Late President Sata – Memories!

Through the 1980’s when I was general manager of the Ridgeway Hotel in Lusaka (now Southern Sun Ridgeway Hotel), late President Michael Sata was for some time District Governor of Lusaka, with offices at the civic centre right opposite the Ridgeway on Independence Avenue. He loved the hotel, particularly as I remember, the Jolly Casino! (My then assistant manager, John Phillips, now a highly successful entrepreneur back in UK, can verify!)…

Although I’m not sure if it was true that Mr Sata, as he claimed, could actually see into my office from his office, there were several occasions when he phoned saying “Do some work Chanter I can see you’re loafing”. On one occasion – “the front of your hotel looks nice but I can see into your back yard from my office, get it cleaned up!” We did!

There was one infamous occasion when our late President barged into my office dragging a security guard literally by the ear. “Tell this man who I am!” He shouted, releasing the poor victim from his hold. “Surely you know Mr Sata, the district governor?” I asked the guard. He nodded quietly, clearly thinking better of saying anything. “And tell him I’ll park my car anywhere in Lusaka that I want!” Added the governor. It transpired that Mr Sata had parked right outside the front door of the hotel – the guards had strict instructions to stop anyone parking in this position to avoid traffic congestion. The guard had followed orders and commanded Mr Sata to move his car!” Brave but foolish! “Go away!” He said to the poor man, closing the door as the guard fled. The district governor then sat himself down and continued “now Richard I need a nice suite for the weekend, and a couple of good bottles of white wine!”

One day, in the early 1990’s, after I’d left the Ridgeway and he was now a minister in the Chiluba government, our paths crossed and Mr Sata yelled at me “Hey! We’re going to let established residents like you vote in council elections in future!” It didn’t happen. He was however kind enough to appoint me to the Lusaka Province Liquor Licensing Board when he was Minister of Local Government, which, as I was unemployed and unloved at that time, gave me a considerable morale boost. I was grateful.

I didn’t see him again until just before the 2011 election when he was campaigning in Livingstone and passed through the airport on his way back to the capital. I was waiting to meet incoming guests. “Where are you now?” He asked, recognizing me, and I told him I had a lodge in Livingstone and that he’d be welcome any time. We wished him luck in the upcoming poll.
Unfortunately he never did come to Chanters Lodge, within a few months he was President of Zambia.

May his soul rest in peace.

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The Latest ‘Experience’

We were delighted to welcome three generations of the same family as our Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. Fran Baker (above left), granny to Ellie Dawes in the centre and Ellie’s dad Kev Dawes on the left! The family, together with Fran’s daughter Leigh and her grandson Archie, were visiting Livingstone, staying at Chanters Lodge, on holiday from UK. It had vaguely rained in Livingstone on the day so we jokingly accused them of having brought their British weather with them, an accusation firmly denied! ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing every Sunday from 20.30 hrs for an hour on Zambezi 107.7fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Fran told listeners that their visit to Zambia was mainly to see her other daughter Gillian Langmead. Gillian and husband Peter live in Lusaka and have been guests on our show in the past. Great supporters of Chanters Lodge they are too! Gillian handles the PR and publicity for Proflight and Zambeef, two of Zambia’s most successful companies. Hubby Peter is a great writer and photographer. Kevin told us that his family lives in Dorset in the west of UK and that he is an electronics engineer with Ericssons involved with the installation and maintenance of towers for mobile phone communications. Wife Leigh has her own gardening firm. Fran is retired having worked for many years as a school secretary and for the UK police force. Ellie told us that she’s in Grade 6 at school.

The music on the show was good opening as we did with latest tracks from Fuse ODG as well as Waze and Odysssey. The guys chose work from Edma – ‘Remote Control’ a Zambian track where the singer complains that he is used like a remote control by his girl friend, he must do what she says! Ed Sheeran and Chris Brown were other featured international artists. Jay gave us Flexville ft Karasa and Shyman, another Zambian track called ‘Respect’. Our oldie of the week was Ozzy with Making Me High, and the prize we give to the first person to text us with the name of the artist was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Gwen Stefani’s Baby Don’t Lie and we closed with All I See by Bondax.

The family told us that they had really enjoyed some time on the Lower Zambezi during their visit to Zambia as well as a visit to a crocodile farm. While they were in Livingstone they would of course visit the Falls and were looking forward to touring the Livingstone Museum, Railway Museum and Jewish Museum. They had booked for the sunset cruise before leaving back to Lusaka and on to UK in a few days’ time. Music wise Kevin told us that he likes Jamie Cullum and Ellie’s favourite is George Ezra. Ellie also told us about her dog called Bramble. She said she would like to be a vet when she’s older.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Fran said she would like to be alive and kicking and still with all her marbles (not sure if MJ and Jay got that one!). Kevin was looking to be fully supported by his grown up children!

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Michael Chilufya Sata 1937-2014

The management and staff of Chanters Lodge Livingstone would like to express their condolences to the family and friends of the late President Michael Sata, and indeed to all the people of Zambia on his loss.

May his soul rest in peace.

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The Louis Barabbas Experience

Meet Louis Barabbas (above), musician and Guest 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 airing for an hour live every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Louis told listeners that he was currently on holiday in Zambia with his parents, who were in Zambia to participate in the 50th Anniversary of Independence celebrations taking place in the week ahead. He would be attending a state dinner in Lusaka with them on Independence Day itself. He explained that his grandfather had once been the town clerk of Kabwe! Milli Jam looked surprised. His mum, Pam, was also about to publish a book about Zambia titled ‘Remnants Of Empire’.

Louis, an English language graduate has been involved in the music industry in UK one way or another for about 12 years. He currently heads a band by the name of Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six. Given the name of the band I was somehow expecting Louis to be a great big hairy loud rocker not the rather shy thoughtful young man who kept us entertained on the show! Louis explained that the band, which is based in Manchester, had just finished a tour of Europe taking in Germany and Austria and would be on a break until May 2015. The boys had also just completed their second studio album called ‘Youth’ and Milli Jam was delighted to be given a copy. He and Jay assured Louis that tracks from the album would be featured on shows on 107.7 fm during the week ahead. Louis had also finished writing a solo album, yet to be recorded, which would be entitled ‘Gentle Songs Of Ceaseless Horror’……..

The music on our show was good as usual and featured tracks from Avicii, Taylor Swift and One Direction. Milli Jam and Jay chose tracks from Ten Walls and Ma-E, as well as Exile, Adele and the Masasu Band. My pick of the week was a new track from Noel Gallagher called ‘In The Heat Of The Moment’. As this played Louis wondered why he would come all the way from Manchester just to listen to a Manchester outfit in Livingstone. We closed with something rather different – Krishane ft Melissa Steel, with ‘Drunk and Incapable’! None of us were!

Louis told us that he plays guitar and harmonica and is also lead singer of the Bedlam Six. He heads a recording company – Debt Records – which has about eight artists in its’ stable and often operates as a type of co-operative with acts combining their skills to come up with the best results. Louis has a weekly radio show on local radio in Manchester. Surprisingly football wise he supports neither Man City or the other team in the city. Still single, Louis has a partner – a geologist by profession –  with whom he’s been going steady for about ten years. Did he miss her? Yes. His own musical preferences tended towards film music and musicals. He is also involved in the Musicians Union in UK, working for a fairer deal for musicians in that country.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now Louis said he would like be making more music, travelling more and to be making more money. We agreed that this would suit all present in the studio!

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The Chanters Lodge Experience! With Teejay Chingobe.

Of course you could go to TripAdvisor and look up Chanters Lodge to see the experiences of Guests who have stayed at the lodge, but it so happens that our weekly Sunday night local radio show, broadcast on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, is called The Chanters Lodge Experience!

The show is hosted by top Livingstone DJ’s Milli Jam and Jay Hillz and is a nice mixture of chart news, latest local and international pop music, chat with our Guest of the week and social media updates. We also give a weekly prize of dinner, or lunch for two with drinks and a swim, at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week. Guests on the show are often visitors staying at the lodge, sometimes local personalities and sometimes young people in music and/or broadcasting looking for a lift up. On the most recent edition Twaambo Joseph Chingobe (above) fell into the latter category.

Teejay, as he likes to be called, told listeners that amongst other activities he’s currently enjoying training as a radio presenter with Zambezi 107.7 fm. Milli Jam wanted to know if Teejay was related to Bradley Chingobe, a previous guest on our show and he confirmed that Brad is his uncle. He however pointed out that unlike his uncle who is a full time Man U supporter, Teejay favours Arsenal. Milli Jam and I were happy about that! Apart from his radio presentation, Teejay has a company called Blue Magic Entertainment that provides management and promotion for up coming musicians, as well as events management. His company also has a clothing label. Teejay is a hip hop musician too, but was rather secretive about his plans to release a single, we told him we would wait! He hoped his company ‘Southern Triumph’ would, in future, really help local Livingstone musicians get good gigs.

Our music on the show was great. We usually play a total of 10 tracks on the show. The opening two are latest top chart hits from the UK – on this show singles from Meghan Trainor and The Magician ft Years & Years were showcased. The next set of two tracks are Zambian hits and the fifth and sixth tracks are favourites of Milli Jam and Jay. Next comes our oldie of the week mentioned above, then my pick of the week – a track I think will soon make it on to the charts. On this show I chose Mr Probz’s ‘Nothing Really Matter’. Our last track is always one that will leave the listeners dancing in the aisles!

Teejay told listeners that he’s still single but has a four year old baby girl – Brooklyn, who lives in South Africa with her South African mum – he misses his little girl a lot. Most of Teejay’s secondary and tertiary education happened in South Africa where his parents stay, although in his early years he was nurtured in Livingstone by his grandparents – sadly his grandad had very recently passed away.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing 10 years’ from now, this bright, sharp 24 year old said he would like to be a successful entrepreneur in the entertainment sector. ‘Marriage?’ We wondered. “I’m scared!” The reply!

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The Canton Experience!

Meet Stephano Canton (left above) and Paolo Veriti (right above), 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 airing every Sunday at 20.30 hours on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. As you might guess from their names, Steph and Paolo hail from Italy, Stephano intends to settle in Zambia and revealed to listeners that just the previous weekend he had married Claire, his Zambian girl friend with whom he is very much in love! Both Steph and Paolo hail from a small town in Italy about an hour or so north of Venice. Paolo was visiting Zambia, staying at Chanters Lodge, helping Stephano to set up their new business in Livingstone.

Our Italian guests told our listeners that they had recently opened a new establishment in down town Livingstone and currently were offering 18 different flavours of home made Italian ice cream. Their new industrial pasta machine had just arrived in the country so they would shortly be offering pasta as well as pizza at their new Canton Restaurant. They told us that together with the garden the restaurant can accommodate 200+ customers and that currently they employ 11 staff, though finding well trained workers was proving to be a challenge. They also offer Zambian food. Stephano had first come to Zambia as a volunteer in Northern Province and had fallen in love with the country, the people and the weather.

The music on the show was good. Stephano asked us to play Kumanda by Chico Wise ft B1, his new bride’s favourite track, so we did. We also played Chris Malinchak’s ‘So Good’. Others were from Slap Dee, Jesse J ft Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, Redlight, Trey Songz and ShiftKey. The oldie of the week was by van Morrison but no-one won the prize we offer of a dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track. My pick of the week was a new track from Magic! ‘I Would’.

Our Guests told us that they have a Karaoke night every Friday at the Canton and hope in future to have a live local band at weekends. They had not had time to participate in any of the Livingstone tourist activities having been too busy with the wedding  and setting up a business. They support Udinese their local football team in Italy, famous for having brought up a lot of young players including Alexis Sanchez now a big star with Arsenal. They both love Zambian music. Paolo told listeners that he’s been married for 30 years and has two daughters, one living in Milan, one living in London.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Stephano wanted to have many children with Claire and to have a successful big ice cream company in Zambia with many franchisees. Paolo hoped to be still visiting Zambia many times a year. We thanked them for coming on the show and wished them all the best with their business

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The Jericho Experience!

Meet Jay Jericho Kashiya (above) Guest 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, sponsored by Chanters Lodge, airing for an hour every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Jay, (or Jericho as Milli Jam preferred to call him, seeing there were two Jays in the studio) told listeners that he lives in Lusaka but was visiting Livingstone partly for work but mostly for love! It transpired that the love of his life Niza, stays in Livingstone. Half way through the show Jericho recited a poem he had written for Niza, ‘The Girl From Ellen Brittel’. We cried! Ellen Brittel is one of the Livingstone suburbs and we speculated that when he announced the title but before Jericho said who the poem was for, there must have been a lot of excited girls right there in Ellen Brittel!

Jericho told listeners that he is a graduate from the University of Zambia holding a degree in education with a major in history. He also has a certificate in marketing, and is currently studying for a diploma in business management. After a short time teaching at Mpelembe Secondary school, Jericho decided that despite his degree in education, teaching ‘was not really for him’. Currently, Jericho is a membership officer with the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants, a position he has held for the past 17 months. His responsibilities include recruitment and events. The Institute in Zambia has some 5000 members at different levels. He lives in Rhodes Park and travels daily to work near Arcades fortunately against the flow of the traffic, notoriously congested in Lusaka at rush hours.

The music on the show was good as usual, opening with tracks from Chris Brown ft Ariana Grande and Professor Green ft Tori Kelly. Jay and Milli Jam chose tracks from Crisis Mr Swagger, Labrinth, Judy ft Muzo, and Mary J Blige. Our oldie of the week was by Chilu, but no-one won the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge we give to the first person to text us telling us who’s the artist on the track. My pick of the week was a new one from 1D – ‘Fireproof’ and we closed with a new track from Jennifer Hudson ft Iggy Azalea.

Jericho told listeners that in football locally he favours Nkana Red Devils and in UK he supports Manchester City. His favourite player is Mario Baletelli even though he is no longer with City. Music wise he loves Pompi, a Zambian artist and Emile Sande, a Zambian artist busy being Scottish! He loves rap, R&B and sometimes Rhumba. In his spare time he writes poems (we gathered that!) He’s always busy studying and reading for his further education. Milimo wanted to know if he had ever done the bungee jump in Livingstone and this wise, likeable young man said that even the thought terrified him! He has a Facebook page and is also on LinkedIn.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Jay Jericho Kashiya said that he would like to be married with three children and to be a business leader, the chief executive officer of a large company. We thanked him for coming on the show and wished him the best of luck in the future.

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The M Vibe Experience!

We were delighted to welcome Mambo Mulenga (above) as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. Why ‘The M Vibe Experience’ in the title? M Vibe is Mambo’s radio handle. ‘The Experience’ is an hour long live show broadcast every Sunday night at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Mambo told listeners that he had joined Zambezi 107.7 fm in July of this year and currently hosts three shows per week – two on the graveyard shift between midnight and 05.00 hrs. His third show is a combo with one of the other station’s presenters and airs every Wednesday evening, known as ‘The Evening Glide’. He was happy with the attention the programme was receiving both locally and internationally.

Mambo explained that he had been mostly brought up in Botswana where his dad was working as a doctor. On completion of his secondary education he had come back to Zambia and enroled in the University of Zambia completing a first degree in Human Biology. Here he had met his wife, well known Zambian singer Kanji, a lawyer in the military wearing her other hat, with whom he has two children Cassie and Andrew. Sadly the couple are currently apart. Mambo is also marketing manager for a new firm M Vibe Media, which is a publishing and marketing company. The business has just published two books written by Mambo’s dad, Dr Mulenga, ‘The Sceptics’ and ‘Life’s Pitfalls’. Good reads both.

The music on the show was good, opening with latest tracks from Calvin Harris featuring John Newman, and Ne-Yo featuring Juicy J. Jay dropped tracks from Kid Ink and Zambian act JK. He also featured DJ Fresh. Our oldie of the week was by Judy featuring Cactus and the prize we offered of lunch for two with drinks and a swim at the lodge was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Fall Out Boy’s super new track ‘Centuries’ and we closed with The Vamps featuring Shawn Mendes and a revamp (!) of the old Simon and Garfunkel track ‘Oh Cecilia’!

As you can see Mambo Mulenga’s supports Man U and he, like the rest of the world, were celebrating that team’s first EPL win of the season on the afternoon of the show. We moved on. M Vibe’s musical taste is Zambian and African, particularly Nigerian music. His favourite artists? Wife Kanji and Exile on the local scene, late Aliya internationally. Mambo is fond of playing chess when his busy schedule affords him the time.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Mambo said that he would like to be firmly established in business, preferable in the real estate market. We wished him the best of luck and thanked him for appearing on our show.

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Bruce Chiboola

Meet Bruce Chiboola, Guest 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 airing live on Zambezi 107.7 fm every Sunday night from 20.30-21.30 hrs and is a lively mixture of local and international music as well as chat with our Guest. We also give a social media update, as well as news of the UK and USA pop charts. Every week we give away a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge to a lucky listener who has been able to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week – usually a Zambian track selected by Milli Jam and Jay. On this show we also gave away a CD by Cleo Creations as a bonus!

Bruce told listeners that he was born, brought up and educated in Livingstone, completing his secondary education at St Raphael’s School in the city. After school he had joined Thompsons Lodges as a buyer. His passion is tourism and he now has his own consultancy company which, apart from managing Thompsons four lodges, is involved with micro-finance, property management as well as tours and car hire. Thompsons has a total of about 35 rooms and room rates vary from K150-K300 per room per night. (US$25-50). The micro finance side of the business provides short term loans to people in full time employment, underwritten by a firm guarantee from employers.

The music on the show was great. Our theme tune for 2014 is Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’. We played tracks from GRL and The Script. Milli Jam and Jay chose recordings from Kantu ‘Koneki’ (‘pay first if you want a partner!’) As well as Mampi’s ‘Love Recipe’ (‘how to look after your man at home!’) Other tracks were from Sigma featuring Paloma Faith and Jeremih. My pick of the week was Ella Henderson’s latest ‘Yours’. Jay promised to feature the track in the coming week on his daily breakfast show on Zambezi 107.7 fm.

Bruce told listeners that he is still single and has a six year old son whom he greeted on air. He is a firm supporter of Manchester United – despite he said ‘their current poor form’! Although passionate about tourism this passion did not apparently stretch as far as doing the bungee jump from the bridge linking Zambia and Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls! He had however bravely tried the gorge swing. We took the chance to tell listeners about the Under The Spray Swim – latest activity at the Falls organized by Bundu Adventures. Music wise Bruce loves Zambian music, particularly Dandy Crazy and JK.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Bruce said he would like to have an expanded business that was international as well as Zambian. We thanked him for coming on the show and held him up as a great example to young Zambians as to what could be possible for school leavers with hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit!

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The Travellers’ Experience

Meet Verrinia (VJ) and Stephen (Steve) Rees (above), travellers 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 Sunday night radio show airing for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. VJ and Steve, Guests at Chanters Lodge, told listeners that they had only just arrived in Zambia following a trip through South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

The couple told listeners that they hail from UK. In 2008 they decided to give up their well paid managerial jobs in local government and start to travel. They had subsequently been just about around the world following an itinerary they had drawn up in their early days together. They had met through work and friends and had been married for 19 years. “Was it love at first sight?” Wondered Milli Jam, who loves that question! Steve replied that he was ‘smitten’ while they were dining out for the first time together in an Indian restaurant in Maidstone, Kent, such that he failed to eat his curry!

VJ explained that she had been mostly employed as an archivist back in the day, while Steve was an environmentalist and clearly still maintains a deep interest in environmental and eco issues. Their visit to Zambia would not only include a visit to Victoria Falls but would continue with visits to both Kafue and South Luangwa National Parks. Steve said he had had a passion to visit South Luangwa ever since he had seen a programme in the Survivor series on UK TV when he was very young. He would soon realise his dream! Both VJ and Steve have a love for, and a keen interest in, wildlife. They talked of leopard and wild dog that they had seen on their travels in Southern Africa.

The music on our show was international, local and latest as usual. We opened with tracks from Lilly Wood and Ariana Grande. Milli Jam and Jay chose music from Pompi, Elbow, Eve and Chester ft IC. Our oldie of the week was a track from Jo Klasic ft P Jay called ‘Method 2’, and the prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge that we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist on the track, was quickly snapped up by a certain Musa.

Steve and DJ told listeners that so far their visit to Livingstone had mostly consisted of sorting themselves and their laundry out, following months on the road mostly camping. They planned to visit both sides of Victoria Falls during their stay and were also interested in a sunset cruise as well as a swim in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island.

After their visit to South Luangwa they would be off to Malawi and Mozambique. They told us that due to more family issues than they had expected back in UK, they had in fact been back to Europe more times during their travels than they had originally planned.

Music wise Steve singled out Peter Gabriel as one of his all time outstanding artists. Generally he was in to rock but both said they had not much time to listen to music while they were travelling. Steve loves rugby and being Welsh born especially the Wales national team. He also supports Swansea City in the EPL.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now this appreciative, friendly and fascinating couple said they would like to be travelling – Europe in summer, the rest of the world when Europe was cold!

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