By JOWIT SALUSEKI –

MALAWIAN musician and composer Kimba Mutanda has commended local artistes for their effort in perfecting smash hits that have seen Zambian music being appreciated in that country.
Kimba tells DStv entertainment that Zambian music is highly appreciated and Malawian fans are itching and looking forward to award-winning Zone Fam and Mumba Yachi, who are scheduled to date the neighbouring country for the Lake of Stars music Festival.
This year’s festival takes place over three days from 26 – 28 September at Sunbird Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi.
“Zambian artiste Baska Baska clicked everything with his nafuti nafuti hit song and from there on all the joints in Malawi are ‘rocking’ with Zambian music…I think it is because of the language (Nyanja) which most fans are familiar with”, says Kimba.
He said other local musicians such as General Kanene , B1, The Organised Family , Dalisoul and Jk are all household names in Malawi.
“What I have observed also for the short time that I have been in Zambia is that Malawi’s Skeffa Chimoto has a huge fan –base here.
This can be attributed to the fact that Chichewa seems to be understood by many Zambians, especially those who hail from Eastern province”, says Kimba, who started his music career in 2000.
Kimba was part of the famous Malawian group , Real Elements with Stix Kalilani and Q Malawezi.
Among other influences , he recognises his brother Danny who had passion for music. He has collaborated on several tracks with South African diva Kheti , among them why don’t you( which is on his MySpace profile). Kimba sings about different issues affecting his country.
This is especially demonstrated in the song Dearest child a duet with Peter Mawanga, in which he sings about a mother calling her children to go back to her.
The fine looking artiste has also collaborated with Subsource, a UK Punk rock band and other Malawian singers in the likes of Dominant 1.
Zilanie Nyundo , Director of PR and Communication for the Lake of Stars music Festival said: “Our relationship with Zambia is beyond colonial times . Last year we had the Organised Family who flew in from Zambia to perform at the music festival in Mangochi. We believe that art and music has the potential to provide employment and bring in revenues for our countries”.
She explained that last year over 40 artistes graced the Lake of Stars festival while this year’s is expected to draw an increase in musical and theatre artistes.
Recently , Zambian musician Bruce Simbwalange better known as B1, two months ago dated Malawi where he shared the stage with artistes such as Lucius ‘the jamming machine’ Banda, Skeffa, among others.
The music event was organised as part of the Malawi @50 jubilee celebrations.