activities – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

The Swimming Experience!

We were delighted to welcome Ian Newell (above), international swimming coach and Chief Coach at Shiverers Swimming Club in Brighton (“Hove actually!” Ian corrected us) as Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay-Hillz, our regular weekly Sunday night radio show airing from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Ian explained to listeners that he was in Livingstone for the weekend, on a break from helping Lusaka Dolphins Swimming Club coach swimmers likely to be in the Zambian team taking part in the Africa Games in Uganda next April. It was Ian’s first time in Zambia, first time in Africa and of course his first time to see the magnificent Victoria Falls. He told us that he would be in the country for a total of about two weeks. He had been comfortable staying at Chanters Lodge and had thoroughly enjoyed the Lady Livingstone sunset cruise on his first afternoon, as well as a microlight flight over the falls during his stay. He had eaten a fantastic high tea at the Royal Livingstone Hotel that very afternoon, and had loved the view from their deck, of the spray from the Falls spreading right across the mighty Zambezi.

Milli Jam wanted to know how the connection had been made between Shiverers Swimming Club in UK and Lusaka Dolphins thousands of miles away in Lusaka. Ian said that it had come about due to a Zambian family visiting UK being allowed to temporarily join Shiverers and train during their stay, and subsequently issuing an invitation to Ian to come to Zambia. Ian told us that he had been a swimming coach for a total of about 45 years having been a good swimmer in his youth before turning to coaching as a career. Jay and Milli Jam wanted to know why generally white people seemed to be better at swimming than black people, and Ian explained that it came down to their different muscle length and bone structure required to become top class swimmers. Ian mentioned that he now had several up and coming black swimmers under his wing at Shiverers.

The music on the show was good, featuring tracks from Enrique Iglesias, Duke Dumont, T-Pain, Roberto and Kanji (both Zambian artists) as well as Tyga. Our oldie of the week was a track from JK and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up! My pick of the week was Sia’s ‘Chandelier’.

Ian told listeners that he had never been married and did not have children, he blamed these facts on the intensity of his career – his features only slightly tinged with regret. He clearly regards his swimmers as his ‘children’ and delights in their success all the way up to Olympic standard. He has several youngster whom he thinks may well go all the way to the top of the sport in future. Ian loves football as well as swimming and said he supports his local club Brighton and Hove Albion, as well as Manchester United. We moved quickly on. His musical tastes go mostly back to the 60’s. He’s a fan of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Ian told listeners that as 2024 would be an Olympic year, he would like to be wherever the games would be held with two or three swimmers from Shiverers and some Zambian swimmers competing in the Games!

28
MAR

activities, Africa, awards, Brighton, broadcasting, education, entertainment, football, helicopter, livingstone, Lusaka, music, radioshow, training, travel, wildlife, youth, Zambia

DJ Obby Sims

Meet DJ Obby Sims, (above) leading DJ and supervisor at Livingstone’s hottest night club East Point, and guest on the most recent edition of our weekly Sunday night radio show, the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. Obby’s real name? Obrien Simbwalanga, Tonga by tribe! ‘The Experience’ is sponsored weekly by Chanters Lodge and airs for a hour every Sunday at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s best loved local radio station. The show is popular with local residents, partly because it offers the chance to win dinner for two at the lodge, to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our regular ‘oldie of the week’ spot. The prize on this show was quickly snapped up when we dropped Tina Turner’s classic ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose You’.

Obby told listeners that he had been DJ at East Point for about two years since the hot spot opened, prior to which he had been at Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone as entertainment manager. He still regarded the Fairmount disco as East Point’s major competition especially since their recent renovations. He recounted to listeners how he had started in the entertainment business in Lusaka at Moon City night club in the 80’s with the help of the late Eddy Groove who had taught him how to DJ with vinyl – “nothing like CD decks in those days!” He said. (This stirred some of your writer’s memories!) Later Obby had worked at Lusaka’s huge Black Velvet night club. This was a controversial place in the end, but in its’ heyday it had held more than 1200 revelers at one time! After working for Hanif Adams and Clouds in Lusaka, later Obby had come back to Livingstone and, as mentioned, started work with the Fairmount Hotel.

