Lulu returns to his great-self: releases hit-single, ‘Mbeta’
“Lulu is the best musician in Malawi. He is so good and lives ahead of his time”
It is official. He is back home, like chickens to roost in his musical fold.
After a long search to find and rediscover himself, Malawi’s kaleidoscopic music royalty, multifaceted music icon, Afro-pop and R’n’B crooner, Lulu is finally back at home to his best-self.
The Balaka born music kingpin, singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, Lulu, who real name is Lawrence Khwisa, has returned to his old best with a tantalising new single-hit, Mbeta – a heart-warming love song that has brought music aficionados back in time where the musician made his name with great songs such Magwiragwira, Mbambande and Tsogolo Lowala among others.
The multi-instrumentalist, Lulu, who started his music career in the early 2000’s with an R’n’B duo group, ‘Ma Love,’ comprising him and Bleek real name Henry Chindime took the local music scene by storm with a serenading soul-conquering tune, Iwe, and since then he has been on the rise making hit after hit thereby becoming a darling of the people.
However, Lulu who became a hitmaker in the mid 2000s and later joined Zembani Band as a guest artist perfected his art and rose to become one of the country’s finest musician, who for over a decade has been consistent on top of his game giving Malawians good music and scintillating live performances and also producing music for other musicians.
He later founded his own music group, Mathumela Band.
In an interview with Nyasa Times Lulu said: “In life, there comes a time when one takes stock of what they do to see if they are on the right track or if they are off the rails so they can re-focus and change direction if need be. I am in that place and at that time. I am rebranding myself, refreshing and rekindling my commitment as a musician and I have realised that for so long I have been too comfortable.
“I have discovered that I need to rediscover myself in my music journey and refocus my career and this means that I needed to take stock of my journey so far and that needed to travel back to where I began. To have a better future, a visit to the past is important,” said Lulu.
The Kumalembe creator added: “Music is like a baby, which needs looking after in order for it to grow successfully. Like a baby, music needs feeding and be guided to a right direction.
“I am mature enough to understand how my music is getting on and I am very grateful to my fans and music lovers in the country and beyond the borders for staying with me through thin and thick.
“There has been times that I have been at my lowest of the low but my fans have never for once abandoned me and this is the reason I am taking stock of my music so I can improve and give the fans my best.”
The Mathumela band frontman in a bid to forge his music in a new direction he went back to his old-self and come up with a new song Mbeta, a song with a mind-blowing storyline about a beautiful but capable single woman.
‘Sophisticated simplicity’
Interestingly, in the song, the Nzalera hitmaker, Lulu retraces his old RnB footsteps and found his youthful silky-soft voice thereby hitting high notes and the beat of the song, which Lulu produced is fusion of Malawian afro-beat and an equidistant American traditional RnB but with a mix of Zouk and Lambada.
The song stands out with a spice of a violin instrumentation and Lulu, unlike in many of his songs, he is very poetic with the lyrics and he looks sank deep into the songwords.
The music video for his new song, which was shot in 4K is so upmarket and exude an acceptaptable international touch signifying his intent to go afar and beyond with his music.
The video director of the video, Twice P, did the song an artistic justice and its sophistication lies in its simplicity as it is not overcrowded with needless dancers – it’s just Lulu and one girl at a time doing the dancing and that augurs well with the song’s storyline narrative.
The Zagwera iwe singer said he was inspired to write the song by a young man he kept on imagining in his head, who has been searching for a suitor but unfortunately for him, he couldn’t find the perfect one but a minute before he gave up, he meets the Mbeta.
“For a long time, I had an imagination of a young man searching for a potential singleton. Finding love is a beautiful adventure and that is what this song is all about,” said Lulu.
Malawi’s most celebrated music guru, Soldier Lucius Banda when once asked as to who is the best musician in Malawi, he said Lulu is by far the best musician.
“Lulu is the best musician in Malawi. He is so good and lives ahead of his time,” said Banda in a Cruise 5 interview with Joab Chakhaza.
Love him or loath him, but the fact is Lulu is one the most talented musician who has been consistent in the past two or so decades dishing out danceable and listenable tunes and dance floor fillers.
Lulu is exceptionally talented. He can play any instrument, has a great voice and can sing well. He can dance and he dances well. And he is tall – what a package. What a musician.
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