Da-gas


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Magigi


George da Soulchild aka Kaufela aka George Mukwita, co-host of our regular Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, writes about James Banda, Zambia’s youngest music producer.

“Call him ‘Jack Of All Trades’, James Banda otherwise known as ‘Magigi’ is multi-talented in music circles and it leaves one wondering how he’s mastered so much! The 16-year-old’s ability to produce, write and sing songs puts him in a class of his own. Magigi, a grade nine dropout, has embraced music to raise money for school.

In an interview Magigi said he had to drop out of school due to lack of sponsorship. After his father stopped working last year life became difficult for James, but despite the problems he was facing, he qualified to grade 10 at Libala High School – though he wasn’t able to take up the placement. Despite his considerable talent in music, Magigi is determined to go back to school, because for him, music goes well with education.

“I will surely go back to school because I cannot depend on music. Musicians get finished and so when things don’t go well for me, I can easily fall back on my education,” he said. Magigi urges upcoming musicians to prioritize education, stating that education is the only key to success. “Young musicians who don’t have interest in education will regret it, because anything can happen in music. School is very important in life actually, it is education that can help somebody make it in life” he said.

Magigi, a music producer at Flat Line studios, has single handedly written and produced an eight-track album entitled, ‘Certain Feelings’, the songs are currently receiving massive airplay on local radio stations. The youngest musician in the country is currently scouting for sponsorship, so that he can release the album. “I have finished the album and hopefully soon it will be on the shelves, but I’m looking for sponsors to help me promote my music. Again, I need to find money to register my music with Zamcops. I don’t have the licence yet to protect my music from piracy”. Magigi said.

On how he has managed to fit in the industry at his age, he recounts that he has a rare touch to his music. “I have courage in the industry. I give respect to those I have found in music, but I don’t fear them. I don’t compete with anyone because I do musical things differently. I sing about the realities of life,” Magigi noted.

He says through his music he speaks for the voiceless, especially the orphans and vulnerable children. “I speak for the people who are suffering in society. I teach people through music because I go to shanty compounds and see people are suffering. Sometimes I go on the streets to monitor street children. I thank God for giving me the talent,” Magigi related. He says he’s an open-minded person and always leaves room for criticism. “I like incorporating new ideas in my music. Even if I am young, I advise parents on various issues and due to the problems that I have passed through, I feel hurt whenever I am singing,” Magigi said.

Born to Francis, a retiree, and Joyce Banda, a marketeer at Lusaka’s Kamwala Clinic, Magigi is the last born in the family of five.”

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RIP Soosh Matix


George da Soulchild’s mournful piece about the passing of a local musician and DJ

Tributes have continued to flow in following the death of Tendai Maswiswi aka DJ Soosh Matix in a road accident in Lusaka last Friday. It’s very evident that the sudden departure of Lusaka’s Hot FM DJ Soosh has left a huge void in the hearts and minds of many that knew him. This is clear in the way several Zambian entertainers & the DJ’s Facebook status are filled with heartfelt condolences & memories of the very liked DJ Soosh Matix, much as he was known as funny DJ Soosh on radio. His family is mourning the child they have lost.

Soosh, a Zimbabwean who spent most of his productive life in Zambia, was born in Kadoma in 1982. He was employed at Lusaka’s Hot 87.7 FM as a DJ and worked passionately with many local Zambian hip hop artists, including the XYZ crew where he became a member and helped promote the group’s brand.

XYZ founder Slap Dee said the hip hop family will miss Soosh, adding that XYZ will never be the same without him. “Soosh was like a brother to me – a brother who supported XYZ and represented it as his crew. I still don’t believe he’s gone and it will take me some time to come to terms with what has happened. We will soon work on the ‘Unwritten Testament Reload’ Soosh’s album, and all funds raised from album sales will go to his child and to the mother of his child” he said.

Zambian rapper C.R.I.$.I.S has described Soosh as a creative and open-minded person. “Despite being from Zimbabwe, Soosh quickly grasped the local Zambian languages and had no problem fitting into society. This was symbolic of his being an open-minded person. He was always ready and excited to learn new things or explore horizons further than the eye could see. He was full of life and always had something up his sleeve. He was constantly creative and trying new things, as he hated monotony.” Said C.R.I.$.I.$ who performed with Soosh on several occasions, including last year when the duo went to Zimbabwe to perform at the Akon-Sean Paul concert.

“I will always remember him for his great humour and understanding. Just the thought of working with him puts a smile on my face and I know that I was blessed to have had a friend like him. African Hip-Hop has lost a valuable part and it’s irreplaceable,” added C.R.I.$.I.$.

