Jan-Martijn Chanter – Head Chef

I had this news the other day via Facebook and it’s congratulations to Jan-Martijn, one of my sons, on this exciting new appointment. Of course you might not know that Jan’s kitchen training started very early in his life and was conducted by his granny and his dad, as the above picture proves!

Congratulations Jan! Who wrote:

“Good news is that I have accepted a job as head chef at the Penny Black Restaurant. The owner is an old comrade from the days of the Atlantic Bar and Grill – Tony Ho. I’d noticed that he was opening a place and I messaged him that I’d be interested in sorting out the kitchen. He called me back and we have moved on from there. The food concept is British Seasonal.”

On further investigation I discovered that the restaurant is due to open in February, and here’s what I also found on the internet:

“The Penny Black Restaurant is a traditional British restaurant, evocative of fond childhood memories and creating a home from home on Fulham Road, Chelsea.

Traditional British long lost favourites such as; Beef Wellington, Toad In The Hole, London Particular, Braised Oxtail, Scottish Lobster, Cottage Pie, Grilled Dover Sole, Bread & Butter Pudding, Apple & Rhubarb Crumble and Arctic Roll are just a few of the nostalgic dishes on the wholesome and hearty menu. All are cooked in the indulgently classic style using the finest of ingredients from British farmers and producers.

The team behind The Penny Black Restaurant has over 30 years experience between them in the London restaurant scene having worked with legends such as Oliver Peyton on his eponymous and much missed ‘Atlantic Bar and Grill’. The comfortable yet opulent décor features original artwork from Simon Claridge the up and coming Washington Green artist whose work is currently on display at galleries worldwide.”

The restaurant is quite near Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC and Jan-Martijn as an Arsenal fan (it’s compulsory in the family) says he’ll have to ‘set aside his Chelseaphobia’ while at work.

He’s a wonderful chef and of course we wish him the very best of luck in this exciting new project!

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C.R.I.$.I.$ Mr Swagger Up For A BEFFTA

George da Soulchild, co-presenter of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient, our weekly Sunday night radio show on 107.7 fm in Livingstone, updates us weekly on the Zambian music scene:-

“Zambian Hip-Hop artist Chisenga Katongo, also known as C.R.I.$.I.$ Mr Swagger, has been nominated for the BEFFTA Awards to take place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta next month.

The Black Entertainment, Film, Fashion, Television & Arts Awards, is a prestigious international event and a distinctly special awards ceremony, honouring the best entertainment and showbiz personalities in the black community in the UK, USA and globally.

“C.R.I.$.I.$. Mr. Swagger is nominated in The Best International Act alongside artists such as Sade (UK), M.I. (Nigeria), 2Face (Nigeria), Ali Kiba (Tanzania) and Fally Ipupa (Congo DRC). While those nominated in the Best Male Act include: Usher, Big Andre, Ludacris, TreySongz and Maxwell,”.

“Eventual winners of the awards will be decided by public/global vote, which will be carried out both online and also by sms. Each nominee will be given a nominee number for sms voting and also a link for online voting, which the artist can give their fans for them to vote.”

And Chisenga, who is currently working on a new album (B.I.G), in an interview said he had been persistent in trying to keep his music international and as such he was happy to get the recognition. “My New Year has kicked off on a good note. For a long time, some people have tried to discourage me and told me that it’s impossible for my music to be recognised internationally, but I have been persistent with my dream and I am far from over”. He said.

“The nomination is a good sign of where things are going. Most recently, we also saw my song ‘The Fire Inside’ take the number 1 spot on Channel-O across Africa, despite some sceptics not recognising it here in Zambia. I’m quite happy with the way things are going and, being placed among other great artists is an honour in itself. The nomination means a lot to me and Zambian music. I thank the BEFFTA panel for being able to recognise my work. Above all, I thank God.”

The BEFFTA Awards were launched in London in October 2009. This year, the awards will debut in Atlanta on February 23 as an integral part of the African-American celebrations to commemorate Black History Month in the USA.

Wishing C.R.I.$.I.$ the best of luck!

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Egypt Air New Route To Zambia

Although we wish there were more international flights coming into Livingstone from Europe and Asia, any new ones into Zambia are welcome, so we’re happy to report this through LusakaTimes

North African aviation giant Egypt Air has launched its first ever direct commercial flight to Zambia. The first Egypt Airliner recently touched down at the Lusaka International Airport carrying Egypt Air Chairman, Captain Alaa Ashour and Zambia’s Ambassador to Egypt Lieutenant General Herbert Simutowe among other passengers. Egyptian Ambassador to Zambia Salah EL Sadek was on hand to receive the delegation.

Speaking to the press later, Ambassador Simutowe said the introduction of the direct flight from Zambia to Egypt and back would have a positive effect on the Zambian economy. He said Egypt being a developed country, the new route would also see more investors and tourists visiting Zambia. And Ambassador El Shadek said the introduction of Zambia on the list of Egypt Air destinations was as a result of President Rupiah Banda’s fruitful visit to the country recently.

He said the development would also enhance the long standing good relations that the two countries were enjoying.

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Roberto

George da Soulchild aka Kaufela, one of the presenters of The Chanters Lodge Experience on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm every Sunday night, fills us in on the career of Roberto, pictured above.

Robert Banda aka Roberto is representing Zambia on the African music front and has much more to offer, including his forthcoming still untitled album to be released later in 2011. Last year he collaborated with artists from 5 different African countries including Uganda, Namibia, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria and also toured in those countries. It must be said that his name might not be that big in Zambia, but he manages to get good recognition outside his own country.

This may change as his latest African collaboration ‘Killa Love’ by UZ47 & Fishman (Zambia, Uganda & Namibia) has continued to receive massive airplay on most African radio and music video TV stations, and is currently at the number one spot on radio Phoenix’s Local Rhythms Countdown in Zambia.

Robert ‘Roberto’ Banda is a Zambian musician, producer and radio presenter, as well as a DJ. He works for QFM Radio in Lusaka. His song ‘Akasuba’ won the 2009 Radio Phoenix’s Local Rhythms Countdown song of the year competition. ‘Toniks’ aka Allan Ampaire is a Ugandan singer. Toniks is from Tones and Semi Tones. Songs are created from tones. The two came together in 2010 to form UZ47, an African duo. Their first single was ‘Be With You’. UZ47 is a Sling Beats Project – their hit single ‘Killa Love’ was recorded in Namibia and produced by Maj Beats. It features 2010 Namibian Channel O Nominee Fishman.

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Murchison Falls, Uganda


I had this lovely e mail early in the New Year – attached was this wonderful picture of the amazing Murchison Falls in Uganda which I was lucky enough to visit in 1971.

“Dear Richard !

As former customers and regular readers of your blog we would like to wish you and all your family a healthy and prosperous 2011, full of happiness and good moments !

Attached are some pictures of taken during our last trips to Uganda (Murchison Falls on Nile River – yes one more waterfall experience !) and Georgia.

We will definitely get in touch if we happen to come back to Zambia.

Best wishes and take care.

Jean-Michel and Helene STROBINO
Nice, France”

Thanks Jean-Michel and Helene, we remember your visit very well and look forward to welcoming you back to Livingstone again in the future.

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Zambian Music Scene 2010 – Review


Here’s George da Soulchild’s piece about the 2010 Zambian music scene, George is pictured above:

The year 2010 can be recorded as a mixture of explosive moments as well as big flops in terms of popular music and performances in Zambia. Today’s blog takes stock of some of the highlights in the sector often hyped up by music videos.

It worked as an advantage to most artists to produce music videos as this became a faster way of promoting their songs, and with the opening of TV2 (ZNBC), airplay increased with many artists getting recognition. It’s also worth mentioning that despite the fame some of the artists enjoyed, others totally lost it. 2010 saw a number of uncontrollable releases, mostly singles, which created competition and at the same time paved way for songs like Chika’s ‘Lupupa’, JK’s ‘Soul Survivor’ and B1’s ‘Pillow’. This trend overshadowed a number of album releases especially from big names.

Copperbelt’s Afunika, whose style added a different dimension to the industry, came in with songs ‘Kakonkote’, ‘Miss You’ and ‘Tefumo Lyandi’ earning him popularity and a string of shows country wide. This made him 2010’s most played artist both on radio and in night clubs. Dandy Crazy’s 2010 effort wasn’t as good as his last project leaving fans disappointed – it couldn’t even match the muscle of up-coming artistes like PJ, B’flow, Bryan, Cray J, Alpha Romeo and B1 who took over radio – especially radio Charts.

Additionally, the year saw the growth of hip-hop music with Slap Dee and C.R.I.S.I.S both winning Born and Bred Awards. New talent P.O.M.P.I and The Zone Farm pushed Zambian hip-hop forward. Artists like JK, Dalisoul, Orga Family, Runell, CQ, Danny and ‘wonder boy’ Afunika had a successful year as regards music performances, as all of them had an album to promote though their rewards were unevenly matched. Runell’s offering ‘Addictive’ failed to beat his previous and probably most successful ‘Unexpected’ album.

