Free Wifi…..or not!

TNooz is the place to find stuff about hotels and hospitality! This piece about the importance of offering free wifi in hotels caught my eye. Chanters Lodge was one of the first small lodges in Livingstone to offer this facility some years ago and we have battled with various ISP’s to meet our goal. Right now our supplier is Zamtel but we have a back up ISP as well. Get in!

It is possibly one of the most fiercely debated topics in (consumer) travel technology – should consumers be entitled to free wifi and web access in hotels? And it now turns out that travellers are becoming more discerning about the destinations they are likely to visit, based on the quality of mobile coverage.

A study of 500 travellers (52% from Western Europe, 16% Northern Europe, 13% Southern Europe, 17% Middle East) found that 86% now expect wifi connections to be made freely available in hotels. Amazingly, over a third (37%) say that good mobile coverage is important when choosing a destination, although the study doesn’t explain how consumers are checking such requirements.

Elsewhere in the study (commissioned by Brocade), over half admitted to using their mobile devices to check on work emails during a leisure trip – hardly surprising in some respects given that 95% of people will take a mobile phone away with them on holiday. Pressure is increasing on hotels to loosen their policies over tariffs for wifi services, although property owners and others still claim costs in large hotels are often prohibitive.

Interestingly, live streaming appears to be becoming an increasingly important consideration, with a third claiming they will attempt to watch content from the London 2012 Olympics if it coincides with a trip.

Brocade VP and CMO, John McHugh, says:
“There is significant blurring between personal time and work time in modern society, with the consumerisation of IT and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) working policies leading many people to rely on smartphones and tablet devices around the clock, wherever they may be and whatever they may be doing.”


That’s it!






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Whitney & Dave DeCamp

 
Meet Whitney and David DeCamp (above) from the USA. Whitney is a strategic planning analyst with the American Red Cross and Dave is a business system manager with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, both based in Washington DC. Dave’s job involves the implementation of the Smartcare programme in conjunction with the Centre for Disease Control.

Whitney and Dave met about 11 years ago and in 2005 got married. They have recently been enjoying a short vacation at Chanters Lodge in Livingstone, so we took the opportunity to invite them to guest on our regular Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – airing live at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. On this occasion the ‘Milli Jam Ingredient’ was not feeling well so it was the ‘Kaufela Ingredient’ featuring Richard! Whitney and Dave were a little apprehensive but in the end happy to accept our invitation and they were great Guests!

“What have you been doing since you arrived in Livingstone?” George wondered early on in the set. Whitney and Dave explained that they had only arrived from Lusaka the day before, but had already managed to fit in a sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone, which they had loved, especially as they saw quite a lot of game during the trip. They had, they explained, that very morning been on the rhino walk with Bwaato Adventures, and considered the activity to be really good value for money. They had seen six rhino, including one of the babies as well as loads of other game, including cape buffalo, giraffe and zebra. Dave told listeners that he’d been attending a conference in Lusaka before they arrived in Livingstone, Whitney had, on this occasion, been able to join him for a holiday and had persuaded him to come and see Victoria Falls and he was delighted she had. They had seen the Falls and got soaking wet in the process! “All part of the fun!” They said.

The music on the show was good. We played tracks by Jeremy Greene featuring Usher as well as from Miley Cyrus, Roberto and Kaufela, moving on to Pitbull featuring Shakira – or was it the other way round? Newton Faulkner featured too. Our oldie of the week was by Shabba Ranks. We give away a dinner for two to the first person to text us telling us who’s the artist on our weekly oldie and this week a certain Albert win the prize. Our pick of the week was Call My Name – Florence and The Machine’s first every UK number one, featuring Calvin Harris and we closed with Taio Cruz’a latest ‘Fast Car’.

Dave told listeners that he loves country music and baseball, while Whitney likes alternative rock and American football. Their favourite teams are both from Baltimore. Asked how they had found out about Chanters Lodge Whitney explained that they had found the lodge well reviewed on TripAdvisor and that they were more than happy that they had made the lodge their choice.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, this lively and loving couple expressed an interest in coming back to live in Zambia with their, as yet, unborn children. We wondered if it was hard for Whitney with Dave travelling so much in his job, but they explained that the internet, Skype and things made it much easier than it used to be! Were the guys on Facebook or Twitter? Yes both, but Dave claimed he had no followers on Twitter! We determined to do something about that!