In broadcasting, Soosh’s versatility shone through, with his lively and highly interactive shows on Hot FM drawing scores of listeners. He fondly described himself as the ‘baddest boy on radio’. His colleagues at the station had difficulties accepting news of his passing on, dedicating most of their shifts last week to paying their last respects. The corporate world will also dearly miss Soosh who hosted a number of corporate shows including the Brick and Lace concert last year and most recently the Zamtel-Hot FM Panga Nyimbo project where he played a very prominent role.

On Monday, various musicians, radio personalities, friends, colleagues and family members gathered at Ideal Funeral Home in Villa, Lusaka to bid farewell as Soosh’s body was later taken to Zimbabwe for burial. At the time of his death, he had recorded several songs and had just released an EP called ‘The Unwritten Testament.’ It had underground hits such as ‘Close Your Eyes,’ ‘Move Back’ and ‘Two.’ He was passionate about the project which featured production from several producers around the African continent.

Tendai had also just been listed to be a part of Sony Music as a budding artist. His music proved popular among the Hip-Hop fraternity and his dream was just beginning to unfold.

Rest in peace Soosh Matix.

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Dandy Krazy’s Outburst!


George da Soulchild, co-presenter of our weekly Sunday night radio show The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, writes about the recent outburst by one of Zambia’s best known local artists (above).

“Dandy Krazy could be the most hated local artist at the moment thanks to the comments he made during a performance at Breakpoint in Lusaka recently! Dandy Krazy‘s outbursts against both the Ngoma, and Born & Bred awards has raised a lot of concern among fellow artists and the Zambian Association of Musician (ZAM) alike, all agreeing that the behaviour exhibited by Dandy was unacceptable.

The incident took place a fortnight ago during a performance, when Dandy said he didn’t believe in the Born & Bred Awards or The Ngoma Awards because the prize monies they offered was insufficient and only belittled the winning artists. He further described the Born and Bred Awards as useless and the Ngoma Awards as rubbish!

The Born and Bred Awards is an initiative by Innocent Kalaluka the producer of Smooth Talk which came about to encourage local musicians to produce quality music videos that can also play on international music video TV. Currently K1m is the prize money. ZAM is one of the prestigious musician organizations that hold the annual Ngoma Awards. Many are of the view that Dandy should apologise because insulting these awards is like insulting the entire music industry in Zambia.”

(Ed – As a previous winner of an Ngoma Award, I fully agree!)

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Mao Kasonso


“Some say he’s recently been in UK working as ‘The Stig’ others that he built Victoria Falls, all we know is that he’s called Mao!” I declared, when I was asked by Milli Jam to introduce our guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild. That’s our regular weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s best loved local radio station. Why start like that? Well Mao Kasonso, in the picture above, to the right of George da Soulchild, is well known on Facebook and people often do Clarksonesque things with his name on that site. Anyway my intro took everyone by surprise, got a good laugh and got our show off to a happy start.

It was for us a ground breaking show, not only did we feature three international No 1 hits, but for the first time we had an additional guest interview by phone from Lusaka. This featured Mr Vezzy aka Lang’a Mweene, a musician with a smash hit in Zambia on his hands – ‘Imma Bad Boy’ – which we played on the show (for the second time). Lang’a talked to us mid-way through the show when Milli Jam asked him about his work, his music, his family and his ambitions – it went down well with the listening audience. I asked him how long he’d been on Twitter and what he thought about it. He replied “about 3 months and it’s the world”. More evidence, if it was needed, that Twitter’s popularity continues to grow in Zambia.

Mao Kasonso our studio guest is a well known figure in Livingstone. He was a club DJ at The Fairmount Hotel in his younger days and then for many years was employed by Radio Mosi-o-Tunya, starting as a volunteer and working his way up to become Head of Production. At Radio Mosi-o-Tunya Mao hosted a weekly show as well as managing his administrative duties. The station is a Catholic Church owned community service radio station and Livingstone’s other local radio station. “What are you doing now?” Milli Jam asked our guest, who went on to explain that he’s currently studying a one and a half year business management course. He has an ambition to set up his own radio station in the future and we wouldn’t bet against that. Vibrant, intelligent and hard working speak for themselves!

