Ron Chama on 107.7 fm



Last Sunday we were proud to have Ron Chama (above) as the guest on our weekly radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft George Soulchild. The programme airs from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs live on Zambezi 107.7 fm and also streams live on the internet (or is supposed to!) Links are available on the Chanters Lodge website as well as the station’s own site.

Ron is also known as Ron da Prod and is Livingstone’s best known record producer. After the introductions, Ron told listeners that he’d been in the record production business for about 6 years and had his own record label ‘Raising Sounds’. Almost as soon as the show began we received a text message reading ‘seeing you now have Ronny as a guest on your show you should get him to do you some decent jingles for the programme!’ “Can you do that?” I asked “sure” replied Ron, who is a man of few words! We might well take him up on his offer!

Ron told listeners that he was very proud of the fact that many of Zambia’s leading musicians had recorded with him when they could easily have recorded in Lusaka. He explained that following his initial realization that he loved record production, he’d attended a course in Zimbabwe to learn more about this field. Amongst the stars he’d produced were Gen Ozzy and Roberto. Talking of General Ozzy, one of the tracks we featured on the show was his latest with O.C entitled ‘Zanga’. Great track! Ron explained to listeners that he had a full time job with Radio Mosi-o-Tunya (Livingstone’s other radio station) as Production Manager which he enjoyed, as it invlolved much of what he was used to doing by way of production. He’d been with that station for about 9 months.

The music on the show was right up to date. Apart from Gen Ozzy’s latest we hit listeners with ‘Promises’ by Nero the latest UK number one back to back with ‘Moves Like Jagger’ by Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera. Chipolopolo (remix) by Exile & Pompi followed, together with ‘Roll Up’ by Wiz Khalifa and ‘Miss Right’ by Ne-Yo. Our oldie of the week was Bobby Brown’s ‘Every Little Step’ and we had a prize winner who knew the name of the artist. We closed with ‘4am’ Melanie Fiona’s latest, coupled with One Direction and ‘What Makes You Beautiful’.

We wanted to know if Ron was married and his reply was “not married but not available”. This raised and dashed the hopes of the Chanters Girls listening back at the lodge, in a matter of seconds. He also revealed that on leaving school he had undertaken a course in purchasing and supply at Livingstone Institute for Business and Engineering Studies (LIBES). He told listeners that his father is a lecturer at the same institute. Milli Jam asked him what football team he supported in UK and he disappointingly replied ‘Chelsea’. I thanked Milli Jam for not talking about football given Arsenal’s poor situation.

Ron said that in 10 years time he’d like to be established as an international record producer – I wouldn’t bet against it!

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Ron da Prod!



George da Soulchild, co-presenter of our Sunday night radio show ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience’, writes about a local music producer based right here in Livingstone.

Ronald Chama aka D-Roni or Ron da Prod as he is know on Facebook is a 25 year old music producer and CEO for Raising Sounds Studio, based in Livingstone. His love for music production dates back to his early days in Mufulira but it was only when he moved to Livingstone that he really took up music production, turning his hobby into something that could put food on the table!

In 2006 he opened his own recording studio, with very little experience in music production, under the name Ron.com Studio, a year later he changed the name to Raising Sounds Studio when he teamed up with a music producer called Happy who had a little more experience in music production and who, at that time, was the main producer at Raising Sounds Studios.

In 2009 Ron travelled to Zimbabwe and took a six month course in music production – by mid-year Raising Sounds was slowly getting noticed locally, as their production had improved tremendously but the problem the studio was facing was that most of the Livingstone based artists preferred to record in Lusaka, with well known and established studios.

But in 2010 things changed for the better when the studio recorded a charity song for a UK based NGO called Butterfly Tree this anti-malaria record was produced with the help of Ty2, Crystal Shaun, up and coming artiste Kaufela and Lillian Mweene. Ty2 also took the time and opportunity to record his hit single “Don’t Doubt” featuring Kaufela. Both Songs were produced by D-Roni. In the same year Raising Sounds recorded another hot song called ‘If It’s Lovin’ performed by the Brothahood Team (Ozzy, Roberto, Manas, and J-bus featuring Kaufela) also produced by D-Roni.

As K’millian, B-Flow, Masi, General Kanene, Petersen, Shyman, Shimasta, Red Linso and T-boy just to mention a few all flocked there to record, Raising Sounds became a household name in music production with countless hits playing on radio station across the country and in night clubs as well.

