The Milli Jam Ingredient!

Because of understandable family commitments on Christmas Day it wasn’t possible to bring an outside guest on to the Chanters Lodge Experience on Sunday night for our last show of 2011, so we turned the tables on Milli Jam (above) and put him on as our guest! So, for one week only the show was ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the George Soulchild Ingredient featuring Richard!’ ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio programme airing every Sunday from 20.30 hrs for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show, a great mixture of music and chat, is popular locally, partly because we give away a prize every week to the first listener to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’! On this particular show the prize was a dinner for four, two more than usual – because it was Christmas Day, and also because no-one had won the week before. The track was Brandy’s ‘Piano Man’ and the winner was Keilher from Maramba! Great stuff!
“So, why are you called Milli Jam and what’s your real name?” George wanted to know at the top of the show. Milli Jam explained that his real name is Milimo Jack Mudaala. ‘Milli Jam’ was created from the ‘Mili’ of Milimo the ‘Ja’ of Jack and the ‘M’ of Mudaala. “Ah!” We said! “Are you married?” We wanted to know. “Very, very married!” Came the reply with what we felt was undue emphasis on ‘very’! Milli Jam went on to tell listeners that he has 7 children altogether. He’d lived in Livingstone since 1985 and had worked at 107.7 fm since 2006. Although he’d been offered full time employment with the station he’d preferred to remain part time as he was also now a manager again at Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone. “You’ve had a long love/hate affair with that place” I commented and Milimo admitted that his current stint was the third time he’d worked at the Fairmount! “They keep wanting me back!” He explained. “Yes” we said, grinning.

The music on the show was as good as usual. We opened with ‘Cannonball’ by Little Mix – last week’s number one in UK I told listeners, but added that Military Wives with ‘Wherever You Are’ was the new UK Christmas number one as we went on air. Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’ was next up. George chose ‘Hampa Nawe’ by Manas ft Recho, a new hot Zambian track, back to back with ‘Feeling Feeling’ by Macky 2. We dropped ‘Right Here’ Nicole Scherzinger’s hit coupled with ‘Talk That Talk’ the title track from Rihanna’s latest album. After the oldie of the week we played Rizzle Kicks – ‘Mama Do The Hump’. “It must be a dance” George speculated. “Certainly hope so” I replied!!

Milli Jam told listeners that time had prevented him being able to do many of the activities available to tourists in Livingstone such as the bungee jump, lion encounter and elephant ride. Nothing to do with fear. “Yeah!” Said George, “you’ve only been here since 1985!” Some of us laughed, others didn’t! Milli Jam told listeners how he just loved Arsenal Football Club. His all time favourite player was Ian Wright and his current favourite inevitably Robin van Persie. No surprise there! His favourite music is and has been R&B and hip-hop, and his all time favourite artist is Micheal Jackson – ‘King Of Pop’. Milimo is famous in Livingstone for his great MJ dance routine but admitted that these days he needs about six Savannas before he can ‘get in the mood’.

Milimo told listeners he’d love to have his own business in Livingstone10 years down the line, and on our part we thanked both he and George for their super presentation of our show since 2007 through 2011 and we looked forward to a successful 2012 for Chanters Lodge and Zambezi 107.7 fm.

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The Kandilicius Experience

Meet Kandilicius (above) and that’s just her Twitter name! Try Kandy Israelyt as she’s known on Facebook or just plain Kandi M’hango her real name. Kandi was the Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela da Soulchild! That’s our regular Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hours and streaming live on the internet. A popular show it is too, partly because we give away a dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge with drinks every week – a prize for the first listener to text us telling us the name of the artist singing our ‘oldie of the week’ – this week the answer was Lionel Richie and the response was great!


Kandi has been a part time presenter on 107.7 fm since March this year, at the moment co-presenting Drive Time, a daily Monday to Friday show. She has a great voice for radio and loves being involved. She has two sons Cholwe and Israelyt (hence her Facebook name) she told us. Milli Jam wanted to know how she’d become involved with the radio station in the first place and Kandi explained that she’d responded to an advert on air early in 2011, advising that the station was looking for new lady presenters – she’d applied and was hired!
 
  
Wearing another hat, Kandi explained to our audience that she was deeply involved with the Empowered By Light Foundation, an NGO, in Zambia to donate solar lighting within Shangombo District in Western Province. So far the organization had donated 5000 units of solar light, as well as laptops, throughout schools, clinics and homes in the district. The NGO had apparently chosen Shangombo having seen from the statistics that only 5% of schoolchildren there passed exams at Grade 9 level. They’d surmised that this was because students were unable to study at night due to no light so they set out to fix the problem. “Awesome” we said, and meant it!
 