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The Calgary Crowd on Zambezi 107.7 fm

Actually this wasn’t the whole ‘Calgary Crowd’ who’d been staying at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia, there were a couple more back at the lodge! They are big people and it’s quite a small studio! Meet (left to right) Julie and Dallas Mauck with Hobie Schmautz. All hail from Alberta, Canada and were visiting Zambia – and for that matter Africa – for the first time. They were a little hesitant about appearing on our regular Sunday evening radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – but I twisted their arms and I believe they enjoyed ‘The Experience’ – though it was, perhaps, one of the last things they expected to do while they were visiting Livingstone and Victoria Falls!

During their visit to Zambia, apart from appearing on the radio, Julie and Dallas, married for 20 years this year and celebrating the anniversary with their stunning trip to Africa, as well as Hobie and the rest of the crowd, had taken a 30 minute helicopter flight over the Falls which they described as ‘amazing’. On their second day they’d rafted the famous Zambezi white water rapids – numbers 14-25 which are those open while there’s ‘high water’ – as it is at the moment. I asked Hobie on air if he’d enjoyed the ride and he said ‘well, yes, I did seeing I can’t swim’! The group had also ‘zip lined’ from the famous railway bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe but had, apparently, drawn the line at bungee jumping!
 
The music on the show was good, we dropped Cheryl Cole’s UK number one hit ‘Call My Name’ back to back with Flo Rida’s ‘Whistle’ at the top of the show. For the Zambian part of our play list we chose Dandy Krazy’s ‘Dangana Nkupule’ as well as B’Flow’s ‘Efyo Waba featuring P-Jay. Jennifer Hudson’s ‘Spotlight’ was our ‘oldie of the week’ – listeners have to text us telling us who’s singing the track if they want to win a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge – they do and they did, so the prize was quickly won. Milli Jam featured Camp Mulla’s ‘Party Don’t Stop’ – they’re a Kenyan outfit – and for our Canadian Guests we played ‘As Long As You Love Me’ Justin Bieber’s dubstep smash, featuring Big Sean.
 

Julie and Dallas told listeners that they run their own business back in Calgary – it’s a quick service garage that offers complete oil and filter changes in 20 minutes for US$60. We believed them!! And so too did we believe that you can get used to -45C degree temperatures though I’m not sure I’d want to! The group also told us they’d had a great time in South Africa on safari for almost three weeks before they arrived in Zambia, and that they would be headed back for Canada the day after the show. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time Julie said she and Dallas would like still to be healthy, wealthy and travelling! Hobie was ‘hoping for the best’.

Great show!

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From Oklahoma, USA to Livingstone, Zambia

Meet Staci and Lance Norton (standing, left to right) as well as Mackenzie and Madison Gillham (seated left to right) from Oklahoma, USA, our recent Guests at Chanters Lodge as well as on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. That’s our regular Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s popular local radio station. The lodge sponsors the show, which is a mixture of music and chat – popular locally due to the fact that we give away a weekly dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week George chose a track from Zambia’s popular Sakala Brothers and the prize was quickly snapped up by a lucky listener!

The Nortons and Gillhams told listeners that they’d arrived in Zambia on May 23rd primarily to visit and participate for a while in the running of The New Day Orphanage in Mpanza in the Southern Province of Zambia, some one and a half hours from Choma. Lance is Youth Minister at Union Hill Baptist Church in Oklahoma and New Day Orphanage is sponsored and run by the Baptist Mission in Zambia. The orphanage is still small with about 14 children aged between 4 and 8 years. They had enjoyed their time in the ‘bush’ helping to teach the children religious studies, as well as basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. Staci and Lance Norton had visited Zambia last year, but for the girls it was their first visit. Milli Jam was delighted to be able to talk briefly to Lance in the Tonga language!

Madison, the older of the two sisters explained that she was a third year student of early childhood education at South Western Oklahoma State University, and Mackenzie that she is at the same college as her sister studying first year pre-veterinary medicine. For once, when we had girls on the programme, Milli Jam forgot to ask them if they had boyfriends waiting for them back home! The girls told listeners that their dad was a farmer and their mum a beautician back in the USA.

The music on the show had a distinct African flavour with tracks by Exile and Judy from Zambia, Diamond from Tanzania and Naeto C from Nigeria. We also played Loreen’s Eurovision Song Contest winning ‘Euphoria’, as well as Philip Phillips’ ‘Home’ – the girls were happy to hear that Philip had recently won the American Idol show – news they had missed while they were deep in Southern Province, Zambia!

Lance and Staci told listeners that they’d been able to fit in quite a lot of tourist activities since they’d arrived in Livingstone. They had taken the one day safari to Chobe in Botswana, and had been delighted to see a wide range of animals including lion, giraffe and elephant as well as a whole host of birds. They’d taken the helicopter flight over Victoria Falls – the girls admitted to being ‘a little bit scared’. They had seen the Falls from the Zimbabwe side as well as from here in Zambia. They had ridden elephants, walked with lions, encountered cheetahs and the next day were scheduled for a game drive to try and see rhino. They had not done the bungee jump – ‘not brave enough’ they said! Quite a package anyway! They described Victoria Falls as ‘amazing;.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Mackenzie calculated that at that stage she would be two years out of vet school and practicing her profession. Madison hoped to be pre-school teaching and raising a family. We wished them luck with their ambitions.

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Aku and Alia Djedidi

 
Meet Aku (left) and Alia Djedidi (above) from Finland. Those are hardly Finnish names, I can hear you thinking! Quite right too! They are brother and sister and they are Finnish but they have a Moroccan father, hence the names – they were both born in Casablanca. “So you’re African!” Exclaimed Milli Jam at the start of the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, when Aku and Alia appeared as Guests. “Yes” they replied “but now we live in Helsinki, Finland”. The Experience is the weekly radio show sponsored by Chanters Lodge, and airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs every Sunday night on Livingstone local radio’s Zambezi 107.7 fm. The show is popular locally as it offers a chance for listeners to win a dinner for two at the lodge with drinks – we play an ‘oldie of the week’ and ask listeners to text us the name of the artist singing the track, the first correct answer wins the prize. On this particular occasion the answer was Chris Brown singing ‘Excuse Me Miss’ and the prize was quickly won!

Aku and Alia told listeners that they’d been in Livingstone for about four days and had thoroughly enjoyed their stay at Chanters Lodge, as well as the various activities they had undertaken during their visit. They had of course got soaking wet when they went to see Victoria Falls – stunning at this time of year – and had also been on the one day safari to Chobe. They were delighted to have seen both lion and hyena during that safari, as well as scores of elephant, giraffe and hippo, common in Chobe National Park. They had, that morning, been on the rhino walk with Bwaato Adventures and had come very close to four of the rhino in the Mosi-o-Tunya National Park in Livingstone, including one of the babies. “Were you scared?” We wondered. “Just a bit” they replied. Rhino are pretty scary close up when you’re not in a vehicle!
The music on the show was hot – as usual! We featured The Wanted’s ‘Chasing The Sun’ and Faith Paloma’s ‘Picking Up The Pieces’ both high in the UK charts as we went on air. George featured one of his own tracks with Ty2 – ‘Spotlight’ – a great Zambian dance track, back to back with Mampi’s ‘Wali Lowelela’ (‘you are beyond sweetness’). Mampi, famous Zambian singing star was beyond the Big Brother Africa House on TV as we went on air – in the process of being evicted! George (her friend) shed a small tear. Milli Jam featured Zahara’s ‘Lengoma’ back to back with Craig David ft Calvin Harris ‘Good Time’. As a tribute to the late Robin Gibb we closed the show with ‘How Deep Is Your Love’.
Aku told listeners that he was an entrepreneur and had a retail shop in Helsinki selling clothes, as well artist’s materials such as brushes, paints and so forth. He had been in business for about six years. Alia is a nurse, specializing in care for the elderly and she explained that for the past 15 years she’s worked at an old peoples’ home caring for about 76 people. “Where are you going when you leave Zambia?” Milli Jam asked. “Malawi” they replied. “Why are you going there?” Asked Milli Jam. “Nature” replied Aku. I ‘snorted’ before saying “nature!” Milli Jam, “he’s going to see his girlfriend”! We laughed. Aku admitted that it was true that he and Alia were travelling to Malawi to see his girlfriend Mintu who, by coincidence, had recently appeared on our radio show herself, and who has, since then, been working in Malawi.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, they both said they would still like to be travelling and meeting new people. I guess they will be. It was a lovely show.

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A Funky Experience

Anyone who’s listened to our Sunday night radio show knows it’s usually funky and last week’s episode was particularly so! Why? Well one of our two Guests (pictured above) was Doug Funk! In the photo with Doug is Gertrude Muma, part of Zambia’s Ministry of Education and Doug’s working colleague who came to the studio to see what we do. We were delighted to pursuade Doug to appear on the show – he’s been a regular visitor to Chanters Lodge for a number of years, and has recommended us far and wide, for which we are most grateful!