The music on this show was good. We opened with latest hits from Tinie Tempah and the Chainsmokers. Milli Jam and Jay chose tracks from Stevo, Shaggy featuring Ne-Yo, Lorde and Karasa with Cleo Ice featuring Zone Fam. Our pick of the week was ‘Dangerous Love’ from Fuse OGD featuring Sean Paul, and we closed with a hit from Enrique Iglesias’s latest album.

Obby sadly revealed that his fiancee had passed away the previous month and that he was still enduring the grieving process. He did not have any children. He also told us proudly that he had done the bungee jump and that he was a regular on sunset cruises on the Zambezi. His football team is Arsenal (as shown by the above photo!) and his favourite all time player Thierry Henry. He was really hoping his team would win the FA Cup this year. His favourite music is tracks from the 80’s and 90’s – his favourite international artist the late Michael Jackson, Petersen his Zambian pick. We were surprised at the latter choice as his first cousin is B1 – also a famous Zambian musician.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time (Milli Jam’s favourite question to our weekly guest) Obby said he would like to be in Livingstone, running his own club with his own workers, married to a beautiful woman and to have lovely children. We wished him the best of luck and told him to keep on rocking his patrons!

20
MAR

activities, Africa, Arsenal, broadcasting, entertainment, football, livingstone, Lusaka, radioshow, renovation, victoriafalls, zambezi, Zambia

Around The World Experience

Meet Jill and Paul Carter (above) who left Fremantle, Western Australia in April 2010 on their yacht SV Elevation to sail around the world and who, in March 2014 ended up in the studios of Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, as Guests on our weekly radio show, The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz! ‘How did they manage that when Zambia’s land locked’? You’re wondering – Jill and Paul explained to listeners that they had always wanted to see Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, so they had berthed the Elevation in Cape Town, jumped on a plane and flown up to Livingstone, so they could do just that! Staying at Chanters Lodge it was natural for us to invite them on to the show to tell us something of their around the world trip so far.

Jill informed us that they had recently sailed from Reunion to Cape Town having previously visited many countries in the Far East on their travels. From the long list they singled out their trips to Borneo and Cambodia as two of the highlights especially the rain forest music festival in Borneo. (For more details you can read Jill’s blog here). Milli Jam wanted to know if this adventurous, personable couple were still working and on leave from their jobs. Paul told us that he had retired from his work as a marine engineer in 2009, while Jill explained that she had been in the banking industry for 33 years but was made redundant following the world crash in 2008. They had decided to build a state of the art yacht and sail the seven seas!

The music on the show was good. We were celebrating the birth of Tamera, Milli Jam’s brand new baby daughter – his other 5 children are all boys. We opened with ‘My Love’ from Route 94 featuring Jess Glynne, top of the UK singles charts as we went on air, back to back with ‘Hunter’ a track from Pharrell Williams’ hot album ‘GIRL’. The guys chose tracks from Salma, Chris Brown, B1 featuring Pentagon as well as Nelly Furtado. Our oldie of the week was ‘Motivation’ by Kelly Rowland and the prize we give each week of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist, was quickly snapped up by a certain Charles. My pick of the week was Phillip Phillips’ ‘Raging Fire’.

Jill and Paul revealed that they had been married for thirty three years. They said they had much enjoyed the activities they had undertaken since they had arrived in Livingstone including a visit to Victoria Falls which they described as ‘even more stunning than they had expected’. They had also taken a one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana. They had loved the sunset cruise on the Zambezi on the Lady Livingstone as well as a fifteen minute helicopter flight over the Falls. They thoroughly recommended the Bushtracks dinner train, as well as the traditional dancing at Cafe Zambezi on a Friday night.