 
The music on the show was great. We opened with Olly Murs and his smash UK hit ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ back to back with Kelly Rowland featuring The Waves and ‘Down For Whatever’. George chose Oga Family with ‘Ball Pen’ – a long and (in some peoples’ opinion boring) track! This was coupled with K’Millian’s ‘Kakabalika’ – anything but boring. Milli Jam chose ‘Perfect Party’ from Naughty By Nature ft Fat Joe back to back with Keith Sweat’s ‘To The Middle’. Our oldie of the week was Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’. To close we played Taio Cruz’s ‘Shotcaller’ and Sean Kingston’s ‘Love Me’.
 
 
Kandi told listeners that in the past she’d been involved with Kara Counselling counselling AIDS orphans and for a brief time had also been involved with lodge management in Livingstone. She told interested listeners that she supports Manchester United and likes Wayne Rooney (just imagine!) She’s into R&B and in particular Chris Brown and is very proud of her Zambian roots in Lundazi in the Eastern Province of Zambia and of being Tumbuka by tribe. 10 years down the road she’d like to still be broadcasting and very much involved with bringing renewable energy to rural Zambia.
 
 
She told listeners she loves Zambia and we told her our listeners love her – which they do!








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Vote For C.R.I.$.I.$!



Zambia’s International Hip-Hop artist, C.R.I.$.I.$ has been nominated for the Channel-O video music Awards for MOST GIFTED AFRICAN SOUTHERN VIDEO. The show will be aired on DSTV Channel 320 for everybody in the African Continent. Vote for C.R.I.$.I.$ on here http://channelo.dstv.com/artist/c-r-i-i/

C.R.I.$.I.$. started rapping at age 10 after hearing music by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious, NWA, Kool G. Rap, RUN DMC, Boogie Down Productions, Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd. It’s hard to get a brief biography from this man due to a great number of achievements under his belt.

He is currently working on his fourth album titled ‘B.I.G (Business is Good).’ The album is an addition to a bigger business structure and transformation that the artist is undergoing. This is his most anticipated album since he released the first Zambian Hip-Hop album, ‘Office in Charge’ in January 2005.

A role model and a natural born leader, C.R.I.$.I.$ has for many years strived for perfection in everything that he puts his mind to- all while playing a vital role in his community. 2011 started off with a bang, as his new single ‘The Fire Inside’ took the number one spot across the African continent on the Channel O African Video charts. In February he walked off with a BEFFTA (Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television Arts Awards) for Best International Act, beating out musicians such as Sade, 2 Face, Ali Kiba, M.I. and Fally Ipupa.

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Fly Zambia Airline


This piece from Times of Zambia caught my attention: The investors say they’d like to use the old Zambia Airways logo and in a blast from the past there’s a photo of one of the old airline’s planes clearly showing the much loved logo. Most people felt it was a great mistake to allow the airline to go out of business in the 90’s.

A GROUP of investors from South Africa and Zambia have formed a partnership and staked about K105 billion for a new national airline called Fly Zambia Airline which will be launched in September this year. The company is in consultation with the Government on the possibility of adopting the logo which was previously used by the defunct Zambia Airways.

Fly Zambia Airline Limited chief executive officer Theunis Crous said his company was in discussion with the Government to allow the firm use the Zambia Airways flag and logo on their Fokker aircraft. The defunct Zambia Airways was founded in 1964 as a subsidiary of Central African Airways, but went into liquidation in 1995.

In an interview in Lusaka, Mr Crous explained that the establishment of a national airline was a private initiative hence would be managed by experienced Zambian and South African team.
Mr Crous said the airline would use the Fokker 100 and Fokker 50 aircraft which have low operational costs. “We will start with four aircraft, two of which are Fokker 100 and the other two will be Fokker 50 including a cargo aircraft. We will do a lot of training of the staff in the aviation sector because our planes will be landing in Zambia for the first time and they need to be shown how they operate,” Mr Crous said. He said the airline would initially start with local and regional routes before expanding its routes internationally.

The regional routes include Zambabwe, Angola, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “The firm will also service the domestic market and will set up a car hire company linked directly to the airline,” Mr Crous said. He said as a result of the investment, the airline would create 150 jobs for the local people.

Mr Crous said the introduction of the national airline in Zambia would give the local people the glory of having their own national airline. He said they would use the airline to attract tourists because tourism was a fast-growing industry. “The tourism industry has the potential to even grow and we shall aim to promote tourism from within the region and make Zambia the best destination by providing the services through our airline,” Mr Crous said. He said due to improved macroeconomic indicators and attractive investment incentive, the airline was able to invest in the aviation sector.

