Giddes Chalamanda doesn’t even have a cell phone. However, this Malawian singer has more than 80 million views on the platform.
Malawi (AFP).- At 92 years old, Giddes Chalamanda does not know the TikTok network. He doesn’t even have a cell phone. However, this Malawian singer has become a great star on the online platform with a song that has more than 80 million views.
From South Africa to the Philippines, your theme Linny Hoo, acoustic and catchy, recorded at the end of 2020 in which he tells his daughter Linny all his pride, has been reinterpreted and remixed in ‘covers’, becoming a massive phenomenon.
Young people “come home to show me the video clips on their phones, but I have no idea how that works,” acknowledges the artist, who was interviewed by AFP in his home, on the edge of a (nut) plantation. macadamia, about 20 km from Blantyre, economic capital of Malawi.
This thin, gray-haired, slightly stooped old man still maintains his joviality: “I like people to have fun listening to what I do.”
His 16-year-old grandson, Stepson Austin, who wants to pursue hip-hop, is amazed at his grandfather’s longevity as a musician, with a 70-year career: “It’s amazing he lived long enough to see this,” a global success.
Born in Chiradzulu, a small village in the south of the country, Giddes Chalamanda and his guitar are a true legend in Malawi. Your song Buffalo soldier, in which she reveals her dream of traveling to the United States, is well known to Malawians.
He still performs concerts and during the last decade he has frequently played and sung with the new generations of musicians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI7LGkoDn2s
“Speak to the soul”
Last year, together with a local musician in his thirties, Patience Namadingo, he lent himself to recording some of his hits in a reggae version. This video went viral, with almost 7 million visitors on the YouTube platform.
At the end of 2021, his video landed on TikTok and in this way, he went around the world. “When the song comes on at a club or a festival, everyone starts dancing, it’s a real hit,” says musician and longtime Chalamanda collaborator Davis Njobvu.
The lyrics are written in Chewa, the local language, but you don’t have to understand it to fall in love with their music. “The old man sings with such passion that it reaches all who listen to him”, says for his part, Joe Machingura, producer and owner of a record label in South Africa. This song “speaks to the soul”.
“The old songs were sometimes written with such depth that they still resonate today,” says Tammy Mbendera of the Malawi Festival Institute, for whom the TikTok network provides incredible opportunities for artists.
But today, Giddes Chalamanda, who had 14 children, seven of whom are still alive, continues to wait for this opportunity to pay off.
“I’m surprised that despite the popularity of the song, there is nothing (money) for me,” he admits. “I am very happy to make people dance all over the world, but I think that I should have some benefit. I need that money,” he insists.
His manager, Pemphero Mphande, says that the process to obtain royalties for the copyright of his song on TikTok is ongoing, and that the company that manages them in Malawi has stated that they are willing to help him.
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