Asked about their future plans, the Carters told us that they would fly back to Cape Town the following week and would then sail to Ascension Island and St Helena, before crossing the Atlantic and spending time in the Caribbean. “Isn’t it scary sailing the oceans in bad weather?” Milli Jam wondered (it was pouring with rain outside the studio!) and the couple agreed that yes, sometimes it was. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, they both said they hoped to be together, happy and still enjoying their adventures. Fantastic couple, fantastic adventure, great show!

14
MAR

activities, Australia, Botswana, broadcasting, Cape Town, Chobe, entertainment, helicopter, livingstone, radioshow, railways, tourism, travel, water, weather, Zambia

The Young Australian Experience!

Meet Emma Arians (above right) and Ciana Wills, young Australians, and Guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay-Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show which goes out live on air every Sunday on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The programme is a lively mixture of music and chat – especially lively on this edition with these two pretty, bubbly Aussies! Milli Jam wanted to know if this was the girls’ first visit to Zambia, they replied that for Emma it was, but that it was Ciana’s second time to come to the country. Ciana’s first visit had been some seven years’ ago on a family trip with her parents and brother. The girls told listeners that they had spent the first week of their visit at Chanters Lodge, the second week they were based at Jollyboys, Livingstone’s famous backpackers’ hostel. They said they loved Zambia calling it ‘safe and friendly’.

The ladies informed us that they were both from Melbourne, Australia, and both working. Emma for Village Cinemas and Ciana for Menzies Aviation. Emma is trained in tourism management and Ciana in childrens’ services. Ciana revealed that all her family work at Melbourne Airport including her brother, her mum works for Singapore Airlines as well as her dad who is a Customs and Excise Agent. Both the girls said they had boyfriends back in Melbourne, both in the building industry which made me wonder whether they had an eye on being built a house ‘later’. The girls did not deny it! Ciana and Emma told us they had met when they were kids playing for the same girls’ soccer team. Both girls had previously travelled to USA and Europe.

The music on the show was up to date featuring new singles from Zambia’s own Samantha Mumba, as well as Haim, Pharrell Williams and Tiesto. We also featured Zone Fam’s ‘Lobola’ stopping to explain to these Australian girls that lobola was the price a potential husband would have to pay their parents for their hand in marriage – if they were Zambian! They laughed and said they would speak to their respective dads! Tracks from Ne-Yo and John Legend followed. My pick of the week was a track from Pharrell’s new album featuring Daft Punk. Jay chose the oldie of the week – and stumped the audience first time up as no-one won the prize!

The girls said they had been very busy since they’d arrived in Livingstone. They had much enjoyed the lion encounter and had loved the walk with cheetahs. One of the highlights had been lunch on Livingstone Island and the girls had posted pictures on Facebook of themselves very close to the edge of Victoria Falls, scaring their parents back in Australia! They had quad biked too, and had much enjoyed a visit to Lubasi Orphanage that day. They were looking forward to a gorge swing and an abseil later in the week.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Emma said she hoped to still be with her boyfriend Ben and travelling. Ciana meanwhile wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, still with boyfriend Dave and to have children of her own.

It was a lively show with lots of laughs!

6
MAR

activities, Africa, Australia, broadcasting, entertainment, livingstone, radioshow, wildlife, Zambia

The Veterans Experience!

Judy Smetherham (left above) and Di Rapson are truly veterans of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela! It was their fourth appearance as Guests on our show when we featured them on the first 2014 edition of the programme last Sunday night. The show has been running on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station since late 2007 so this marks our seventh year on air. “Why do you keep coming back to Zambia?” Milli Jam wanted to know at the beginning of the programme. “We love the people of Zambia!” The ladies replied and went on to tell listeners that they had arrived back in Zambia on December 22nd flying in from Perth, Australia where they live, and work in education.

Their first stop in the country was Lusaka from where they flew to Mfue in the South Luangwa National Park where they enjoyed Christmas, explaining that Santa Claus had arrived at the lodge in a 4 x 4 with presents for all the Guests. “Not on an elephant?” We wondered. Whilst in the Luangwa they had seen just about all the game there is to see, apart from rhino, but including leopard and wild dogs. From Mfue they had flown to Livingstone via Lusaka on January 3rd, taking in the elephant orphanage in Lusaka on their way. The ladies had been on the river safari since they arrived in Livingstone as well as taking a microlight flight over Victoria Falls that very morning. They were lucky on both outings to avoid the incessant rain experienced in the city for the whole of the previous week. The ladies were looking forward to a one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana on the following Tuesday, with Chris Tours.

The music on the show was great. We featured our new theme tune for 2014 at the top of the show – Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’. Tracks from Pitbull featuring Ke$ha and Bruno Mars followed. George dropped numbers from Exile as well as Edma featuring Ty2. Milli Jam added a West African flavour with recordings from Niyola, as well as Kcee featuring WizzKid. George picked Harry Belafonte’s ‘There’s A Hole In My Bucket’ as the oldie of the week, but no-one won the prize we offer to the first person to text us telling us the name of the recording artist. Hardly any wonder! My pick of the week for the ladies (who just LOVE elephants) was ‘Come A Little Closer’ by….Cage The Elephant. We closed with an old number from Charlie Pride.

Judy and Di told listeners that they would leave Livingstone the following week and head for Cape Town for a nine day holiday in that super South African city. After that they would fly to Dubai, from there proceeding on a four day tour to Oman before returning to Dubai for some days, prior to flying home. The ladies also revealed that they had plans in the pipeline to visit Canada and the USA. Milli Jam wanted to know what changes they had noticed in Livingstone since their last visit eighteen months ago, and the ladies noted the improvement in the roads, new street signs and the increase in activity prices – the latter reported through clenched teeth!

In an unexpected move, Judy produced a marvellous book of photos taken in Zambia during their three previous visits, including fabulous pictures of the lodge and its staff, the radio show and its hosts, as well as stunning pictures of the Falls, gorges and Zambia’s awesome wildlife. Pictures of all the various activities they have done in Zambia are also featured in the book! Naturally those present felt that they would each be given their own signed edition of the unique volume but this turned out not to be the case, and the book went away with its owner, never to be seen again. The ‘boos’ in the studio were louder than those for David Moyes at Old Trafford as Man U lost at home yet again!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time both ladies said they would like still to be happy, healthy, travelling and creating more books of photos!

10
JAN

2014, activities, Australia, Botswana, Cape Town, Chanters, Chobe, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, New Year, radioshow, staff, travel, victoriafalls, wildlife, zambezi, Zambia

The Japanese Experience

We were delighted to have a Japanese Guest – Yudai Nakamura (above) – on the last edition for 2013 of our weekly Sunday night radio show, The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show airs at 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and is a smooth mixture of latest Zambian and international music as well as chat with our guest of the week. A lucky listener also has the chance to win dinner for two at the lodge – if they can text us quickly telling us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week. The prize on this week’s show was quickly snapped up, the oldie being 1D’s ‘That’s What Makes You Beautiful’!

Yudai told listeners that he hails from Nagoya in Japan, a city of some four million inhabitants. He had arrived in Livingstone three days prior to the show after a thirty six hour journey from Japan via Hong Kong. He works for a company making electronic components for vehicle manufacturers particularly Toyota and he works, he said, in the quality control section. An electronics engineer by profession, in true Japanese style Yudai came to the studio weighed down with tablet, smart phone, camera with lenses and we’re not sure what other electronic else besides in his back pack! When queried he told us that such items are cheap in Japan but that food and drinks are not!

We had no Japanese music to feature on the show but instead we picked the ‘best of 2013’. My three tracks were ‘La La La’ – Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith, Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ and PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’. Yudai knew that one but said the relationship between South Korea and Japan was not good so it wouldn’t do for the Japanese to say they liked the track! George dropped O.C featuring Salma’s ‘Folo Folo’ and ‘Bufi’ by Petersen and Pilato as Zambia’s best of the year. Milli Jam chose Miguel’s ‘Adorn’ and John Legend’s soulful ‘Best You Ever Had’. My pick of the week was Tiesto’s ‘Red Lights’.