Mr Crous commended the Zambian Government for its continued efforts in enhancing the business environment for the private sector to invest in Zambia.

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Happy Easter!

If you don’t celebrate Easter have a great holiday weekend! Otherwise we wish friends, family, blog readers, Guests and staff at Chanters Lodge a very Happy Easter!

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SADC Visa

This would make a lot of sense

The fate of a single tourist visa for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries will be determined in June this year. Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige, says that single visa is top on agenda of the SADC ministerial meeting slated for June, 2011 in Lusaka, Zambia.

Billed as a ‘grand debate’, the ministerial meeting is expected to evolve a ‘grand action plan’ that will lead to the establishment of the SADC single tourists’ visa. “A single visa will go a long way in easing travel arrangements for those intending to sample tourist allure in SADC member countries,” Maige said in Arusha.

SADC member countries are Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Bring it on!

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Slap Dee

George Mukwita aka Kaufela contributes regularly to the blog.

Meet Slap Dee from XYZ fame – Zambia’s number one vernacular rapper! Born Mwila Musonda on the 27th of April, Slap Dee, first got into the game of music during his high school years. Battling with school mates and winning recognition, he soon realised that he could make hip-hop a viable career.

His career began to get moving in 4 years when he worked on a song called ‘Asembe Isebenza’ and was identified by promoter Sync as a rising star. His debut album bearing the same name was a commercial disappointment but earned Slap decent radio spins and generated a buzz in the hip-hop underground. His follow-up effort entitled ‘So-Che’ catapulted the young rhymesmith to national stardom. Featuring hits like ‘Solola’ and ‘Takwaba’… So-Che confirmed what well-informed critics had suspected: the next big thing had arrived!

In between 2007/8 Slap Dee was embroiled in a bitter feud with crooner Mampi. As the beef raged, the listening public was spoiled with legendary tracks from the Makeni based MC like ‘Nizee’ and ‘Sunshila’. He also enjoyed a great working relationship with songbird Sutu, belting out duets ‘Kamba Che’ and ‘Disposable’.

Moving from strength-to-strength in 2009, Slap Dee released his third studio project entitled Black Na White to an overwhelming response from fans. Radio favourites included “Goldigger”, “Fo’Shizy” and “Chishinka”. Slap is currently in the studio recording his fourth album, his second under his very own record label “X.Y.Z Entertainment”. This project will be uniquely different as Slap will use it to showcase his own beat-making skills.

Slap Dee’s strengths lie in a unique ear for music, an intuitive understanding of the listening public’s tastes and his strong song writing skills. With the ability to compose a song hook, a strong 16 bar rap verse or a melodic bridge, this triple threat of beat making, song writing and rapping certainly make Slapdee a star for many years to come on African music. Slap Dee radio’s favourites include “Goldigger”, “Fo’Shizy” and “Chishinka”.and Chipanga’no featuring P-Jay which won him best Zambian hip hop video at the Born n Bred Awards last year in December.

This year be on the look out for this artist – you might wanna remember his name -Slap Dee!

Thanks George, we’ll remember you said…!

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Da-gas


Another guest blog from George da Soulchild aka Kaufela tells us all about Da-gas and his new controversial album. George writes:

“While the country’s self-righteous politicians seem to seek only praise, it appears, resentment is what they mostly attract and often it comes in the form of music.

Little-known dancehall reggae singer Chomba Mutale, otherwise known as Da-gas, has just released an 11-track album which he says is about love – but going by its title track ‘Kankalidwe’ (lifestyle) it will inspire little love from politicians, especially those in government! In the song, the 28-year-old Lusaka based artist lays bare his anger and blames the politicians’ greedy lifestyle on skyrocketing poverty levels and the inequalities that exist between the country’s different social economic classes.

He attributes the culture of dishonesty and declining moral values to politicians who resort to pouring lies on the electorate each time there are elections. “You are the cause of our sisters becoming prostitutes, you are the reason why our brothers become thieves and you are the cause of poverty and suffering in this country” Da-gas tells politicians in the chorus of the song. He also castigates politicians for building themselves luxurious mansions while pensioners languish homeless without receiving their benefits.

Da-gas says as a Rastafarian, it hurts him to see so much suffering in the country and he feels obliged to speak about these things especially as the country heads to the polls this year. He says the song ‘Kankalidwe’ is all about sensitizing people to identify selfless political leaders who would represent the interests of the majority poor.

Da-gas however says he is not concerned by the harassment that musicians such as Twice of the Tomato Balunda fame have suffered in the past for singing songs critical of the government. He insists the album including Nkankalidwe is about love. “It’s all about love. Go to the hospital and you’ll find people sleeping on the floor with no beddings. People are suffering and I’m just trying to remind our leaders to show love to all these people” he says. “If leaders feel offended by the songs that musicians are producing, they should be more concerned about the songs that are full of vulgar and demeaning references to women.” He continued.

“I grew up with my mother who raised me singlehandedly. She used to encourage me to talk when I have something to say and she listened to us, so similarly I expect our leaders to listen when we the young people speak about issues that effect us” he says.

‘Kankalidwe’ is a follow-up to Da-gas’ debut album ‘Umm’hum’ released in late 2008, which was confined to party mongers that patronized nightclubs, as the artist struggled to personally sell copies of the album. Other songs on the new album are jointly produced by Baska Baska, Jerry Fingers and Jerry D. While his knack for conscience dancehall reggae is conspicuously obvious on his latest album, it may just suffer the same fate as his first. Vigorous marketing seems to elude the album.”

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Penny Black Restaurant, Chelsea, London.


As you may have seen earlier in the week, my son Jan-Martijn has recently been appointed Head Chef at Penny Black Restaurant in Fulham Road, Chelsea. Opening is scheduled for the 3rd week in February, so you can imagine the hectic pace of his life at the moment. The photo of Chef doing dangerous things at Victoria Falls was taken some years back! I’ve been lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the menu and I’ve chosen the following to tickle your taste buds!

STARTERS
London Particular
As I haven’t a clue what it is!

Mussels & Cockles, Cider & Mustard Broth, Carrots, Kohlrabi & Cress
It reminded me of Sweet Molly Malone as she walked the streets broad and narrow – and the dish sounds thoroughly exotic

Pigs Head Terrine, Pear Chutney, Toast Brawn sounding favourite and I love pears – and chutney for that matter!

MAIN COURSES
Ginger Pig Sausages & Mashed Potatoes
Irresistable

Roast Lemon Chicken, Bread Sauce & Vegetables
A firm favourite, especially the Bread Sauce

Pigeon Pie, Bacon and Red Cabbage
Something I’ve never eaten but sounds very ‘London’

DESSERTS
Chocolate & Rum Cake, Vanilla Ice Cream
Just this thanks very much!

Made your mouth water? I bet it has!

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Zamtel


This is an interesting piece by Nawa Mutumweno on ShoutAfrica

“Zambia telecommunications firm, ZAMTEL, will in the next two years invest $180 million (about ZMK 852 billion) to expand and enhance its operations. According to company managing director Hans Paulsen, ZAMTEL plans to invest in infrastructure development to increase its subscriber base to 2 million over the next two years in addition to improving its service provision.

“We are in the process of bringing in investment programmes to grow infrastructure. Initially, we had targeted to spend $120 million but we realized this was not enough. We are now going to spend $180 million over the next two years. Growth opportunities in the communications sector were vast and ZAMTEL would seize every opportunity to gain a better market share in the industry. “Currently, penetration is about 35% of the Zambian population, meaning that there is still enough room for growth.

ZAMTEL was on track following the restructuring programme initiated on privatization, making Zambia catch up with advances in telecommunications technology. The firm, one of the three telecommunication firms in the country, would greatly benefit from the LAP Green network through knowledge sharing and technological advancements. LAP Green of Libya owns 75% shares in ZAMTEL. Meanwhile LAP Green is to connect over 6 000 households to broadband internet in Lusaka under the Next Generation Network (NGN) after the rollout plan for the town is completed this month.

The firm has so far invested $23 million to roll out the NGN exchanges in the country and is expected to complete Phase One of the roll out plan in Lusaka in January. Exchanges have since been switched from analogue to digital. In a bid to upgrade and modernize fixed line infrastructure across the country, ZAMTEL has embarked on Phase One of decommissioning of all old analogue land line exchanges and replace them with the NGN exchanges (digital).

This change from analogue to digital exchanges will enable customers to get the benefits of additional features on their land lines such as fast and affordable broadband internet, audio and video conferencing as well as missed call notification, among other services. According to ZAMTEL’s corporate communications senior manager Kennedy Mambwe, the NGN roll out plan is advancing well and almost complete in Lusaka.

“We want to upgrade all infrastructure and make sure that every household can have broadband internet speed.”

Bring it on Zamtel! The sooner the better!

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