Native son rocks Malawi’s biggest music festival

By Raising Malawi staff on 10.21.09

This weekend marked the annual Lake of Stars music festival, the largest gathering of its kind in Malawi.

But this year was different. The festival's biggest international performer wasn't flying into Malawi for the first time. He was returning home.

Esau Mwamwaya, who grew up in Blantyre, Malawi, is now worldwide sensation for his collaborations with Vampire Weekend, Crookers, Santigold, and M.I.A. His remix of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" called "Tengazako (Take What Is Yours)" has received hundreds of thousands of plays on MySpace and was featured prominently on "Last.FM Presents."

Even more miraculous about his success? He doesn't sing in English. His songs are in Chichewa, the native language of Malawi.

"Some people asked me - can you really make it - singing in Chichewa, a local language?" Mwamwaya told BBC News, "But I proved them wrong. I wanted to be myself - someone who is born and raised in Africa. I didn't want to pretend to be other people."

He has come a long way - his first musical experience came from playing tin drums in time with his father's Dolly Parton records. After moving to Tottenham, London in 1999, he had a chance encounter with Etienne Tron, of the British DJ-duo Radioclit, who was looking for an African drummer.

Tron and his partner, Johan Karlberg, were skeptical of Mwamwaya's drumming skills but were intrigued by his singing. After they cut "Tengazako," things started heating up. The trio joined forces to form The Very Best.

After a warm reception from an international audience, Mwamwaya is excited to bring his music back to his home country. "When I play live in Malawi, the reaction is good," says the musician, "They think like 'Wow - Who is this guy singing in my language?

"I want people to know me as I am," he says, "as Esau from Malawi."

Watch The Very Best perform "Tengazako" at the Old Blue Last in London: