Namibia – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Roberto, Eve and Kaufela

George da Soulchild Kaufela (who recently recorded a very successful single with Roberto) reports.

Zambian Singer Roberto (above) is set to perform in Namibia at Doc Jubber Hockey Field, on 29th Sep 2012 sharing the stage with American Rapper Eve!

Roberto’s latest album titled “My Name Is” went on the market a few weeks ago and seems to have been well received by the local and international market’

One song “Good Woman” has continued to receive massive radio play not only in Zambia but even as far as Rwanda, Australia and Canada, the songs talks about a man appreciating his woman, who has put up with a lot of nonsense in their relationship. I bet a lot of people relate to this, that’s why it’s such a hit at the moment, besides that I think it’s a well written song – the singing is brilliant, so is the production.

Rumour has it that George will be on the show too! Get in!

5
SEP

Africa, entertainment, music, Namibia, Zambia

‘The Experience’ – Wangaratta to Livingstone

Meet Corienne (above right) and Ginny Krich, all the way from Wangaratta in Victoria State, Australia. Corienne and Ginny, guests at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone appeared on the latest edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – that’s our regular weekly Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hours on Zambezi 107.7 fm – Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a great mixture of music and chat. We feature news from the international pop charts as well as giving away a weekly prize of a dinner for two, to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. On this particular show no-one won! Listeners could not tell me that Sipho Hotstix Mabuse was singing ‘Burn Out’ – shame!

Corienne and Ginny told listeners that they were mother and daughter and had arrived in Zambia just the day before – it was their first visit to the country and they were very much looking forward to their stay. They had a busy activity schedule ahead of them beginning with an elephant safari the very next day. They would also be taking a sunset cruise, doing the rhino walk, the lion encounter, visiting Victoria Falls and taking a cultural tour as well as a safari in the Chobe National Park, Botswana. They were both very excited about the prospect.

The music on the show featured ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ – the Walk Off The Earth version, coupled with Jason Derulo’s ‘Lockdown’. George chose Mr Vezzy’s ‘Every Day’ back to back with ‘Boza’ by Jay-Rox for his Zambian selection, while Milli Jam featured Beyonce’s smash ‘Love On Top’ with Rihanna’s ‘Birthday Cake’ remix featuring Chris Brown – naughty that one! Our pick of the week was Dappy featuring Brian May with ‘Rockstar’ and we closed with ‘Live My Life’ by Far East Movement featuring Justin Bieber. All latest! All good!

Corienne told listeners that she worked for an NGO in Wangaratta helping to provide homes for neglected children, that she was married to Ginny’s dad who’d retired and who had been left at home in Australia to take care of their three cats! They had a son as well, a pharmacist currently on holiday in Sri Lanka. Ginny told us she had been a hairdresser for the past twelve years, that she was single and loved being free to do as she pleased! She was due to go to college when her holiday finished, in order to study a course which would lead to a qualification allowing her to take up work similar to her mum’s current job.

I took the chance to tell listeners about Pinterest, a fairly new ‘scrapbook’ site on the internet, as well as information about how to find us on Twittter and Facebook. We thanked Zambezi 107.7 fm for the purchase of a new mixing deck making the production of our programme much easier and more professional.

Corienne and Ginny explained that they’d be spending a week at the coast in Namibia after their time in Zambia. Corienne’s favourite music was anything by The Beatles whereas Ginny favoured hard rock – the Foo Fighters amongst other bands. When asked where they would like to be and what they’d like to be doing in ten years’ time this delightful mother/daughter combo said they had ‘absolutely no idea’. We laughed!

8
MAR

activities, Australia, Chanters, entertainment, guests, Namibia, radioshow, victoriafalls, wildlife, Zambia

Tim and Diane Seaborn Brown on ‘The Experience’

We were delighted to have guests all the way from San Francisco, California on the most recent edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild Kaufela’ our weekly Sunday night radio show, airing at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and streaming live on the internet. Our popular show is known locally just as ‘The Experience’. Each week we offer a great mixture of local and international popular music, interesting and entertaining conversation with our guests of the week, as well as pop chart news from the UK and USA. One thing that makes our programme popular is that we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge every Sunday to the first person to text us, telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the track was Dionne Warwick’s ‘Heartbreaker’ – I thought our audience would struggle but we got a text with the correct answer very quickly!