Yudai told us that he was single but that he had a steady girlfriend. “Why isn’t she with you?” Milli Jam asked and Yudai said that she had a ‘poor image of Africa’ but he hoped one day to persuade her to accompany him on one of his trips. This was his third or fourth visit to the continent. Since he’d been in Livingstone he’d been on a one day safari to Chobe NP and hoped to return the following day for another visit, mostly to capture more photographs of elephants in the river. Yudai is a great photographer and showed us many of the brilliant photos he’d taken during this and previous visits. He also belongs to a Kendo club in Japan and gave us a brief explanation of the dangerous sounding sport, telling us that face, hands and abdomen were the attack points!

Sports wise our Guest said he likes swimming, cycling and baseball. Music wise he likes Japanese pop. Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Yudai said he hoped to be married and to have enjoyed a honeymoon with his darling in South Africa and Namibia. He hoped to still be working for the same company in Nagoya.

We closed by wishing all our listeners health, happiness and prosperity for 2014!

3
JAN

2013, activities, Africa, Botswana, Chobe, entertainment, Japan, livingstone, radioshow, wildlife, Zambia

The Chrismar Hotel Experience

We were delighted to welcome Robert McCarron (above) as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Rob is general manager of Chrismar Hotel, one of Livingstone larger hotels located on the Royal Mile near the Boat Club, close to the entrance to Mosi-o-Tunya National Park and of course the Zambezi. “The hotel currently has 59 rooms but is in the process of extending by an additional 40 rooms”, Rob told listeners. It was the first time we’ve had one of the general managers of Livingstone’s big hotels on the programme and Milli Jam asked him how he felt to be the first. Robert replied “you have the country’s best known hotel manager on the programme every week, so I’m hardly the first!” I guess I blushed!

Rob told us that he has been in Zambia for 3 years and has, for most of that time, been the manager at Chrismar. He’s an American, a graduate in business management, travel and tourism from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. “Why did you come to Zambia?” Milli Jam wanted to know. “For a change” the reply. We were not told the type of change required! Rob said the hotel had had a great year in 2013 with increased occupancy and room revenue, enjoying a thriving conference trade, with the majority of Guests coming from within Zambia.

The music on the show was good, we opened with two top Christmas hits from the UK by Sam Bailey and Pharrell Williams. George dropped Zambian tracks from Petersen and Mampi, while Milli Jam chose records from One Direction and Tiwa Savege. Our oldie of the week was Bruno Mars’ Grenade, and we had two prizes on offer to the first people to text us the name of the recording artist on the track. Robert had kindly contributed a dinner for two at Chrismar Hotel to add to the dinner for two with drinks at Chanters that we give away each week on a regular basis, and the two prizes were quickly snapped up by our listeners!

Robert told listeners that he’s married to a Zambian lady with whom he has twin one year old little boys, and yes, they do keep the family awake at night and busy, but he said he himself is a ‘deep sleeper’ so not that disturbed! Rob said that he comes from a family of musicians, his mum is a musician with the Boston Symphony Orchestra while his dad plays piano in piano bars across America. Both his brothers play in bands. He said his own musical tastes were wide and that he especially enjoys rap, rock and reggae.

As a Bostonian he loves all his Boston sports teams and, because the owner of the Boston Red Sox is also the owner of Liverpool FC in UK, he’s a fan of that club. This made George very happy. Rob’s first sporting love however is basketball, and he revealed that he is the coach of the Hillcrest School basketball team here in Livingstone as well as the team for Southern Province. As for tourist activities he loved white water rafting and felt that everyone should do that once in their lives. He had swum in Devil’s Pool but had not done the bungee jump. “No time!” He said. “It only takes 7.5 seconds” I replied, and we laughed!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time Rob revealed that he wanted to be the team coach for the Zambian national basketball team while training his 11 year old twin boys in the art of the game! He also mentioned that he would like to have more children. Nothing about hotels we noted!

