Arsenal – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Krystle The Brave!

Sometimes tourists come to Livingstone just to experience the fantastic array of activities available in the area, with viewing the Victoria Falls somehow a secondary consideration on their itinerary. It seems this was the case for Krystle Cummings (above), young, pretty Canadian Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly Sunday night radio show we sponsor airing from 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a popular mixture of music and chat with our invited guest, sometimes someone staying at Chanters Lodge, sometimes a local personality. Members of staff at the lodge have also appeared as Guests on the show.

Krystle told listeners that while she had been in Livingstone, she had ridden elephants, swum in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island, flown over Victoria Falls for 15 minutes in/on a microlight, gone white water rafting and swung the gorge swing – this last activity ‘more than once’. The scariest? ‘White water rafting!’ She said. Milli Jam wanted to know if there were any activities she wished she’d done but hadn’t, and she mentioned the rhino walk, and the lion/cheetah encounter! She had also been to Chobe National Park in Botswana for the one day safari and had been thrilled to see so many elephants.

Before arriving in Livingstone, Krystle, a Justice graduate from the University of British Columbia, had spent time in Lusaka, staying with a Zambian family on a short internship with Advocacy for Juvenile Justice. This programme had involved visiting juveniles incarcerated in adult Zambian prisons, with a view to trying to bring about a change in this unsatisfactory situation, which, she said, simply leads to a continued cycle of crime. Juveniles locked up with adults had little chance of reform and much more likelihood of repeat offending, she explained. Zambia was one of the very few countries to offer a chance to non-Zambians to visit the prisons and she described her time in Lusaka as an ‘eye opener’.

The music on the show was good. We opened with tracks from Enrique and Avicii. George dropped numbers from Pilato and General Ozzy. Milli Jam chose music from Beyonce and Daft Punk. Our oldie of the week was Amayenge’s ‘Ten Wala’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up! My pick of the week was R Kelly’s ‘Genius’. We closed with tracks from Daughtry and John Legend.

Krystle told listeners that although she was still single she had a steady boyfriend back in Canada who was just finishing College, as indeed she herself had just finished. Brian (his name) was studying web design, she said, and revealed that he was an adrenaline junkie just dying to come to Zambia to do the bungee jump! Brian was a Manchester City fan though Krystle herself follow iced hockey more than English football. Milli Jam was very happy that Arsenal were top of the EPL as we went on air and took every opportunity to remind listeners of this fact! Our Canadian guest said she was a fan of Mumford and Sons and had recently been lucky enough to have front row seats at one of their concerts, which she had loved. She was also a fan of Kings of Leon.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Krystle hoped to have a great job, a nice house and to have travelled to every single continent. Coming from one who had just visited Zambia’s congested run down prisons and risked life and limb celebrating Livingstone’s great adrenaline activities, we had no doubt she would succeed!

4
OCT

activities, Africa, Arsenal, Botswana, Canada, Chanters, children, Chobe, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, radioshow, travel, Zambia

‘Boss Lady’ Bosses ‘The Experience’!

“You’ve brought ‘The Boss Lady’ to the show!” exclaimed Milli Jam happily when Annastasia Katele and I walked into the studios of Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, for the latest edition of the ‘Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show, comprising a cool mixture of international and Zambian music with lively chat between tracks, airing from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs CAT to a 70 km radius around Livingstone, as well as streaming live on the internet.

Anny doesn’t need much introduction (there she is in the photo above with ‘Kaufela’) to regular blog readers and supporters of Chanters Lodge. She told listeners that she’d been the assistant manager at Chanters for the past three years and had actually been employed at the lodge for the past 10 – it would be her 10th anniversary in May. “The lodge will have been open for 15 years in July” I said, “we’d better have a party in June to celebrate both ‘birthdays’!” “Oh yes!” said the presenters eagerly, who are always up for a party, drinks or lunch, whatever might be available! Anny explained that she had first joined the lodge as a trainee, following her catering course at the Youth Community Training Centre in Livingstone, and had then proceeded to work in the kitchen, restaurant, housekeeping and reception sections before her promotion to assistant manager. Milli Jam wanted to know the biggest challenge in her job. “Those girls!” Anny exclaimed apparently referring to the rest of the ‘Chanters Girls’- our staff! “They don’t give me any problems” I commented helpfully, some would say snidely! “You’re a man!” said Anny, pointedly.

The music on this edition of the show was seriously ‘latest’. ‘White Noise’ from Disclosure back to back with Gabrielle Aplin’s ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’ opened the programme. George played two tracks from Pompi’s popular new Zambian album ‘Mizu’ meaning ‘Roots’ – a charming blend of songs sung in both vernacular and English. Milli Jam dropped tracks from Swedish House Mafia and his favourite Ne-Yo. Our oldie of the week was ‘Step By Step’ from Whitney Houston and the prize awarded to the first listener to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Avicii vs Nicky Romero’s ‘I Could Be The One’ – debuting at number one in UK as we went on air.

Anny told listeners that she has a daughter Maryam age 14 currently in Grade 9 and doing well in school. Her favourite music is gospel (despite her Islamic faith) and R&B – her favourite singer Chris Brown – and her favourite football team Arsenal. She told listeners that a large part of her job was recommending and booking activities for Guests, saying that the sunset cruise and one day safari to Chobe were amongst the most popular, as well as swimming in Devil’s Pool in the dry season. She expressed the wish that operators were more timely with their payments! I concurred! The presenters wanted to know why ‘The Boss Lady’ spent more time at the front desk than in her super office. “I love company!” she said and so she does.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Annastasia said she would love to own her own restaurant as she loved cooking! I’m sure she will – in the meantime we hope she continues to be the loyal, honest, hard working and talented manager she has become at Chanters Lodge!

20
FEB

activities, Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, Chobe, entertainment, livingstone, management, music, staff, training, victoriafalls, Zambia

Jimmy J Priest Maliseni Rocks The Experience!

Jimmy J Priest Maliseni (above) needed very little introduction to listeners when I was asked to introduce him at the start of the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela. That’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm every week from 20.30 hrs to 21.30 hrs CAT.

Why? Well Jimmy is one of the stalwarts of 107.7 fm, hosting the Zamtel Sunset Cruise show Monday to Friday, The Boiling Point – a weekly controversial, usually political, interview progamme, as well as ‘Reggae Sunday Service’ on a Sunday afternoon. “So you’re full time with Zambezi 107.7 fm?” Queried Milli Jam “No, part time.” Replied Jimmy. “Gosh!” I said “if that’s a part time work load what on earth do the full time people do here?” No reply…Jimmy admitted to a certain amount of nervousness, being ‘on the other side’ of the microphone for our show..

‘J Priest’ told listeners that he’d been involved with the radio station since December 2008 coming from a background as a DeeJay at New Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone, where in fact our own Milli Jam is currently entertainment manager. In 2002 when the disco had closed for renovation Jimmy J revealed that he had been ‘born again’ and since that time had taken a keen interest in religion. “Are you a priest like your name says?” We wondered. “Not really” said Jimmy, more of a ‘street preacher’. “Ah!” We said. Asked whether he had been brought up in Livingstone Jimmy told listeners that he had been raised and educated ‘all over the country’ as his father had been a manager with NIEC in Kenneth Kaunda days (National Import and Export Company) – a parastatal organization with the habit of regularly transferring managers at a moment’s notice to anywhere in Zambia.

The music on our show was up to the usual high standard. We opened with our 2013 theme by Rudimental ft John Newman – ‘Feel The Love’. The next two tracks were new releases from long established bands – Bon Jovi with ‘Because We Can’ and Pet Shop Boys with ‘Memory Of The Future’. George dropped Roberto’s latest hit ‘Took You’ which features he himself – and a very good track it is too. We also featured tracks from Pompi, LL Cool J, Pink and David Bowie. Our oldie of the week was ‘Trapped’ by Colonel Abrams but no-one could text us the name of the performing artist, so no-one won the dinner for two we offer each week for a correct answer to the question! The song was dedicated to the road construction company resurfacing Obote Avenue, the road to Chanters, who had managed to trap us in the lodge earlier in the week!

Jimmy revealed that his younger brother was a singer with the band Camouflage (whom we had featured on a recent show) and that they had both been born on May 11th although in different years. We joked about the same at his dad’s expense! ‘Priest’ said he was married and had two beautiful daughters. He also revealed that he was the CEO of a company supplying building materials to the Government and that it was really hard to get paid on time to sustain the company. He told us he was passionate about the construction industry. Asked if he had undertaken any of the tourist activities available in Livingstone he told us he had been white water rafting but had not bungee jumped! His favourite music was ‘gospel reggae’ and his favourite artist ‘Stitchie’. He loved football and was an Arsenal supporter. Some of us liked this.

Asked about his biggest influences in terms of broadcasting Jimmy mentioned Field Ruwe. I reminded listeners of the work Field had I had done together on Zambian television in the 80’s. Jimmy J Priest Maliseni said that in ten years’ time he hoped to be ‘a construction industry magnate’ and we wished him the best of luck.

17
JAN

activities, Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, entertainment, livingstone, management, music, politics, radioshow, rafting, religion, Zambia

Chin-i Cavaly

“This is the third time I’ve been on this show” said Chin-i Cavaly (pictured above) when he appeared 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 from 20.30 hrs – 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s established local radio station. “That’s because you’re such a star!” I said. “Why are you called Chin-i Cavaly?” asked Milli Jam thoroughly unimpressed with our Guest’s boasting! “Because I’m bad news on radio” was the humble reply. Chin-i (real name Isaac Mwanza) is one of Milli Jam’s co-presenters on Zambezi 107.7 fm, although he is far more than that for the station. He is responsible for their great website and for a lot of the other IT requirements of a busy local radio station.

Chin-i told listeners that apart from his IT duties and helping to organize the station for the incoming link with the BBC, he is currently hosting Drive Time on 107.7 fm Monday to Friday from 15.00 to 17.00 hrs, one of the most popular shows on the station. We were happy to hear that according to Google the Chanters Lodge Experience also has great listener statistics. Chin hosts the hot 30 count down on Saturday nights and is always right up to date on the latest music, especially rap, hip-hop and R&B. On this show he was raving about the new Kendrick Lemar album, ‘good kid, M.A.A.D city’. Not my scene but it takes all sorts, as they say. On the Zambian scene T-Sean is Chin’s current favourite artist and indeed we featured one of his tracks on our show.

Apart from T-Sean with Joe Chibangu and T-Boy’s hit track ’90 Days’ we featured Ruff Kid with his hit ‘Mu Ghetto’ noting that the Kid won the BEEFTA Award the previous week in London in the best international artist category, up against stiff opposition including DBanj. As usual we featured top hits from the UK charts including Robbie Williams’ ‘Candy’ and Wiley featuring Skepta, TME and Ms D with ‘Can You Hear Me (Aya Ya Ya)’. Milli Jam featured tracks by Rihanna and ‘Swimming Pools (Drank) by Kendrick Lemar. Our oldie of the week was Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ and the prize of dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up.

Chin-i told listeners that he had recently spent time in Queensland, Australia with his brother and was very much hoping to go back to continue his studies in IT, he was currently waiting for his student visa to re-enter Australia. He also revealed his love for a nurse in Livingstone whom he hoped to marry, this is all we were told!! He explained that he is an Arsenal supporter through and through and that his favourite all time player was Thierry Henry. We avoided discussion about Arsenal’s current form!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in 10 years’ time, this intelligent, hard working, talented young man said he would like to be married, living in Australia, fully qualified in IT with a successful career. I certainly wouldn’t bet against that!

9
NOV

Africa, Arsenal, Australia, entertainment, livingstone, music, radioshow, technology, Zambia

David Kwalela on ‘The Experience’

David Kwalela, pictured above, was our guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly radio show broadcast by Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs every Sunday night, sponsored by Chanters Lodge Livingstone, now in its fifth year. The programme is a lively mixture of local and international music, interspersed by conversation with our guest, and we also offer a weekly prize of a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge to the first person to text us, telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. On this particular show the oldie was ‘Hail Mary’ by Tupac and the response was excellent!

David told listeners that he is a Livingstone resident and Director and Principal of Livingstone College for Tourism Studies, a college started in 2006 and gaining affiliation with the Zambian Technical, Vocational and Training Authority in 2009. The College offers 3 month courses in food and beverage, front office management, hotel management, tourism studies and housekeeping and also offers practical training on campus – unusual for small colleges such as this. David explained that he arranges industrial placements and attachments for his students at local Livingstone hotels and lodges as part of their course. “Course fees are tailored to make it as easy as possible for students to afford in these difficult economic times” David said “and we also offer advice on career development”.

The music on the show was smart. Opening the show with Usher’s ‘Scream’ back to back with Cover Drive’s ‘Sparks’, we were off to a lively start. George played Roberto’s ‘Salaula’ featuring Enipal and confirmed that Roberto had been in town during the weekend appearing at a show with 107.7 DJ’s at another hotel in Livingstone. Milli Jam dropped Ne-Yo’s ‘Tonight’ featuring Just You and Me together with Lil Wayne and Drake’s smash – ‘The Motto’. Richard – who can spot ’em – featured Tulisa’s ‘Young’ as his pick of the week – not bad seeing the play list is finalized on Thursday and Tulisa topped the UK charts with this single on Sunday! The closing track was Trace Adkins’ country hit ‘Ain’t No Thinkin’ Thing’.

David told listeners his favourite musical genre was R&B and that his football team had been Arsenal since 2000 – that went down well with some of the hosts, especially Milli Jam who shares those tastes! “How did you come to start a college?” Milli Jam asked our guest. David explained that he’d worked for 15 years as a chef at Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone. When he retired he had undertaken a course in hotel and catering studies at the University of Zambia, which gave him the knowledge he needed to fulfill his ambition. He told listeners he was married to Imelda and they had five children – 4 girls and one boy.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, our interesting, ambitious and hard working guest told listeners that he would like to be a role model in hospitality training in Zambia, and principal of his own much larger, expanded college. We wished him the the best of luck in his ambition.

9
MAY

Africa, Arsenal, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, radioshow, staff, training, Zambia

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.

27
DEC

2011, activities, Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, entertainment, hotels, livingstone, music, radioshow, Zambia

The Kay Jay Experience

We were happy we didn’t have to use his full name when Kay Jay (above) guested on The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient last Sunday night! Why? Well he’s called Kelvin Lisbon Kangwa de Souza which is quite a mouthful! Kay Jay explained to listeners that his father was half Portuguese and half Bemba, hence his Portu-Bemba name. For the uninitiated The Chanters Lodge Experience is our regular Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s best loved local radio station. The show streams live on the internet too.

The programme has been running for 4 years and is popular partly because each week we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week. This week the answer was Aliyah and Cedric, age 14, won! He came for lunch on Monday with his elder sister! Awesome! Older people tried to win as well but perhaps their age made them slower off the mark. Just a speculation!

Kay Jay is a senior producer at 107.7 fm having started with the station as a presenter earlier this year. “Meteoric rise to power” commented Milli Jam dryly, who was quick to apologize to listeners for the absence of George da Soulchild Kaufela, usually the co-host of our programme but absent attending and performing at the annual Born ‘N Bred awards show in Lusaka. Kay Jay told listeners that at 107.7 fm he was responsible for making sure that programmes ran on time, advertisements were broadcast on schedule and that all the presenters knew their schedule, reporting in good time accordingly. We wondered what was the biggest challenge of the job. “Frowning faces” he replied and we needed no further explanation. Milli Jam, one of 107.7 fms longest serving presenters, laughed!

The music on the show was right on point as usual. We opened with ‘It’s Not You (It’s Me) by T-Pain vs Chuckie featuring Pitbull back to back with ‘The Believer’ by Common ft John Legend. Milli Jam’s local selections were Orga Family with ‘Nkuku Nankanga’ coupled with ‘Wounded Buffalo’ by Afunika. We featured Nicole Scherzinger’s smash ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ and ‘Lottery’ by Stevie Hoang. After Aliyah’s ‘oldie of the week’ we closed with Chris Brown and ‘Thinking Out Loud’ back to back with ‘Who You Are’ – Jesse J’s latest smash.

Kay Jay was very interesting describing his life before joining 107.7 fm. Educated at all grade levels in all boys schools in Lusaka, he said he was now ‘too excited’ when he met girls and used this and ‘financial instability’ as excuses for not yet being married. “I thought it was about love” Milli Jam commented dourly and I said I was sure the Chanters Girls would agree with that! Kay Jay spent some time in Netherlands with Dance For Life – young people all over the world getting into action to stop HIV and making a move to change the future – The Dance4life platform makes all those efforts visible, encouraging even more people to join the movement, Kay Jay explained. He hosted 10 shows and was proud to be one of only 3 African presenters. He had loved the Netherlands and had visited almost all parts of the country.

As a Gunner (Arsenal supporter) Kay Jay was inordinately proud of having shaken hands with Robin van Persie when he was in Holland. We were very jealous! He also met, hugged and we suspect fell in love with Doutzen Kroes the gorgeous Dutch super model. More jealousy on our part! In 10 years time Kay Jay told listeners he wanted to have his own business, a Phd and a wife and family.

Great ambitions, great guest, great show!

14
DEC

Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, charities, communications, education, entertainment, health, Holland, Lusaka, management, medical, music, radioshow, restaurants, Zambia

Andrew Deane & Marion Gibson Experience ‘The Experience’!

Meet Andrew Deane and Marion Gibson (above) from High Wycombe in UK – guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly radio show we sponsor on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Our programme airs from 20.30-21.30 hrs every Sunday night and is a great mixture of local and international music as well as lively chat. 107.7 fm streams live on the internet and you can find the link on their site or ours. (Links are above).

Andrew and Marion told listeners they’d been in Livingstone for the past few days staying at Chanters Lodge, although they’d been so busy with activities they hadn’t spent much time there! They’d already been on a one day safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana and the very day of the show they’d been white water rafting on the Zambezi. They described both experiences as ‘amazing’! Marion particularly liked Chobe due to her love of elephants – Chobe NP has the highest concentration of that particular animal in the whole world – Andrew loved the rafting.

Andrew explained that he’d been a police officer with Thames Valley Police in UK for the past 13 years. “It’s true” said Milli Jam, “I’ve even seen and touched his badge!” “Stop sweating and shaking!” I advised George who looked apprehensive. Marion told listeners that she’d spent a large part of her career as a social worker but had been laid off a while ago as a result of recent budget cuts in England. Luckily she’d quickly found another job with APH Mortgages, which she loved. This engaging and lively couple told listeners they been in love for the past 6 years and although they had no children together, Andrew had a 12 year old son Joshua from a previous relationship.

The music on the show was great. We featured ‘Fireball’ by Willow Smith ft Nicki Minaj back to back with ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna ft Calvin Harris – number one in the UK actually! George featured ‘Man Dem’ by Zone-Fam ft Cactus Agony & Macky 2 – taken from Zone-Fam’s brand new album. He coupled this with Exile’s ‘So Lucky’. Milli Jam dropped Ne-Yo’s ‘Break Up To Make Up’ and Sean Paul’s ‘She Doesn’t Mind’. Oldie Of The Week was Johnny Clegg Savuka’s ‘Scatterlings Of Africa’. Silence, no-one knew the artist until almost the end of the track when Angela texted the right answer and won the dinner for 2 with drinks at the lodge!

Andrew told listeners that he’s an Arsenal supporter – we were happy about this especially as they’d won that afternoon. Marion supports Wycombe Wanderers, her local team. They both love Take That and Robbie Williams. They were looking forward to breakfast on Livingstone Island the next morning with a swim in Devil’s Pool and had scheduled a sunset cruise on the Lady Livingstone for the afternoon. Marion told listeners she’d first visited Victoria Falls some years ago and had liked it so much she’d determined to bring Andrew to see it for himself. They’d chosen Chanters Lodge after reading the reviews on TripAdvisor.

Milli Jam asked Andrew and Marion which of the many countries they’d visited they loved the most. Marion said Bermuda, Andrew replied USA, explaining that he and Marion both loved rollercoasters and in their opionion the USA had the best in the world. Asked what they’d like to be doing and where they’d like to be in 10 years’ time – Andrew said he thought he’d still be working, Marion wanted to be retired and they both wanted to still be together and travelling. Nice couple! Nice show!

19
OCT

accommodation, activities, Africa, Arsenal, Botswana, Chanters, Chobe, Customers, entertainment, guests, livingstone, music, reviews, tourism, TripAdvisor, victoriafalls, wildlife, zambezi, Zambia

Elias ‘E-Vibes’ Limwanya

It’s no good pretending that all was well on the latest edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild, our regular Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs on 107.7 fm, Zambezi Radio, Livingstone’s popular local radio station. Why? Well three of us, including our Guest Elias Limwanya, pictured above, are Arsenal supporters and we were still in a state of shock following our team’s defeat in the Carling Cup Final about half an hour before we went on air. Even George Soulchild’s team Liverpool had lost. Anyway, we all tried our best!

Elias is better known as ‘E-Vibes’ and is a full time presenter, disc jockey and newscaster on Zambezi fm, for whom he’s worked for almost 3 years. He told listeners that he’d had a tough upbringing losing both his parents in a road accident on the Copperbelt in 1998 when he was 8. He’d been brought up by an uncle, completing his Grade 12 at Linda Secondary School – our second consecutive weekly Guest educated at that Livingstone school I pointed out. How had he got the name ‘E-Vibes’? We wondered, and Elias explained that George Soulchild was the person who’d helped him find a good name to use on radio. In fact it transpired that George had helped Elias at almost every stage of his career and that was a source of pride for us on the show!

Still single, Elias told listeners he’d never been bungee jumping and had no intention of doing so and had not walked with lions but would quite like to do that. His main work project at the moment was co-hosting the Breakfast Show on 107.7 fm with George Soulchild which he was enjoying. He’d been on Facebook since 2008 and was a regular contributor. What did he think of Arsenal losing that vital match? He was quite philosophical about it and said he was looking forward to their upcoming FA Cup replay and of course the return leg against Barcelona in the Champions League.

We played Adele’s number one UK smash hit ‘Someone Like You’ at the top of the show back to back with Ne-Yo’s ‘Give Me Everything’. We dropped C.R.I.$.I.$ featuring Nalu ‘I Wanna Live My Life’ – informing any listeners who didn’t already know that C.R.I.$.I.$ had won the best international act at the recent BEFFTA awards in the USA. Moving on to Exile’s ‘In Love With You’ and Alesha Dixon’s ‘Breath Slow’ the mood in the studio was slowly improving, the music taking hold. Lady Saw featuring Eve ‘He Is At My House’ and Wizkid’s smash ‘Holla At Ya Boy’ rocked the house. We were happy at that point to get a call from Swithin Haangala the owner of 107.7 fm saying how much he was enjoying the show, even if we weren’t sure that we were! ‘Why did he call now”? I asked the guys. George quipped “he heard the track ‘Holla At Ya Boy’ and decided it was time to give you a holla!” We laughed!

I had a surprise when we offered a prize of a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge to the first listener to text us Elias’s radio name. One of the many people to send us an answer, (some before I’d even finished asking the question!) was a former Ridgeway Hotel worker and Ridgeway Raiders (our football team) goalkeeper – Emmanuel Malunga. Seeing goalkeepers were very much on the mind of we Gunners, for all the wrong reasons, we gave him the prize!

1
MAR

activities, Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, education, entertainment, football, hotels, radioshow, restaurants, Ridgeway, victoriafalls, Zambia

Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1

Arsene Wenger hailed Arsenal’s performance in their 2-1 Champions League victory over Barcelona and labelled the occasion a “special night”. The Gunners went a goal down at the Emirates Stadium after David Villa swooped in the first half but staged a stirring comeback thanks to late strikes by Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin.

It was the first time Arsenal have beaten the Catalan giants and puts them in a great position to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition. But Wenger remained cautious with the second leg on the horizon in three weeks’ time, especially considering Arsenal’s 4-1 second-leg defeat at the Nou Camp last season which saw them exit the competition.

“I am highly delighted. It was a special football night,” said Wenger. “The game promised a lot and fulfilled that promise. It was two exceptional teams who tried always to be positive. “We are not favourites now, but what is important is the belief that we have a chance. “Barcelona are still favourites. We know now that we can beat them, though. We did not know that last year.

“Tonight gives us a chance to to go to Barcelona with belief. Every game is difficult but we will prepare well and be highly focused.

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Arsenal, football, uk

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