Our guests Diane and Tim Seaborn Brown (above) told listeners they’d been married for 39 years and that Tim had recently retired from his job as a high school teacher of maths and computer science. When we asked Diane if she’d also retired she was rather hesitant with her answer. She did tell listeners she’d owned a pre-school for 25 years educating 100 students at a time and employing 10 teachers. She’d also spent time as a stock broker and as a recreational therapist for children with Down syndrome. Tim hailed originally from New Zealand where he and Diane had first met on a blind date, organized by mutual friends. “Was it love at first sight”? Asked Milimo (as usual). “Yes!” they agreed in unison! “One of the first things we did together was to watch a rugby match” Diane told listeners, explaining that as an American she’d understood very little of the game and totally didn’t understand that no-one was yelling and screaming when one of the teams scored points! “Quite different from the States!” She observed.

The music on the show was as entertaining as it should be. Flo Rida’s UK number one ‘Good Feeling’ opened the account, back to back with One Direction’s ‘One Thing’. George chose ‘Kawilo’ by B-Flow, Maureen Lilanda and Danny, coupled with Ozzy’s ‘Chimutengo Chamango’ for our local tracks, and Milli Jam picked ‘Oh Yeah’ by TI featuring Trey Songz and ‘Party’ by Beyonce (this latter track in honour of Beyonce’s recently born baby.) My tip of the week was the haunting ‘Home Again’ – Michael Kiwanuka’s UK hit. ‘Troublemaker’ by Taio Cruz closed the show.

Tim and Diane told listeners about their fabulous African adventure explaining that they were about half way through their journey. Before arriving in Livingstone for four days they’d spent three weeks on an overland tour through Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho in the company of 17 young Australians. From Livingstone they would leave the following day for Zimbabwe and then on to Johannesburg. A four day safari in the Kruger National Park was on the agenda as well as two weeks ‘lying on the beach’ in Zanzibar. This energetic, loving couple would then spend some time as volunteers in Arusha before taking off for another safari through the Serengeti.

Having been asked the usual closing question Tim and Diane told listeners that ten years from now they’d still like to be travelling worldwide and saw no reason why this should not be the case. We saw no reason either!

17
JAN

Africa, Botswana, charities, education, entertainment, music, Namibia, radioshow, Tanzania, tourism, travel, usa, Zanzibar

The Streits Experience

For the first 2012 edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild we introduced a new opening track – Olly Murs’ recent UK number one – ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ because, we told listeners, we wanted everyone to dance while they listened to the show! And so we do! ‘The Experience’ is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, and streaming live on the internet. On this particular show we knew the streaming was fine as we had an entry from Kenya for the prize we give away each week – to the first listener to tell us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. The track was ‘Where Is The Love’ by Black Eyed Peas and the prize was quickly snapped up by Otilia in Livingstone. As for our Kenyan listener, we told him to get on a plane and come and eat his prize!

Our guests on the show, pictured above, were the Streit family from Munich, Germany, though like me Bernhard Streit (centre) has been living and working in Africa for more than 40 years. Strangely our overseas careers both started in Mombasa, Kenya in the early 70’s! We couldn’t resist the temptation to reminisce on air about ‘the old days’ although our paths had not crossed at that time. Bernhard, a civil engineer and bridge builder, was accompanied on the show by his wife Gerda, a teacher back in Germany and son Robert a student from the University of Munich studying Biology. The only member of the family missing was Bernhard and Gerda’s daughter Werena who’d been in Livingstone for Christmas, but was now back in Germany and we hoped listening live to the show on the internet.

The music on the show was great! After the opening Olly Murs track mentioned above, we dropped ‘Born To Be Wild’ – the latest from Sean Kingston and Nicki Minaj, back to back with Alex Day’s UK Christmas hit ‘Forever Yours’. George da Soulchild, about whom there was a big feature in Zambia’s most popular national daily The Post the previous Friday showcasing his undoubted DJ and musical talents, chooses our local tracks each week on the show. This week his selections were Danny’s ