Kaufela Close Up!

Milli Jam and I decided to turn the tables on one of our co-presenters on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild and put George (above) in the chair as the Guest! It was not the first time he’s featured but it had been a long time since we heard from him and we felt our newer listeners should get some insight into George, his past and his ambitions. It was fascinating stuff! ‘The Experience’ is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, for an hour from 20.30 hrs CAT.

Milli Jam wanted to know how long George had been with Zambezi fm and how he came to be employed in the first place. George told listeners that he’d served for between four and five years. He had been on holiday in Livingstone and had been making some guest appearances at one of Livingstone’s other radio stations when he received a call from the then general manager of Zambezi fm, Chanda Mfula, who had asked him to come and audition with Zambezi fm. He had been successful, following which he was sent to SkyFM, another Southern Province radio station, for further training. George had worked for an organization called Africa Innovations before this lucky break. I offered the opinion on air that I was not surprised that he had been quickly snapped up by Zambezi FM as he had a natural radio voice – and he has!

“How long have you been singing”? Milli Jam asked, and George told our listeners that he had first started rapping in secondary school, covering hits by the likes of Snoop Dogg and others. He had recorded his first single in 2003 with Leo Muntu and subsequently had recorded about 12 singles. He rated the best of these as his new one ‘Enter Enter’ as well as another called ‘Your Smile’. He rated his best live shows as ones that had happened on the Copperbelt, Sesheke and one he had played across in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The music on or show was good. We dropped tracks from Conor Maynard and Miley Cyrus (who else) at the top of the show. Before he knew he would be appearing as the guest George had chosen work from Exile as well as Mr Vezzy. Milli Jam played numbers from Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry. Our oldie of the week was Alicia Keys’ ‘Sleeping With A Broken Heart’ and the prize we give to the first listener to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up by Raphael amongst a flood of contestants. My pick of the week was James Blunt’s ‘Heroes’ and we closed with a track from The Saturdays.

Milli Jam referred to George’s recent bungee jumping exploits and asked if he had been scared. George replied that he had not, but that his Granny had been very frightened when he had shown her the video of the jump! Asked why he supported Liverpool football club, our guest did not give a satisfactory reply but told us that his favourite player was Steven Gerrard. We asked him how he managed to get up so early every morning to host the breakfast show and he said ‘you get used to it’!. He revealed that he would soon become an uncle as his sister was expecting a baby. He thanked Father Cletus from Radio Mosi-o-Tunya for the guidance he had given him in his early years of broadcasting.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in 10 years’ time, George told listeners that he would like to be highly successful in broadcasting and music, and would like to own his own radio station. We wished him the best of luck and thanked him for his service to our show!

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Clive Siviye Rocks ‘The Experience’

Meet Clive Siviye, Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela Soulchild – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing on
Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs and streaming live. If Clive was a footballer he would probably be described in the media as ‘much travelled’! Why? Well he’d worked for Radio Chengelo, Sky FM, YAR FM and Falls FM – all local radio stations in Zambia, before he came to work for Zambezi 107.7 fm in Livingstone. Clive told listeners that he is a newscaster and current affairs presenter with the station, for whom he has worked for about four months. Was he happy at 107.7 fm? Yes, we got the impression that he was.

Interestingly, Clive told listeners that he had originally wanted to become a catholic priest, and with that calling in mind he had trained for more than four years with the Jesuits before deciding that perhaps the church as a career was not for him. Radio Chengelo, being a catholic radio station, made the link for him to be able to move into a career in journalism/broadcasting. In 2009 Clive was selected by the American Department of State for the award of a scholarship allowing him to leave for George Washington University in Washington DC to study investigative journalism for thirteen months. He had very much enjoyed his time in the States and had travelled widely. “Would you like to go back?” Asked Milli Jam and Clive agreed that yes, he would love to go back to do a Masters degree.

The music on the show was hot with a wide African influence – George dropped a brand new track from K’Millien – ‘Osa Limba Mutima’ back to back with Chefy’s smash hit ‘Foolish Me’ – a remix. Milimo (Milli Jam) chose Danny K’s ‘Brown Eyes’ with Davido’s ‘One Of A Kind’. We played Icona Pop’s number one recording ‘I Love It’ and the title track from Darius Rucker’s album ‘True Believers’. The oldie of the week was Ne-Yo’s ‘Miss Independent’ and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us who’s the performing artist on the track was snapped up after the play had barely begun! My pick was Will.i.am’s ‘Bang-Bang’ and we closed with ‘Walk Like Rihanna’.

Clive told listeners that he was still single but that he had three sisters, one of whom is his twin and who are all married, he also has a younger brother. His musical taste revolved around ‘oldies’ and his favourite artist is Elton John. He is a Chelsea supporter and his favourite player Juan Mata. “They’re trying to sell him, Marinho does not like him” George told us! Kaufela is for Liverpool! Another string to Clive’s bow is that he is a fully fledged IAAF athletics coach and in his younger days was Zambia’s 400m champion.

Living in the tourist capital of Zambia he had experienced many of the tourist activities available but claimed to be ‘too tall’ for bungee jumping! A lame excuse we opined. Asked the inevitable final question of where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Clive said that he wanted to be married with children and working for Al Jazeera.

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Ndubi Mvula – Personally

Why Ndubi personally? Well, when Ndubi Mvula (pictured above) appeared in person as our Guest on the latest edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’ last Sunday, one of the tracks we played was Nigerian duo PSquare’s latest smash ‘Personally’. Few of our listeners had heard it before and it was an instant hit – especially with the Chanters Girls dancing back at the lodge! ‘The Experience’ is our regular Sunday night radio show airing for an hour at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Ndubi is a media consultant, having for a long time been Zambia Daily Mail’s bureau chief in Livingstone, he is now busy helping 107.7 fm revamp the editorial department of their news and current affairs department, and is also involved in the weekly discussion programmes aired by the station. Is there a big difference between the print and audio media in terms of the way they handle the news we wondered? “Well” said Ndubi “one is about what you see and the other is about what you hear!” “Ah!” We said! He went on to explain that in the print media there isn’t always the urgency that there is in radio “you have rather more latitude and chance to work on a story in print” he said, “whereas with radio, the news has to be broadcast instantly”.

Ndubi told listeners that he had studied journalism at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka and had joined the Zambia Daily Mail in 1996. He had served until 2012 when he retired. His inspiration to embark on a career in journalism had been the late Charles Mando, a very famous Zambian journalist renowned for his hard hitting Sunday Interview programme and his ability to make famous Zambian politicians squirm in their seats, Republican Presidents included!

Apart from PSquare and ‘Personally’ on this show we played tracks by Dizee Rascal ft Robin Williams, Jason Derulo, Macky2, Pompi, Chris Brown and Avicii. My pick of the week was John Legend’s beautiful ‘Made To Love’. Our oldie of the week was Michael Jackson’s ‘Liberian Girl’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us telling us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up.

Ndubi told listeners that he had two beautiful daughters aged 15 and 10 and that his taste in music was reggae as well as ‘old Zambian’ mentioning artists like late Akim Simukonda and late Paul Ngozi. He told listeners that he had done most of the tourist activities available in Livingstone, apart from the bungee jump, when he had been running ‘Tourist Destination’ a feature in the Zambia Daily Mail bewteen 2004 and 2009. He supports Nkana Red Devils and Liverpool – the latter pleased George! He had been lucky to travel widely around the world when on further training with the Mail including to India, Egypt and South Africa often sponsored by Reuters.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, this personable ‘real journalist’ replied that he would like to be owning and running his own radio station. We wished him the best of luck.

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A Gift Of A Pair Of Gloves

This is a bit naughty but lots of fun! Enjoy!

A young man wanted to purchase a gift for his new sweetheart’s birthday, and as they had not been dating very long, after careful consideration he decided a pair of gloves would strike just the right note: romantic, but not too personal. Accompanied by his sweetheart’s younger sister, he went to a top store and bought a pair of white gloves. The sister purchased a pair of panties for herself.

During the wrapping the clerk mixed up the items and the sister got the gloves and the sweetheart got the panties. Without checking the contents, the young man sealed the package and sent it to his sweetheart along with this note:

“I chose these because I noticed that you are not in the habit of wearing any when we go out in the evening. If it had not been for your sister I would have chosen the long ones with the buttons, but she wears the short ones that are easier to remove.

These are a delicate shade, but the lady I bought them from showed me the pair she had been wearing for the past three weeks and they were hardly soiled. I had her try yours on for me and she looked really smart. I wish I was there to put them on for you the first time, as no doubt other hands will come in contact with them before I have a chance to see you again.

When you take them off, remember to blow in them before putting them away as they will naturally be a little damp from wearing. Just think how many times I will kiss them during the coming year. I hope you will wear them for me on Friday night.

All my love,

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Great Quotes From Famous People

Thanks to Australian Judy here are some good quotes from famous people!

Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, ‘Lillian, you should have remained a virgin…’
– Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: –
‘No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.’
– Eleanor Roosevelt

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement..
– Mark Twain

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible!
– George Burns

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.
– Victor Borge

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
– Groucho Marx

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.
– Jimmy Durante

Money can’t buy you happiness …. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
– Spike Milligan

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.
– Will Rogers

Don’t worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
– Winston Churchill

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere.
– Billy Crystal

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Tablet Time For Hotels

Gosh! Here’s some food for thought from HotelInteractive! and Mr. Larry Mogelonsky – CHA

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s this great new piece of technology gaining massive acceptance, generically called the Tablet PC.  Your guests will be arriving with them.  Your competitors will be finding ways to use them.  So what are you doing about it?

If you’re not convinced this new technology is important, consider this: Apple, the world’s leading tablet computer manufacturer, shipped over 14 million iPads in Q1 2012 alone, nearly quadruple the amount of laptops (MacBooks) they sold in the same period.  On an industry scale, sales of tablets are up about 300% year-over-year, while sales of notebook PCs have basically plateaued.  This adoption rate is faster than just about any new technology to hit the marketplace in recent history, including the DVD player, PC, or smart phone.

The first question to ask yourself is whether or not your hotel is tablet friendly.  Have you checked your website on a tablet to see how it looks?  Can customers book from a tablet as easily as they can on a computer?  Most tablets will only have two plugs – one to connect to a computer or power source and another for headphones.  Without an Ethernet port, you better have WiFi available for your tablet guests and ideally, at no additional cost.  Excuse the pun, but hardwired Internet just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Once a guest arrives, there are many other interactions where tablets can make a strong impression.  Rather than having your concierge show someone a paper brochure for an amenity or activity, why not present it to them on a tablet?  It will impress your guests and allow you to show them a variety of material without interruption; introducing and enticing them to use more of your services.

At your restaurant, try showcasing your wine list with an app for users to browse by type, price and vintage.  You’ll save big on reprints.  Many wine list apps today can integrate with your inventory to only show those that are presently available, as well as ideal food pairings.  You might even consider using tablets to replace the paper menu all together!

At check-in, consider having a tablet available so that your front desk staff can use them to up-sell rooms.  It is easy to create simple presentations on features and benefits in a quick slideshow of illustrious photography.

What about behind the scenes?  Think about how your staff members can keep track of guest requirements.  Integrating a tablet app with your property PMS can go a long way to help reduce the waste associated with daily room printouts as well as speed up internal communication.  Applications such as the dashboard system I have developed, Inn at a Glance, are designed to work seamlessly in a tablet configuration for this purpose.

These are just some of the ways that tablets can integrate into your hotel’s operation.  Mind you, it’s not an overnight adjustment because there is the fixed cost of purchasing each unit and there are some security issues (never mind that you might have to install WiFi throughout your hotel).  However, with their exponential adoption rate, you’ll need to be tablet-compatible and tablet-chic if you want to attract the younger tech-savvy crowd. 


Best get with the program before it’s too late!
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It’s Hot Down Here!

Loved this one from Judy in Australia!

A Scottish couple decided to go to Spain to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic lifestyles, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So the husband left Glasgow and flew to Barcelona on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Blackpool, a widow had just returned home from her husband’s funeral. He was a minister who died following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.

The widow’s son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I’ve Arrived
Date: October 16

I know you’re surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you’re allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Bloody hot down here!

Love

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Tazara – Latest

This from Southern Times

China will will assist with rehabilitation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA). In recent years, Beijing has on several occasions extended financial and technical assistance to TAZARA, which was built with Chinese money in 1976 but has been facing operational challenges and is operating far below capacity.

