UNDERSTANDING WHY DR. NAMADINGO WANTS ZAMBIA TO BE HIS SECOND HOME
I first heard Namadingo’s music slightly before his music crossed the border into Zambia. Those days I was more inclined to Malawian radio stations like 2FM and Radio 1.
What caught my attention to the Doctor’s music was his unique approach to gospel music. Like K’nine his approach is unique and unusual. For Example, the way he plays a soldier at war in the sin’jenjemela music video, the way he plays the detective in Wayima, or the way he brought Nyau dancers in Msati Mseke.
When Namadingo posted SADC flags to see which one will get more reactions from his fans, one may begin to wonder why his own country came second with Zambia being the first and the difference was huge.
This bothered me a lot and I wanted to get closure. While Zambians were calling on Malawi to get Ruff Kid and give them Namadingo, Malawian seem not to care. Why wouldn’t any country not support this guy?.
Well, it turns out the doctor is not considered so ‘pefekiti’ at home. See, Namadingo came on the scene signed to a gospel label – Ndifeyo
His first album released in 2007 had 10 tracks and all of them were gospel tracks. His second album released in 2010 had 8 tracks on it all gospel too. In 2015 he released another album with 10 tracks of which 8 of them were gospel tracks and among the other 2 songs, one was a song titled Alafuledi ndi Dominic. A very beautiful track that talks about the lives of his grandfathers the other song was talking about Malawi’s independence.
In the year 2019 Namadingo released another album which had 21 songs, 10 of those were gospel tracks, the other 11 were songs talking about general day-to-day issues in life. One of those songs was Ng’wi Ng’wi. A song which is pretty much rooted in Zambian soil. The video was shot by our very own ERT.Part of the video was shot in Luangwa district and the video it featured Yemba from Zuba, remember Yemba?. (Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GArjkpBbJXY)
Also among the songs was a song that carried a vital message about the girl child in Malawi, this song was important because at the time the abuse of girl children was a hot issue. An issue that was being fought by many stakeholders including Chief Kachindamoto of Dedza district. Am guessing this album is where the problem started, His fans began to wonder why the gospel artist they have known all along suddenly included content that was not talking about God on his album
Combing through the comments section of some of the Dr’s posts I realized there is a problem somewhere indeed, the Dr’s fans back home are not happy with him. The issue that seems to come up the most is how they think the doctor turned his back on them.
Well clearly Namadingo never announced himself as a Gospel artist but he took too long to realize that people were taking him as one. Think about it, signed to a gospel record label, Check! Released a handful of gospel albums Check, Passionate about God’s work, Double Check!
It is safe to assume that at the beginning of his Career Namadingo had a certain breed of fans, fans that do not listen to circular music. And those fans got disappointed when he started singing about other things. These fans possibly felt like they had been dealing with a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They felt disappointed and I can only assume his fan base dropped dramatically. Notably his posts only have a handful of Malawian engagements
I am aware Malawians don’t take softly the issue of gospel artists singing with Circular artists. It is evident in the way they took the issue Suffix doing a song with Mastse and Suffix tried to address in in his track ’12 hours’ (DOWNLOAD HERE https://www.malawi-music.com/…/9217-12-hours-ft-saint…)
To put it in a Zambian context, This would have been us being angry at Abel Chungu for Singing Extra time lol. Petty right, yeah but that’s Malawi for you.
It makes me wonder what the doctor’s intentions are, is he looking to start his career afresh here in Zambia. Is he running away from how toxic his relationship with the fans has become? Whatever the Case Namadingo is a great guy and Having him in Zambia is a plus for us. Welcome home Doctor.
REF:
NAMADINGO DENIES BEING A GOSPEL ARTIST: FANS REACT
I am not a gospel musician – Namadingo
On Patience Namadingo’s ‘I am not a gospel musician’ outburst
I’m Not Gospel Musician- Namadingo
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