The studio is open to anyone willing to work with Raising Sounds Studio – circular or gospel artistes, all are welcome. Contact 0977437350/0967044661 Ronald or 0977169914 George.

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Sakala Brothers Arts Centre


We lament the recent closure of The Arts Cafe in Livingstone, following so closely on Jane Osborne’s Ngoma Zanga Zambian Restaurant shutting down. There’s now no traditional food and dancing experience for tourists in Livingstone – surely a business opportunity for someone! Good to see then that the Sakala Brothers (above) are deeply involved in Lusaka. They’ve entertained so many people over the years.

THE Sakala Brothers recently hosted the French Ambassador and delegates from Alliance Francaise for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Sakala Brothers Arts Centre and Ambassador 0livier Richard at Lusaka Playhouse. The centre has since last year been training students in music disciplines such as guitar, piano, voice training, violin and traditional drums.

“We have several classes for various disciplines” said Moses Sakala. “For example, we have students doing guitar lessons, some learning how to play traditional drums, while others are in the dance class and voice training class. Last year we registered about 100 people from different parts of Lusaka but the number has since reduced,” he said. He said the centre has employed qualified tutors to train students in the different disciplines.

Sakala has urged musicians in the country to take up such classes if they are to gain a wider knowledge and understanding of their craft, adding that the programme is open to the public hence anyone interested should enroll. “I think it‘s very important for a musician to understand musical instruments, because in these times of piracy one cannot rely on CD sales but live performances,” he stressed.

He also disclosed that currently the duo is recording an album set to be released this year and that albums artistes for Indy K, Theresa and Alex will be produced under the Sakala Brothers Centre. The centre, established in 2009 by Moses and Levy Sakala, was set up to preserve and promote Zambian music and enrich professional musicianship in the country.

The duo, whose vision is to build a music school in Zambia, has called on the government to value the arts and consider establishing a ministry of arts that will seriously look into issues affecting the industry.

Thanks to George Soulchild and Weekend Post for the report.

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Fly Zambia Airline


This piece from Times of Zambia caught my attention: The investors say they’d like to use the old Zambia Airways logo and in a blast from the past there’s a photo of one of the old airline’s planes clearly showing the much loved logo. Most people felt it was a great mistake to allow the airline to go out of business in the 90’s.

A GROUP of investors from South Africa and Zambia have formed a partnership and staked about K105 billion for a new national airline called Fly Zambia Airline which will be launched in September this year. The company is in consultation with the Government on the possibility of adopting the logo which was previously used by the defunct Zambia Airways.

Fly Zambia Airline Limited chief executive officer Theunis Crous said his company was in discussion with the Government to allow the firm use the Zambia Airways flag and logo on their Fokker aircraft. The defunct Zambia Airways was founded in 1964 as a subsidiary of Central African Airways, but went into liquidation in 1995.

In an interview in Lusaka, Mr Crous explained that the establishment of a national airline was a private initiative hence would be managed by experienced Zambian and South African team.
Mr Crous said the airline would use the Fokker 100 and Fokker 50 aircraft which have low operational costs. “We will start with four aircraft, two of which are Fokker 100 and the other two will be Fokker 50 including a cargo aircraft. We will do a lot of training of the staff in the aviation sector because our planes will be landing in Zambia for the first time and they need to be shown how they operate,” Mr Crous said. He said the airline would initially start with local and regional routes before expanding its routes internationally.

The regional routes include Zambabwe, Angola, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “The firm will also service the domestic market and will set up a car hire company linked directly to the airline,” Mr Crous said. He said as a result of the investment, the airline would create 150 jobs for the local people.

Mr Crous said the introduction of the national airline in Zambia would give the local people the glory of having their own national airline. He said they would use the airline to attract tourists because tourism was a fast-growing industry. “The tourism industry has the potential to even grow and we shall aim to promote tourism from within the region and make Zambia the best destination by providing the services through our airline,” Mr Crous said. He said due to improved macroeconomic indicators and attractive investment incentive, the airline was able to invest in the aviation sector.

Mr Crous commended the Zambian Government for its continued efforts in enhancing the business environment for the private sector to invest in Zambia.

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Gayle-Anne Drury on The Chanters Lodge Experience


There were some technical issues on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild – partly I guess because George wasn’t around this week – wearing his rapper hat George aka ‘Kaufela’ had gone to Lusaka to try and speed up the release of his forthcoming album. However it was a good show and our Guest Gayle-Anne Drury, pictured above, was a lively and interesting Guest. Our programme goes out on Zambezi 107.7 fm radio in Livingstone and streams live on the internet every Sunday night at 18.30 hrs GMT, 20.30 hrs Zambian time.