Our Sunday night radio show is called The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela and is a great mix of Zambian and international pop music, as well as chat with our weekly guests. Milli Jam and George, both well known Livingstone radio presenters and local entertainers, host our show which airs from 20.30-21.30 live on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. 
Doug told listeners that his visit to Zambia was to promote the THRASS programme in Zambia’s primary schools, holding workshops for teachers. THRASS stands for teaching, handwriting, reading and spelling skills. The programme is aimed at giving youngsters a better grasp of English, which they would need in times to come for better education and their future prospects. Doug explained that he hailed from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, was married with three sons and at one time had lived and worked in Zimbabwe as an expatriate for 5 years between 1987 and 1992. He loved Africa and had travelled very widely across the whole continent. On this most recent trip he’d arrived via Malawi and Lundazi in Zambia’s Eastern Province.
The music on the show was great. Opening as usual with Olly Murs’ ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ we moved on to ‘Scream’ by Usher and ‘Drinks On Me’ by LMFAO. George’s Zambian selection featured Runell’s ‘Amayendele’ – there was some debate on the meaning but Gertrude ventured ‘we can walk free’. The second local number was Shyman’s ‘Nikumona’. Milli Jam chose Yoav vs Pascal and Pearce with ‘Beautiful Lie’ and T Pain Featuring Ne-Yo with ‘Turn All The Lights On’. Oldie of the week was Rascal Flatts’ – ‘Bless The Broken Road’ – no-one knew who was singing it, so our weekly prize went unwon for once. “Ha ha!” (Said Richard). Pick of the Week was Ben Howard’s ‘Only Love’ and we closed with Skepta’s ‘Make Peace Not War’.
Doug said during his numerous visits to Livingstone he had. at various times, flown the ‘Flight Of Angels’ microlight over the Falls and swum in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island. He’d got very wet seeing the Falls from the ground. His favourite sport was ice hockey (about which the rest of us knew nothing!) He’d been raised by farmers and farming had been his first choice of career before he ventured into education. He told listeners he chose Chanters Lodge for his visits to Livingstone because it felt more homely than the other lodges in town he’d tried.

Asked where he’d like to be and what he’d like to be doing 10 years from now, Doug replied ‘exactly what I’m doing now, I love it!’ The first time I can remember anyone giving that reply. Thanks again Doug! And everyone else who makes our weekly show possible and successful!

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The Experience

‘The Experience’ is ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, and it’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing weekly from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. This week’s Guests, pictured above, were Peter and Jane Kohlhoff hailing from Sydney, Australia, briefly visiting Zambia for the first time and staying at Chanters Lodge. This loving married couple told listeners that they’d been married for 357 days and we took the opportunity to wish them ‘happy first anniversary’ in advance! Peter is a professional musician and Jane a psychologist – they told listeners that they both work freelance. Jane has her own psychology practice which operates one or two days a week and for the rest of the time she is involved with research. Peter plays bass guitar and double bass and has been involved in music since he was a teenager.

The music on our show was good. We opened with ‘Take Care’ by Drake featuring Rihanna, back to back with Justin Bieber’s latest smash ‘Boyfriend’. George chose B1’s ‘Perfecto’ currently a very popular track in Zambia together with ‘Chitemene System’ by B-Flow featuring Exile and JK. Milli Jam dropped Usher’s ‘Without You’ and ‘How We Roll’ by Loick Essien featuring Tanya Lacey. Our ‘oldie of the week’ was ‘Sweet Soul Sister’ by Train. We asked listeners to text us right away when they knew who was singing on the track – that’s if they wanted to win a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge. But no-one knew! I had predicted this! We gave the prize (off air) to our two hard working presenters, George and Milli Jam! My pick of the week was ‘Blackout’ by Breathe Carolina.

Peter and Jane explained that they’d arrived in Zambia the previous Thursday from South Africa and would be returning there as Jane would be attending a meeting for psychologists after their stay in Zambia. The day they’d arrived they’d taken the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone which they’d loved. The following day they’d gone on a two day camping trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. They’d been very lucky not only to see hundreds of elephants, common in Chobe, but also lion and leopard. They had seen lots of other species as well. Peter and Jane had returned to Zambia on the day of our show, and had been to see Victoria Falls which they had loved – ending with a sundowner at the Royal Livingstone Hotel. They told listeners that they were not so much into sport as lots of Australians but loved their music.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, they hesitated and then Peter said ‘I do not know, but I am looking forward to it’! Peter and George spent time discussing music off air, and we hope their plans for some sort of collaboration bear fruit – Peter has played on over 150 recordings and should certainly be able to assist Soulchild in his ambitions!

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Natalie King & Olivia Butler on ‘The Experience’

 
 
Meet Natalie King (left) and Olivia Butler from UK, guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing weekly at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Natalie and Olivia are teachers, visiting Zambia as a result of student and teacher exchanges that happen thanks to Laura Tilling of IntroZambia  “a “not for profit” organisation, founded in 2002 by Steve & Caroline Curtis with Laura Tilling, on the principle of fairly trading with local people, to support economic development through grass roots tourism” (quote), though I guess it has developed a lot since they wrote that!

