of girls through music and we complemented that with the performance of an all-female band, which included students from Jacaranda School for Orphans,” he said.
Mawanga said in his music feats, he wanted to play a leading role in promoting girls’ talents and, at the same time, singing their success stories and challenges. “This is why I had to perform with this band and not Amaravi.
The girls showed their potential through playing different instruments and this needs to be promoted and highlighted,” he said. The Lilongwe-based musician also said he was privileged to perform with Allison and the former US Ambassador to Malawi. Allison is also expected to perform at Sounds of Malawi Acoustic Session at Alliance Francaise de Blantyre tonight.
Apart from Mawanga, other artists that starred at the event included Dikamawoko Arts. AGE Africa is a movement that creates lasting generational change and over the years, it has proven that change is possible by empowering young women through transformational programmes such as Creating Healthy Approaches to Success.
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