The music on the show was excellent – as mentioned we featured three international number one hits: Kenny Chesney’s ‘Somewhere With You’ – currently top of the US country charts. Britney Spears with ‘Hold It Against Me’ charted at number one in the US pop charts last week and ‘Who’s That Girl’ by Guy Sebastian featuring Eve – the Australian number one. In this regard I told listeners how we’d received blog comments querying our lack of knowledge about Guy on the previous week’s show! We all agreed that the track was excellent and we were happy to have aired it for the first time on radio in Zambia. Together with these smash hits we featured Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull with ‘On The Floor’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Animal’ and Ty2 featuring Scarlet with ‘Desire’ this last number the second of our two local tracks. Milli Jam chose a Nigerian track ‘Jupka’ by J Martins.

Mao greeted his wife and family at home, especially his 3 children Geen 10, Ben 5 and Melinda 2.5 and told listeners that he didn’t like football but loved music, particularly pop, rock and dance and that his favourite track at the moment was ‘Hello’ by Martin Solveig and Dragonette. We gave listeners their regular chart news – featuring for the first time the USA Ringtones Charts – that caught listeners’ interest.

Appropriately the question we asked for the prize dinner for two was ‘tell us the 3 letter name of this week’s guest on the show’ and ‘Mao’ was quickly texted and the winner rewarded!

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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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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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Ethel Mashawila & Shupiwe Mulenga


This week, for a change, on the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela – our weekly Sunday night radio show, airing at 20.30 hrs for an hour on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm – we featured two of the kitchen staff from Chanters Lodge. Ethel Mashawila (left) and Shupiwe Mulenga pictured above. Shupiwe’s our acting head cook and Ethel ‘the vice’ as she put it, when Milli Jam asked the girls what positions they held at the lodge.

Although the girls confessed to being ‘a bit nervous’ on the way to the studio they had no need to be – they were both well spoken, interesting and happy on air, as indeed they are for the most part at work. “What would you cook for us if we came to eat at the lodge”? George (Kaufela) and Milimo (Milli Jam) asked the girls. “For you Kaufela we’d cook pepper steak with mashed potatoes” replied Ethel. “Mmmm nice” said George. “You, Milli Jam, will have chitonga chicken with nsima” continued Shupi. “Why”? asked Milimo. “You look like a Tonga”! She replied, as we all laughed. The girls went on to explain the preparation of the dishes to the listeners.

Shupiwe and Ethel explained that they’d both worked at Chanters for about 2 years. Milli Jam asked Shupiwe how old she was but she refused to tell him! Pursuing the matter Milimo queried her: “aren’t you too young to be in charge of the kitchen”? Shupiwe acidly replied “leadership has no age barrier”. And that shut him up! Stunning! The presenters, as usual, wanted to know if the girls had boyfriends. Ethel told listeners that she had, and also an 8 month old baby girl, Queen. Shupiwe replied that she was ‘very single’ which made the guys sit up and take notice.

The music for the show was excellent as usual. After our opening ‘Candy’ by Aggro Santos we spun Mohombi’s ‘Bumpy Ride’ back to back with Timati ft Diddy Dirty Money and ‘I’m On You’. George chose a Zone Fam number ‘It’s Alright’ as we’d been blogging about Zone Fam during the week. This he coupled with a latest track from Ty2 ft JK ‘Ubuchende’ – “what does that mean”? I asked. “You’ll be told off air”! Was the answer…and I was! Milli Jam featured Bruno Mars with Damian Marley ‘Liquor Store Blues’ coupled with David Archuleta’s ‘The Other Side’. ‘Drop Down’ Akon ft Ludacris and Katy Perry’s ‘Part Of Me’ wound up a good play list.

“What kind of music are you into”? The girls were asked. Ethel replied that she liked Zambian music and Gospel, Shupiwe slow tracks, with her favourite artists Monica and Whitney Houston. “Stuck in the 90’s with Milli Jam” was my comment on that one! Asked about their ambitions both girls said they’d love to own their own businesses one day involving food production.

After we’d given away the usual dinner for two with drinks, I made the point that one of the least expected positive results of hosting a weekly radio show on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm was the morale boost it gave the staff at the lodge. Ethel and Shupiwe confessed that when it wasn’t busy at work and the show was on, the Chanters Girls back at the lodge danced. “I don’t mind” I said, “I love the big smiles we get when we come back from the studio”! And I do!

In other news one of these girls said she supported Manchester United, the other Chelsea.