Orga Family were a serious come back with efforts on ‘Koka Kola’ earning them an Ngoma Award and a nomination for the Born and Bred Award, while Danny enjoyed a country wide tour thanks to his latest work ‘Live’, making him the most consistent live performer of popular music in the last ten years. JK got the most awards at the Born and Bred and his quest for international fame finally paid off when he was selected for the One8 project singing alongside seven other African artists plus celebrated US musician R Kelly. His ‘Kapilipli’ Album produced by Raydo has significantly revamped his career. MC Wabwino and K’millian were among notable artists to come up with late releases – we’ll have to wait and see how their albums fare this year.

Petersen, Ozzy, Roberto, Mampi and Shyman are all soon to off-load their latest projects for 2011. Credit should be given to Exile and PJ who have probably been the most featured artists in 2010. Female artistes have not had a good year with Mampi not being as aggressive as the previous year. Artistes like Indi K, Judy and Dambisa have taken advantage.

Artists to look out for in 2011 both big names and up and coming are B’flow, B1, Camster, Manus, T-boy, TY2, Mozegator, OC, Roberto, Shyman, Yellowman, Ozzy, Petersen, Mampi, Afunika and Livingstone Based Kaufela just to mention a few. These artists are definitely set to turn the tables in 2011.

Music backed by traditional Zambian influences, the Amayenge ,Sakala Brothers, Mathew Tambo, Angela Nyirenda, Maureen Lupo Lilanda and new comer Mumba Yachy enjoyed a good year with tours outside Zambia.

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Zambezi Airlines


Zambezi Airlines, the Zambian outfit, is looking to expand, according to this piece from LusakaTimes

“Zambezi Airlines is negotiating with some countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond for possible opening up of new routes next year. Commercial director Sidney Siabamundi said in an interview in Lusaka that the airline had made applications to fly to other routes and was awaiting approval from respective governments. “We are coming up with exciting programmes for our clients in the coming year. We intend to open up new routes within SADC and beyond, but we can only name the countries once the respective governments approve our applications’’.

The airline currently offers flights to Lubumbashi in Democratic Republic of Congo, Blantyre in Malawi, Harare in Zimbabwe, South Africa’s Johannesburg and Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

Mr Siabamundi said the airline had recorded overwhelming bookings following the promotional same-day-return fare on Lusaka-Johannesburg route running from December 13 to 31. Mr Siabamundi said business executives had taken advantage of the US$99 fare to Johannesburg to conduct business and return the same day. “We have a flight going to Johannesburg leaving at 07:00 hours to arrive at 09:00 hours and return at 18:00 hours in Lusaka the same day,’’ he said. The purpose of the promotion is to encourage the business people and corporate partners to conduct business on the same day without losing out on time for other engagements.

Zambezi Airlines hopes to utilise its flights as a hub for connection and transit for those travelling in the SADC countries. The airline was founded in 2008 and has grown to be one of Africa’s leading low-cost airlines. Zambezi has a business model that allows it to offer cheap fares without compromising on service.

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Craig Brown & Abby Wills


Craig and Abby, pictured above, staying at Chanters Lodge, guested on the latest edition of our Sunday night radio show – the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild – which airs every Sunday night from 20.30 – 21.30 hours on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. It was the last show of 2010!

Craig’s a New Zealander, Abby’s English, and although not married they’re partners and currently live in Johannesburg, South Africa where Craig’s a consulting engineer with Mott MacDonald an employee-owned management, engineering and development consultancy serving the public and private sector around the world. “Do you work?” Milli Jam asked Abby. “No” she replied “I’m a lady of leisure in Johannesburg with a great social life and loads of friends, mainly because of work permit problems”. “That must be a a bit boring, wouldn’t you prefer to be working”? I chipped in. “Not in the slightest”! Was Abby’s instant reply which had us laughing.

Quite a lot of chat on the show was about rugby. Obviously we wanted to know from Craig, a former player with London Scottish, why New Zealand had never won the Rugby World Cup! Craig claimed that they had, in the 80’s, but Abby quickly scotched this idea by reminding him that South Africa didn’t feature then, so somehow it wasn’t a genuine victory! Nice one Abby!

Craig and Abby told listeners about their fascinating travels to both Cambodia and Rwanda earlier in the year with the Penguins Rugby Club, teaching rugby in these developing countries to disadvantaged youngsters. They’d been surprised at the amount of raw talent seen in both places. The Penguins is a ‘by invitation only’ club and you can read more about it by following the link above. What did surprise us was to hear that Abby had also been a rugby player when she was younger until injury forced an early retirement. We also had respect for Craig on learning that he’d recently completed the Paris Marathon in under 3.5 hours.