We closed by wishing all our listeners a very happy Christmas and prosperous 2014.

27
DEC

accommodation, activities, Africa, Chanters, entertainment, football, hotels, livingstone, music, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Chris Tours Experience

It was a pleasure to welcome back Chris Mweetwa (above), director of Chris Tours, as our Guest on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a lively mixture of latest Zambian and international music as well as chat with our Guest of the week. If one of our listeners can quickly text us the name of the artist singing on our ‘oldie of the week’ there’s also the chance to win dinner for two with drinks at the lodge – and a swim if the weather’s up for it and the water’s warm!

Chris told listeners that when he’d last appeared on our show, some three years ago, he was a taxi driver on the verge of completing a contract with the vehicle’s owner which would then give him ownership of that car. He revealed that in the three intervening years he had completed that contract and had then successfully established a tours and taxi company, Chris Tours. He was now the proud owner of a fleet of six vehicles, three mini-buses and three taxis. He had managed to get a loan to start off the expansion and had progressed from there. As well as the regular taxi business, the company offers airport transfers, transfers to any point in Zambia and surrounding countries, as well as vehicle hire and safaris, especially to Chobe NP in Botswana. Chris gave listeners details of his website and Facebook page and mentioned that his company handles all Chanters Lodge Clients to Botswana, as well as staff transport for the lodge.

The music on the show was great. We opened with latest tracks from Avicii and Leona Lewis. George dropped Zambian tracks from Macky 2 and Tyce. Milli Jam chose numbers from Ellie Goulding and One Direction. The prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge to the first person to text us telling us who’s the artist on our oldie of the week, mentioned above, was not won on this show – George chose The Specials with a topical ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ a rather obscure if trendy single.

Chris revealed to listeners that he is married with 5 children, his eldest daughter is 15 and the youngest child just one year and 5 months old. Originally from Kalomo, north of Livingstone though still in Southern Province, Chris said he had been in Livingstone since he was 10 years old and had completed his education at Linda Secondary school in the city. He claimed he supported Arsenal FC in England while others present suggested he might have been forced to say this! He told listeners that he had recently returned from his first visit to Johannesburg and had been impressed with the multi lane highways as well as the Gauteng train in that city.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Chris said that he wanted to be in Livingstone having grown and expanded his excellent tour company. We had no doubt at all that he would succeed.

20
DEC

activities, Botswana, entertainment, entrepreneurship, livingstone, management, marketing, music, radioshow, tourism, transport, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Mufalali Experience

Quite a lot of the music we played on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela was related to the late great Nelson Mandela by way of a tribute. ‘The Experience’ is our one hour regular Sunday night radio show live on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. We opened with Johnny Clegg with Savuka’s briliant ‘Asimbonanga’, our pick of the week was U2’s latest ‘Ordinary Love’ from the soundtrack of ‘Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom’, the new movie about the great man’s life, and we closed with Tracy Chapman’s 80’s smash ‘Freedom Now’ begging the authorities to release Madiba. It was the least we could do.

Our Guest on this show was the inspirational Brenda Mufalali (above) newscaster and presenter on Zambezi 107.7 fm and the only lady so employed at the station! Brenda told listeners that she enjoyed working with all the men and that at least ‘they had a mother’! George and Milli Jam grinned. Brenda has a long history in news and broadcasting in Zambia having worked for Radio Chengelo, Radio Mosi-o-Tunya, Guardian Weekly and Times of Zambia during various moments in the past. She told listeners she had been with Zambezi 107.7 fm for the past three years. Apart from news casting and news gathering Brenda has her own very successful, government sponsored weekly women’s programme on air ‘Women In Success’ which explores and highlights challenges faced by women in Zambia. From time to time she also hosts the breakfast show and does other spots on air too.

Apart from the tracks mentioned above, George treated us to the brand new Ozzy track ‘Komboni Dugude’ great track though no-one seemed to know the meaning, it is the lead single from his new album. Soulchild coupled this track with B1’s ‘Sikiliti Ku Bed’. Milli Jam was in the mood for Jay Z and Katy Perry. Our oldie of the week was ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ the classic from the Righteous Brothers but no-one was able to text us the right name of the performing artist so the prize we give each week was not won.