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Zone Fam


Wow! George da Soulchild is busy this week with guest blogs! I love it! This piece caught my eye as I’m on Twitter with at least one of Zone Fam. Wishing them all the best! The interview is courtesy of Zamtunes.com

Getting familiar with Zambian rap collective, Zone Fam

Zambian hip-hop collective, Zone Fam continue to be one of the most prolific rap groups in the country since it was formed in 2007. The founders of the group, The Holstar and Pope have successfully managed to turn the group around from a group of young guys jamming at Zone Studios, to a family of talented individuals who bring together their skills into a great musical synergy. The name Zone Fam was derived from the studio name, when one of the original members, Al Kani said the line “You can’t mess with the Zone Fam” in an old track.

The original Zone Fam members were The Holstar, Pope and Al Kani and thereafter, Dope G joined, followed by Jay Rox, Verbal Assasin and Last Thugga. They describe their music as “good Hip Hop period!” They fuse both English and local languages into their lyrics to make it more appealing to the general public.

We caught up with the members of Zone Fam to find out more about their music, the Zambian scene, their future plans and more.

Q. How long has the group been together and how did the group start?
“We have been together for 3 years now. We all started off as solo artists with one producer and eventually became a group of six with a slew of producers.”

Q. When did the group have its major breakthrough?
“Early in 2010 we released a single and video for “Pop Dat Body”, which was well received by our fans. We have over 5000 views on YouTube alone and it still stands as one of our biggest hits. As a group we have one mixtape together, “The Full Script” released in 2010. It was entirely produced by Nigerian Teck-Zilla of Str8 Buttah. As solo artists we have several mixtapes and albums – some are available on our website www.sdrtv.com

Q. What have been some of your highlights as a group?
Our highlights include performing on the same stage as Brick and Lace when they came to Zambia and the everyday love and support we get from our fans.

Q. How has Zambia received your music on the whole?
We have been well received with two videos in rotation on our local broadcaster and our single “Mabhodlela” from the forthcoming album in heavy rotation. We are set to release more singles as the album release draws near. We have our fans to thank for everything.

Q. What should Zambia and Africa expect from the group?
Currently, we are working on our album to be released this year 2011 and several videos that will accompany the album. We are planning to get our name our across Africa and the globe so they can see what we have to offer. So people should look forward to big things this, an album that you have to get your hands on, beautiful music videos, lots of innovation and immaculate lyricism; something different.

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Rollcall 2010 – Farewell


George da Soulchild aka Kaufela, co-presenter of our Sunday night radio show on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm in Livingstone writes about those in the entertainment world in Zambia who sadly passed on in 2010. The photo is of Mike Tabor who was a good friend of mine and a great DJ.

Roll Call 2010 (Final Farewell)

The past 12 months have seen the death of individuals who have played a notable role in the arts and entertainment industry in Zambia. Today we pay tribute to some of the well known faces no longer with us.

Renowned actor and Muvi TV Director of Programmes Augustine Lungu died on March 20 after an illness. Lungu featured in numerous theatre productions and represented Zambia at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival together with Benne Banda in the two man act ‘Headers and Footers’. An avid supporter of the arts, Lungu once served as Chairman of Lusaka Theatre Club as well as the National Theatre Arts Association of Zambia. He also presented the ‘Kwachamania’ show on ZNBC, as well as the ‘Ready for Marriage’ reality show and ‘Breakfast With The Boys’ on Muvi TV.

Celtel star search finalist Levins Mwanza died on October 11 from kidney failure. The 29 year old singer had established himself as a strong contender in the 2006 singing competition, before being eliminated in the latter stages of the show. Mwanza was among a new breed of up-coming musicians to emerge from the Celtel show and went on to record chart success with his song Nalema. Prior to his death he was recording an album with RomaSide studio called ‘Tizakumana’.

The local radio industry also mourned the passing of Mike ‘The Maverick’ Tabor, who died in Lusaka on 17 October. Born in Harlem, NYC on December 13 1946, Micheal Aloysius Tabor joined the Black Panther party, but fled the US in the early 1970s after he and several Panther members were accused of conspiring to bomb public buildings in New York City. Although the group was acquitted of all charges, Tabor did not return to the US, travelling first to Algeria and eventually to Zambia where he made his home. He was one of the first DJs on Radio 4. At the time of his death he was working for 5 FM radio in Lusaka. He is survived by his wife Priscilla Matanda, a daughter and three sons.

Ragamuffin artist Crystal Shaun died on December 4. Born Webster Katongo Chilufya, the 27 year old rapper developed his own style of poetry with Bemba lyrics. He also collaborated with several top local artistes including TY2, Leo Muntu, K’millian, Hamooba and Kaufela. He is survived by a wife and son.

May their souls rest in peace as we carry their dreams forward.

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