The music on the show was good, as usual. We got off to a flier with the Ghanain band R2Bees ft Wande Coal’s ‘Kiss Your Hand’ back to back with the awesome ‘Man Down’ from Rihanna’s latest smash album. George chose Petersen’s ‘Wanna Dance With You’ and Kelvin Mwesa’s ‘Wonderful Time’ for his two local tracks. Milli Jam chose Jamie Foxx with ‘Winner’ and Akon’s (imo horrible) ‘No Labels’. We also played ‘Many of Horror’ by Biffy Clyro to give listeners a feel for the UK Christmas No.1. I commented that our closing track Sean Kingston’s great ‘Party All Night’ (and sleep all day) was a good track for this time of year in Livingstone.

Craig and Abby told listeners about their one day safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana where they’d been lucky enough to see a pride of 8 lions – a record for our guests on that trip. This delightful couple had also enjoyed their helicopter flight over the Falls, as well as a sunset cruise and a morning river safari. Abby told listeners that on their last morning, the next day, she intended to bungee jump. (And she did!)

I took the chance to wish our listeners a belated Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2011, and also to thank the staff at the lodge for their extra-ordinary hard work during the holiday period. As we went on air the lodge was packed and for once the girls didn’t have too much chance to enjoy the show!

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Cresta Mukuni Safari Lodge


This from pr.com caught my eye – as you’d expect! Don’t know where it is to be situated but from the sound of it, somewhere in Chief Mukuni’s area. Now there’s a surprise! (There he is above).

Capital Corp Merchant Banking is pleased to announce that it has signed on for a $15.4 M project with Zambian corporation Playland Limited to create the Cresta Mukuni Safari Lodge Victoria Falls. The aim of the project is to build an internationally recognized 4-star Safari Lodge with modern facilities: amenities and conveniences which will cater for incentive groups from Europe and America with facilities that can also be used for local and regional markets in the European off-season. Apart from hotel accommodations, the project will offer other timeshare facilities that will cater to both local and foreign clientele.

The business concept of the project is strong, given the significant gap in the market for Safari and wilderness type high-end hotels in the Victoria Falls area where only 70 hotel rooms exist on the Zimbabwean side, and with limited conference facilities. In order to have a quick impact on the market and to enhance its position, Playland Limited has signed a management contract with Cresta Hospitality which is one of the biggest hospitality groups in southern Africa managing and operating 13 properties in 3 countries (Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Nigeria), to manage its property. This will provide the development with the key personnel, marketing strategies, and implementation strategy needed to insure a smooth and efficient development.

Cresta Mukuni will be twinned with the famous Cresta Mowana Safari Lodge situated in the Botswana National Park, which has won major international awards.

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Social Media Projections 2011


I liked this from Trevanian Legg – the owner Nigel Legg is pictured above – don’t know if he’s right or not – what do you think?

* Twitter will go mainstream.
I’m surprised that, with around 150 million users and over a thousand tweets a second, according to PEW Research only 6% of the adult US population are on twitter. The total usage number is only around 20% of the total figure for Facebook (currently estimated at around 570 – 600 million users, depending on who you believe), so this combination of data suggests that in other parts of the world Twitter is already close to being mainstream, and I believe it will soon catch up.

* Facebook growth will slow.
A point will be reached, probably in the next year, where the growth of facebook – currently estimated at 700,000 new users PER DAY – will slow, as there just aren’t enough people left for that kind of growth to carry on for much longer. Of course, a massive increase in internet access in poorer countries where it is currently limited could delay this.

* Diaspora will be forgotten.
The huge network effect of so many people using Facebook will outweigh the privacy concerns that lead to the development of Diaspora over the summer, and very soon the open-source system will be forgotten, going the same way as Google Wave.

* Facebook places will make Foursquare and Gowalla relegated to irrelevance.
Facebook Places, the social network’s location based service, will be rolled out to users and, through sheer weight of numbers, make existing services, such as Foursquare and Gowalla, irrelevant. The huge size of Facebook will mean they can attract better deals and more development work, thus making it more attractive for people to use their service.

* Social Media Monitoring will be replaced by Social Media Research.
Increasing demand from the C-Suite for confirmation that Social Media demands attention will lead to increased complexity of work required to provide the data required. At the same time, the ever growing numbers using social media in all it’s forms will mean that using social media as a data source for providing the vital insights a business needs will increase in value. Both of these will lead to a growing professionalisation of the monitoring / research role within corporations, and an associated development of specialist companies dedicated to carrying out social media research for their clients.

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