Gayle-Anne, a psycho therapist was staying at Chanters Lodge. She runs an organization in York called Baobab Centre.”The Baobab Centre provides one-to-one support through counselling, coaching and mentoring, training and consultancy to individuals and organisations. They provide the knowledge and understanding which underpins relational management and offer care, expertise, tools and strategies to individuals, teams and organisations to help maximise potential growth and development” Gayle-Anne told listeners.

Her visit to Zambia was to assist Tujatane School in Livingstone on a voluntary basis by way of training their teachers and teaching assistants to counsel, coach, mentor and build relationships. She stressed to listeners the importance of ‘listening’ to build relationships. “Yes” I said “and they should jolly well listen to the Chanters Lodge Experience every Sunday night too”! We moved on. How long had Gayle-Anne been married, Milli Jam asked. “A very, very, very long time!” She replied and refused to divulge further details! She told us of her son Adam 26 and daughter Ruth 24 living in London and doing well.

The music on the show was fine as usual apart from ‘I Wanna Go’ by Britney Spears that refused to play for some reason – perhaps she really did ‘wanna go’! Our Zambian tracks were ‘Manone’ by Chika and the catchy ‘Wa Overtime’ by Salma. “Salma’s telling her audience that she doesn’t want one night stands but something longer term” explained Milli Jam – I thought perhaps the lyrics were deeper than this, but no further explanation was forthcoming! The very latest releases from Example – ‘Stay Awake’ and Akon ‘Keep Up’ went down well, so too did Nicole Scherzinger’s ‘Right There’ and the worldwide Pitbull/Ne-Yo smash ‘Give Me Everything Tonight’ – the latter had the Chanters Girls singing along at the lodge, so I’m told!

Gayle-Anne told listeners she’d had no time for tourist acitvities while she’d been in Livingstone due to pressure of work. She further revealed that she’d actually been born in Zambia and had undergone most of her primary education here before moving to South Africa then UK. She told us she’d very much enjoyed a visit to Simonga Village the previous day where she’d been invited by friends.

We thanked the staff at the lodge for their very hard and excellent work during the first 10 days of July and gave away the usual dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge to the first person to text us Gayle-Anne’s country of residence. The response was excellent! Delvick won.

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Ruth Binney


My sister Ruth (above) has a lovely, sparkling new website put together by the team at Collaborative Connections including my son Ed, Ruth’s nephew. You can read all about Ruth on her site and here’s the link. Ruth Binney. A brief resume of Ruth’s career reads:

Editor at Mitchell Beazley, including the natural history and medicine volumes of The Joy of Knowledge Encyclopedia.

Editor at Marshall Cavendish partworks, including The Book of Life, Nice ‘n’ Easy and Doctor’s Answers.

Editorial Director at Marshall Editions, book packagers – responsible for a wide range of successful titles, ranging from The BUPA Manual of Fitness and Well-Being to Great Battlefields of the World, The Manager’s Handbook, Structures and Strange Worlds, Amazing Places.

Development Editor at Reader’s Digest – responsible for generating ideas and close involvement in the testing and marketing processes. A key member of the senior management team. Involvement with the production and quality of titles, specialising in cookery, gardening, natural history, medicine and health, computer and puzzle titles.

And here are her titles of books she has written herself:

The Gardener’s Wise Words and Country Ways
Wise Words and Country Ways for CooksThe Allotment Experience: Everything You Need to Know About Allotment Gardening – Direct from the Plot
Wise Words and Country Ways for House and Home
Wise Words & Country Ways Weather Lore
The English Countryside (Amazing and Extraordinary Facts)
Wise Words & Country Ways Slipcased Set

Go and take a look!

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DJ Wolf


Our regular contributor, George da Soulchild, also co-presenter of our weekly Sunday night radio show reports:

In the past, running a blog in a Zambian rural setting could have been perceived as a far fetched dream, but not anymore as youths like Choma-based music blogger Hope Munkute, otherwise known as DJ Wolf (above), have come to embrace this (blogging) information medium to create a difference in society.

The 26-year-old blogger who is based in Choma’s Macha area and runs a Zambian music blog tells the Education Post that coming up with such a thing was a testimony that Zambian youths in rural settings had come to embrace the technological advancements taking place world over.