It is believed upgrading the line will encompass ensuring a ready route from landlocked Africa to the Indian Ocean – with possible links to lines going to the Atlantic Ocean – and that this will also greatly benefit China, which has huge economic interests on the continent. China’s Minister of Commerce, Chen De Ming recently said the assistance was another sign of that country’s commitment to Africa.

In a statement, Chen said the project would eventually link Eastern and Western Africa and help speed up industrialization.
The statement was released after a meeting with Zambia’s First President, Dr Kenneth Kaunda, in Beijing. Dr Kaunda was in China as President Michael Sata’s special envoy. Minister Chen said the port at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania would need to be overhauled to cater for increased cargo.

Experts have already conducted a feasibility study, which will be submitted to China’s President Hu Jintao. Dr Kaunda assured Beijing of Zambia’s goodwill and that despite widespread media claims to the contrary, China’s investments in the country were safe.The 1,870km TAZARA line links Zambia’s Kapiri Mposhi to Mbeya in Tanzania.

The authority running the line is exposed to the tune of US$700 million. Earlier last year, China provided a US$39m interest-free loan to TAZARA.

 
 
 
 
 
 
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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!

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Victor Chama Musonda Makes The News!

Meet Victor Chama Musonda (above), guest on the most recent edition of our weekly Sunday night radio show, The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild, airing at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show streams live on the internet too, links are on our Chanters Lodge website or the station’s own site – 18.30 hrs GMT every Sunday, and we’d love you guys out of Livingstone to listen!

It had been such a momentous week for news in Zambia, with the election of a new president from a new ruling party, we felt it appropriate to have a ‘newsman’ as a guest on the show to hear his take on events. Victor is Head of News and Current Affairs at Zambezi fm. “How was your week?” we asked him. “Hectic!” Was the word he used! “We didn’t get much sleep from the time voting started until the final results were announced, I spent most of my time at Livingstone Civic Centre feeding results back to the studio where they were live on air”. He continued. “Now we go live to Victor at the Civic Centre” I said, laughing “we heard you!” “We certainly didn’t get much sleep after the results were announced” I continued “the noise from fireworks, shouting and honking of car horns and blowing of vuvuzuelas in celebration saw to that!”

“How did you get into journalism?” Milli Jam wanted to know and Victor explained that he’d always had an interest in events and writing, so a journalism career seemed to be a natural choice. He explained that he’d studied for three years at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka for a Diploma in Journalism. He admitted, however, that he’d always wanted to be a DJ!

The music on the show was hot! We opened with ‘I’ll Fight For You’ by Jason Derulo which samples Toto’s ‘Africa’ a great 80’s favourite in these parts. This track dropped back to back with One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ number one in the UK at the time the show went on air. Our Zambian tracks, selected by George were ‘Mutu’ by T-Boy (‘cut off my head and take out my eyes to stop me messing up’, he’s telling a girlfriend) and George coupled this with Donchi Kubeba by Dandy Crazy. This track almost became a national anthem in Zambia before the election, as the campaign song for the Patriotic Front, the party that won the election. It means ‘don’t tell’ and was urging voters to accept money and gifts from the outgoing political party but then to vote PF! But shhhhh – ‘donchi kubeba’ – don’t tell! Milimo featured ‘How To Love by Lil Wayne from his smash album Carter IV. Oldie of the week was Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ and there was a great response to the question ‘who’s singing this?’ Peggy from Maramba won a dinner for 2 at Chanters, she was fast to tell! We closed with Lady Antebellum’s ‘We Owned The Night’ title track from their current US No 1 best selling album. Like I said – hot!

Milimo asked Victor about his family and he told listeners that he was married but only since July, he took the opportunity to greet Theresa his bride who was listening at home. He told us that his father Edward Musonda had played for Kabwe Warriors and the Zambia national soccer team in the early 70’s, and was still actively involved in football administration. He had never bungee jumped but he had certainly walked with lions and ridden elephants with Mukuni Big 5. Before joining Zambezi fm in March 2010 he’d held a similar post at Radio Mosi-o-Tunya also in Livingstone. He further admitted supporting Manchester United. His favourite music was gospel. His ambition to further his education.

Victor stressed the importance of fair reporting and left us with the impression that the news in Livingstone was in excellent hands!

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