Intuitive, authentic, and full of ruthless rhythms, Malawian Madalitso Band has taken Europe by
storm. Madalitso will make you clap, dance, smile, and rethink everything you thought you knew
about African sound and instrumentation. Madalitso is authentic to the core and coming on tour once
again after demand from clubs and festivals around the world.
The traditional duo from Malawi, who in the last year have been featured on BBC Africa, and
performed at such festivals as WOMAD in UK, and Roskilde in Denmark, were first discovered by a
local producer busking outside a shopping centre in Lilongwe in 2009. The connection that the
musicians gained with each other through living this way for 10 years is evident in the way they burst
onto the scene, after their very first performance outside Malawi, in 2017, at Sauti Za Busara in
Zanzibar. 6 months later and they were on an aeroplane for the first time in their lives, to do a 2 week
European tour, and wow audiences with their down-to-earth nature, and raw on-stage energy. The
following year the tour was extended to 5 weeks with 22 shows, and in 2019, reached 9 weeks with 42
shows!
A second album has spread the music further afield also, giving listeners a sense of the band as they
would sound on the streets of Lilongwe. Wasalala, was released in March 2019 under Bongo Joe
Records, a label from Geneva, who instantly fell in love with the Madalitso ethos, when the music
inside is so strong that it says, "why should we buy our instruments, when we can build our own, and
get the sound we want." The music inside Madalitso Band is SO strong, and it comes out effortlessly,
full of syncopated rhythms, lush harmonies and a solid back beat.
Two nice guys from the village in Malawi, smiling their way around the world and bringing
dancefloors to life. What's there not to like about that.