Page 35 - Number 2 2021 Volume 74

Maria Chidzanja Nkhoma 23

The first time I really saw my Mum performing a whole show is when
my best friend Amanda and I went to Mount Soche with her and she rehearsed for
the evening show with the band. One or two members were also from Muzipasi
or was it (New) Makasu who were the back-up band? We were 14 perhaps. Her
rendition of Mwana Wamzako that night was beautiful because it was so
heartfelt….and she was crying as she sang. That song had a really deep meaning
for her and her childhood. Many may also recall her Endless Love duet with
Eddie Manda – it enveloped you and wrapped you up in its golden warmth of
syrup pouring smoothly out of a jar. I think she sang this duet with the late Isaac
Mkukupha too.
1993 she moved to South Africa to work at Channel Africa. That was a
fortuitous time especially as we had had the change of government in Malawi and
her house had been searched for allegedly stored guns. She felt helpless and
threatened and because she was unwaveringly loyal to the old regime, she felt
living in Malawi was not sustainable. As she was not going to change her political
allegiance, her preference was to change jobs and move to a different country and
find a new challenge. I think that she felt that this was one of the best decisions
she had made and one she relished because she developed her technical
knowledge, broadened and honed her skills and furthered her experience. She
benefitted from excellent health insurance and was also remunerated much better
than she had been in Malawi that she was finally able to accumulate savings.
She loved interviewing people from all walks of life. Her time in South
Africa – she met and interviewed so many different people…I really enjoyed
visiting her…One year (whilst I was still at University in England), I just turned
up at her office at Channel Africa and surprised her when she was in the studio. I
got a tour of the office and some of her colleagues and bumped into some famous
South African artists. I saw her in the studio and also watched her editing
programmes on this computer software, cutting, adding, supplementing. She was
so passionate about her work. She loved and breathed radio – no one can
underestimate how seriously she took this role.
She was able to meet the singers she admired, Miriam Makeba (who
strongly influenced her cabaret performances with songs such as Malaika, Pata
Pata, Click Song), Yvonne Chaka-Chaka, Rebecca Malope, Hugh Masekela and
many up and coming South African musicians. A highlight in particular was
meeting President Nelson Mandela. It was also in South Africa that she turned
more to religion and was baptised in a Catholic Church.
I was surprised and perhaps a little disappointed that in the Rough Guide
to World Music (Carlos Reynoso – 3 Edition 2006) she isn’t given more space
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on the page. Given that it was she who paved the way for so many women in
Malawi in the music industry. I was hoping for much more to be found on paper.