He Wrote
The reason I would attend Koffi Olomide’s show over the Yo Maps show…..
Just last weekend I attended the Jameson Connect event in Lusaka where Chef 187 and Chanda Na Kay headlined the performances.
In 2019, I attended my first ever Mosi Day of Thunder in Livingstone where there were a number of local artists including Slap D, Chef 187 and Mampi, with the main act being Yemi Alade.
In 2021, I attended the Oktoberfest in Lusaka headlined again by big local artists.
And finally last year in October I once more attended the Mosi Day of Thunder were the likes of Macky 2, Chanda Na Kay and Tsean performed.
The one thing that was common about these shows is that the artists were performing live, backed by a band. From these shows, I can safely say that in Zambia we don’t know how to do live performances. We still have a lot of work to do. Most songs performed live by our artists sound extremely different from the recorded song. The artists sound like ba choir ku church. It’s boring to say the least. You can’t dance and vibe to the performance as you would if you are playing the record.
I think Zambian artists fail to reproduce what they record in studio because they rely so much on computerized beats and tunes. At least artists like Pompi and Danny Kaya are trying. It’s more interesting to watch Amayange than modern Zambian artists if the latter are performing live. The sad truth is that our modern artists are better performers when it comes to playback.
Conversely, Koffi Olomide, Fally Ipupa and other Congolese artists pride themselves in live musical performances. When these guys hit the stage, you will vibe to the performance just as you would if you played a record. You would really have a great time, whether you are taking alcohol or not.
So for someone like me who really appreciates talent, I would rather attend a Koffi Olomide or Amayange event than a Yo Maps, Chef 187, Macky 2 or Slap D event, if they are all performing live.
