BACK in the days, Christmas was all over the air, then Zambia Broadcasting Service (ZBS), now Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), especially foreign service,(Radio 2) played and repeated festive season songs one after the other.
Subsequent presenters took over and handed over among themselves to continue with the euphoria that characterized the period.
There was no song then more popular during that period than “the ‘Happy Christmas, Happy New year, tell your mother, Happy New year, Happy Christmas’done by South African singer and actress Mable Mafuya.
Mafuya was born in 1934 in Soweto, South Africa as Nozipho Mabel Mafuya, her ‘Happy New year song became a regional hit which was played during festive periods.
The song simply has repeated catchy lyrics of, ‘Happy new year, Happy Christmas, Tell your mother Happy newyear, Tell your papa happy new year, happppyyyyy!
Not to be out done, Democratic Republic of Congo born Baba Gaston unleashed “Kakolele Viva Christmas which competed favorably with Mafuya’s song.
Gaston was born on July 5, 1936 at Likasi, near Lubumbashi in Shaba Province, Eastern DR Congo.
He changed his name to Ilunga Chenji Kamanda wa Kamanda Gaston Omer after then president Mobutu Seseseko decreed that nationals replace their Christian names with African ones.
He picked up his early musical training from a Greek pianist, Leonides Rapitis, and had a hit with “Barua kwa Mpenzi Gaston” while he was still in school.
When he was 20 he formed the Baba National Orchestre, which he took on an extended tour through Zambia, Zimbabwe and several European countries before becoming one of the first Congolese musicians to settle in East Africa in the early 1970s.
Evani Kabila Kabanze, who was later to star with Les Mangelepa, sang with Orchestra Baba Nationale in Lubumbashi.
The band used to travel to Kinshasa to record. According to Kabanze, sometime in 1971, because of the poor roads in the Congo, they took the Kisangani route through Kilemi which lies on the Congolese border with Tanzania.
But, instead of proceeding to Kinshasa, they decided to enter East Africa, having heard of the region’s superb studios.
The band settled in Dar-es-Salaam for four years. They found it cheaper there and built a strong fan base.
For recording they would cross the border and travel to Nairobi.
But, four years later, in 1975, Baba Gaston decided to move the band to Nairobi when they realised they had an even bigger following there.
Gaston was prominent in the music scene in Kenya for three decades, and is considered one of the godfathers of Kenyan pop.
He sang mostly in Swahili. His tunes were hugely popular and remain evergreen. “Kakolele Viva Christmas” (lead vocals by Kasongo Wakanema who later joined Super Mazembe) earned him a golden award, selling over 60,000 for Polygram.
Baba Gaston once proudly claimed he had played with more than 700 musicians and that his band was a virtual training school.
Mounting dissatisfaction for two years came to a head in July 1976 when several members including Bwami Walumona, Kasongo Wakanema, Evani Kabila Kabanze (vocalist/composer), Kalenga Nzaazi Vivi (vocalist/composer), Lutulu Kaniki Macky, and Twikale wa Twikale split from Baba Nationale to form Orchestra Les Mangelepa.
Other splits led breakaway members to Bwambe Bwambe, Pepelepe, and Viva Makale.
Baba Gaston died on March 25, 1997, while living across the border in Tanzania, where he had moved since his retirement from the music scene in 1989.
He is buried at the Lang’ata cemetery in Nairobi.
Then there was “Mary’s Boy Child , Jesus Christ was born on Christmass day done in / Oh My Lord” is a 1978 as a single for Boney M.The single was recorded in a hurry early November to be included in the group’s live set and rushed out at the end of the month, topping the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and
became Christmas number one, spending eight weeks in the charts.
It was the second single for the group in the UK’s all-time best selling singles list. The song was later included in the group’s Christmas Album, 1981.
In the United States, the track reached number 85 in the Billboard Hot 100, Boney M’s last of four singles to chart; despite its chart position, the medley is an airplay favourite in the United States during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season on radio stations which change to temporary all-Christmas music formats.
It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and has sold 1.89 million as of November 2015.
Locally, some broadcasters played Christmas songs like “Abadwa Mwana wa Yosefe (Joseph’s son is born) by the late Lazarus Tembo.
Ignoring to play carols of this season on radio, especially that we now have a good number of radio stations dotted across the country is simply failing radio’s core duty.
NATIONAL MOURNING
On a day Zambia was mourning one time Agriculture minister Ben Kapita last Monday, radio was playing gospel songs as per national mourning declaration.
Surprisingly, one of the songs played on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Radio 4 had the following lyrics; “Paaleni ichupo chesu, twasekelela lelo, chawama chabuseko lelo,” (Bless our marriage today, we are so happy, it is joyous).
You can imagine how contrasting that particular song was to the mood in which the nation was observing, strange.
As it has been noted in this column, any song, music with or without meaning plays on radio, this confirms that some radio presenters do not prepare before going on air.
If presenters prepared before going on air, they would know what songs to play, what they ought to say and avoid misrepresentations.
As if that was not bad enough, Radio Phoenix played a song with the following lyrics; “We namfumu niwe, we lubafu lwandi niwe,” (You are my queen, you are my rib). Obviously that was a love song wrongly played during national mourning.
CHIMWEMWE
Listeners who heard United Church of Zambia Reverend Christopher Yamba explain the Christmas story on Radio Chimwemwe in relation to Children agreed it was an apt teaching of the scriptures.
There are so many preachers who feature on radio stations across the country, but only a few come close to teach soundly like Rev Yamba did on that particular day.
Stay tuned, don’t touch that dial! – jackmwewa@gmail.com   0955115777