Brenda told listeners that she was single ‘but dating’ and as yet had no children. It seems that this is the first time she has revealed her social/marital status on air as after the show, the question and answer had clearly produced a buzz around the studios! She revealed her hobbies as ballroom dancing, reading and travelling. She loves the Zambian national soccer team (check the shirt in the picture above) and also seemed to vaguely support Manchester United which did not go down well with the other assembled presenters. She holds qualifications from the Ideal College of Commerce as well as a certificate in journalism. She is a ‘staunch catholic’. Her taste in music is 90’s, slow tracks and gospel. Yes, she does sometimes go clubbing….shock, horror in the audience! The biggest challenge in her job? Confirming stories, and editors, in that order!

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years’ from now Brenda said she would still like to be involved with the media but perhaps not in her present job which should be for younger people by then. She has a serious and great ambition to start and run an orphanage, she herself was an orphan and she wanted to do something for people in a similar predicament. We were sure that with her driven, dynamic, commanding personality she would achieve that!

12
DEC

activities, Africa, broadcasting, children, entertainment, football, livingstone, media, music, News, Publications, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

Akafekwa Mututwa

Akafekwa (above) stepped in as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild – that’s our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The Guest whom we had booked was a ‘no show’ and we were very grateful to Akafekwa for filling the gap. He was a great Guest too!

Akafekwa told listeners that he is the sales manager of a newly established company selling porcelain tiles in Livingstone – ‘Tile Giant’ and that he enjoys the job. An accountant by profession he holds both a certificate in accounting as well as an accounts technicians diploma from NIPA in Lusaka. Before joining Tile Giant he had worked for Chrismar Hotels in Lusaka and here in Livingstone. Tile Giant is located in the same premises as The Hard Rock Cafe in Livingstone which provoked a few questions!

How come Akafekwa was on hand to Guest on our show? Well, he had come to the studio with George following a show that George – a rap musician – had been playing at Taonga Safaris who have a great location on the banks of the Zambezi. The place rocks on Sunday afternoons, just ask the elephants! “How long have you known George?” Milli Jam wanted to know and Mr Mututwa explained that they had been school mates together in Mongu, Western Province and had met up again when he, Akafekwa, arrived in Livingstone some 2 years ago. Akafekwa claimed to be George’s manager and Milli Jam immediately wanted to know ‘where’s the album?’ an FAQ in recent months. “It’s coming, it’s coming” we were told angrily!

The music on the show was good, we opened with our theme ‘Feel The Love’ by Rudimental featuring John Newman. The theme will change in the new year and we already have a few ideas for a new theme for next year. We dropped tracks from One Direction and Calvin Harris. George played Zonefam’s ‘Lobola’ noting that this fab Zambian band had picked up a Channel O Africa award just the previous night! He also played his own track featuring Maji – ‘Enter Enter’. Milli Jam gave us tracks from Alicia Keys and Avicii and our oldie of the week from Justin Bieber. The prize we give to the first person to text us telling us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week was quickly snapped up.

Akafekwa told listeners that his favourite type of music is R&B and that his favourite artist is R Kelly. He is, he explained, a big fan of Manchester United and was quite sanguine about the fact that they had only been able to draw with Spurs that afternoon. Milli Jam and I spent a few moments discussing Arsenal’s position at the top of the EPL while others listened! Akafekwa said he had done quite a lot of the tourist activities available in Livingstone but had never done the bungee jump nor swum in Devil’s Pool. He told listeners that he was married with two sons, the youngest of which was just over one month old. “Awwww” we said! His wife is a teacher at Faith Academy Trust School in Livingstone.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, our lively laughing Guest told us that he wanted to be a happily married family man with a very successful country wide tile company to his name – a real tile giant in fact! We wished him the best of luck.

6
DEC

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