Wasalala, the second album from Madalitso Band, has been kept stripped back and raw, as a tribute to the Madalitso live experience. The home-made one-string slide bass, known locally as Babatone, four string guitar, cow-skin foot drum and two lush voices in harmony are what we want to present, undiluted and in their natural state. The songwriters have walked the streets of Lilongwe their whole lives, playing songs about life, love, hardship and beauty, which they compose together in a kind of trance, with words never being written on paper. But here they are, eight songs on record for a first international release. Songs like the title track Wasalala, about the orphan girl who glows, Nambe, the woman you just can’t live without, and Vina Vina Malawi, the celebration of a country. Some call it traditional, some call it trance, in Malawi it’s called Banjo Music, but no matter what, it’ll make you dance, and more than that, though you don’t know the language, you’ll be singing along like you did.
Wasalala by Madalitso Band