Natalie teaches at Wincanton Primary School and Olivia at Ansford Academy, Castle Carey, both located in Somerset, England. Exchanges are in operation between Mufulira High School and Ansford Academy as well as between Wincanton Primary School and Kamuchanga and Mutundu Basic Schools also located in Mufulira on the Zambian Copperbelt. We noted that these exchanges must be a steep learning curve for all concerned!

Natalie and Olivia told listeners that they’d arrived in Livingstone that very day after spending a week working in Mufulira. For both it was their second visit to Zambia but their first journey to come and see Victoria Falls. They had plenty of activities lined up for the few days they would spend staying at Chanters Lodge, including a game drive, a river safari, microlight/helicopter flights and in Olivia’s case, horse riding. Natalie, a primary school teacher, said she was married with a 17 year old son in UK. She greeted her husband Jamie, listening to the programme back at the lodge together with the other members of the group of seven on the exchange programme. Olivia is single and told listeners that she teaches secondary school level science – and loves it.

The music on the show was good. We featured tracks by Sean Kingston, Chris Brown, Dandy Krazy, B1, Adele and Bruno Mars. The ‘oldie of the week’ was Daniel Powter’s ‘You Had A Bad Day’. I thought listeners would struggle with the name of the artist, but not so, and the prize was quickly snapped up with a text message! A dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge! Our pick of the week was Justin Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’ and we closed with Nicki Minaj’s smash, ‘Starships’.

We wondered how these fantastic exchange programmes were funded and the girls said there were various ways. Olivia explained that the students, teachers and parents of Ansford go to tremendous lengths to raise funds ‘everything from pig races to barn dancing’ she said. They were lucky to have also had some funding from the National Lottery, as well as a kind donor from the Minor Metal Trading Association. Natalie said that in the past they had received funding from the British Council but that this might not be the case in the future.

The two girls told listeners that they would be leaving Livingstone the following Wednesday, some of the group would be heading back to UK, while others would be going to Atkins Farm in Monze for some more Zambian experience! Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now, Natalie said she would ‘still like to be doing what I do’ and Olivia said she would like to have a PhD and to still be enjoying the adventures that life had to offer.

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Nasty D

‘Nasty D’ is back! But for how long?

George da Soulchild Kaufela reports:

At one time he was one of Zambia’s most celebrated artistes. This was so, not because of anything other than his somehow weird, crazy but also funny way of bringing out issues through social commentary. Nasty D, was one the founding fathers of modern day Zambian music which he himself used to call Zambezi music, which was a fusion of Kalifunku, Kalindula as well as modern day Zambian music.

Nasty D at one time also formed his own music clique called the Zambezi Symphone which consisted of the likes of 2wice and Shimaster, among other artistes. But the artiste later decided to take a break from the music industry in 2007 citing personal reasons, among them school.

The good news for all those who used to follow the musician and his music is that they have something to smile about – because Nasty D has returned to the music scene with a remix of his classic hit Bombasa and Shake Your Kwendo, a club banger in which he featured a talented teenage rapper Drillz, and Stevo. Both singles were produced by D J Mzenga Man at Y.E.M (Young Energy Movement) for Mzenga records.

The Bombasa remix features Mzenga Man himself, Alpha Romeo, as well as M.B.G. And for anyone who has taken time to listen to the two songs, they can also attest that nothing has changed about the artiste, as he is still the same old Nasty D, the Zambezi music maestro.

In his other single, ‘Shake Your Kwendo’, it is without a doubt that the artiste has come back to reclaim his rightful place on the music scene. He has maintained and stuck to his usual Zambezi music style. In this song, Nasty D is seemingly trying to tell all his music followers that he still has what it takes to be counted among the heavy weights and old timers in the music industry.

And Drillz, a teenage female rapper he featured in the song is also one to look out for in the year 2012. She is a revelation that has the potential to send shivers down the spines of other female rappers. She is not only young but also talented, and coordinated well with Nasty D on the intro and killing off her second verse with ease. The same can be said about Stevo. It looks like Nasty D has also not moved away from his culture of nurturing and moulding young and up-coming artistes, the same way he nurtured Mbototo of the Ama Blax.

The two songs have also been enjoying some fairly equal airplay on most radio stations as well as clubs. Nasty D has perfectly combined modern day Zambian music and his Zambezi music well.

That being said its hard to say how long he will be back. We wish him all the best.

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