“Blogging boosts one’s self esteem. Since I was introduced to blogging by an Australian friend, as a youth, I have used my blog to express myself, share my passion and explain music the way I see it. The area I am coming from is a rural place but with the good internet connectivity that is there, I have been able to do something beneficial and contribute something positive to the Zambian music industry,” says Hope. Hope adds that he set up the blog as a way of contributing something to the Zambian music industry.

“I have always been into music and by coming up with this blog, I thought I could update the happenings in the Zambian music scene and share it with the world out there.On my site, I promote Zambian artists especially unsigned by profiling them, and the music they do. The response by those following my blog has been overwhelming” says Hope, otherwise known as DJ Wolf.

Hope says since setting up his blog in 2007, the blog has received overwhelming response from its followers,adding that some Zambian artists based in the United States had contacted his blog to have their music marketed.

Hope, who also works as a Monitor and Evaluation officer at Macha Hospital, advises youths to take advantage of the internet and use it creatively. “Youths should use the internet for creative things, business ventures and getting new ideas,” says Hope who is also a radio presenter at Radio Macha.

info courtesy Weekend Post

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Floating Skies Safaris


Floating Skies Safaris is an incorporated private, limited Zambian company, based in Livingstone, Zambia, the home of the mighty Victoria Falls. Kennedy Chaile, pictured above, is an enterprising and hard working young Zambian who established and manages Floating Skies. We shall soon feature him on our Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient so we can learn more about Floating Skies. For now, visit their website or friend Kennedy on Facebook!

The company’s guides are local Zambians who accompany visitors on their trips and have full knowledge and real life experience of the people, culture, customs and the flora and fauna of this beautiful land of Zambia.

Some of the unusual tours they offer include:

African Foods Cooking Tour Musokotwane
African Village Day Tour
Livingstone Town Historical Walk
Livingstone Jewish Historical Tour
Maramba African Market Tour
Simonga African Village

For more details please go to the link above.

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Magic Hands Of Africa

Magic Hands of Africa is a non profit company that was incorporated in March 2007 at the Registrar of Companies as a company limited by guarantee.

They reach out to unskilled and unemployed women and youths living in poor communities and provide them with an important source of income that helps them send their children to school, feed families, provide and improve their shelter and pay medical bills. This source of income also helps the youths to keep away from destructive activities.

Magic Hands Of Africa do this by training people to make beaded products and other creative crafts, provide them with raw materials and buy back the finished products from them which they later sell to the local and international market. Each person is paid according to the number of items made and 50% of all sales go back to their artisans. The other 50% helps meet operational costs. Any profits made after paying our artisans and meeting operational costs are either re-invested in the company or ploughed back into the community.

The company currently work with 13 women and 7 youths but have the capacity to employ more when demand is high. They make beaded necklaces, bracelets, waist beads, earrings, lanyards, key holders, scatter cushions, belts, purses, coasters, table mats and notebooks. Magic Hands of Africa currently has no shop and runs a home office. Their products are mainly sold at craft markets and are also found at Fine Stitches, Crossroads shopping mall in Lusaka as well as Souvenirs of Zambia, Livingstone Airport.

Customers can also contact Magic Hands of Africa to take products to their homes, places of work or any convenient and central place.

Wishing them the best of luck!

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Economies of Small


Loved this from Seth’s blog! The picture? Victoria Falls – not small!

Economies of small

Economies of scale are well understood. Bigger factories are more efficient, bigger distribution networks are more efficient, bigger ad campaigns can be more efficient. It’s often hard to defeat a major competitor, particularly if the market is looking for security and the status quo.

But what about the economies of small? Is being bigger an intrinsic benefit in and of itself? If your goal is to make a profit, it’s entirely possible that less overhead and a more focused product line will increase it. If your goal is to make more art, it’s entirely possible the ridding yourself of obligations and scale will help you do that. If your goal is to have more fun, it’s certainly likely that avoiding the high stakes of more debt, more financing and more stuff will help with that.

I think we embraced scale as a goal when the economies of that scale were so obvious that we didn’t even need to mention them. Now that it’s so much easier to produce a product in the small and market a product in the small, and now that it’s so beneficial to offer a service to just a few, with focus and attention, perhaps we need to rethink the very goal of scale.

Don’t be small because you can’t figure out how to get big. Consider being small because it might be better.

Amen – ed

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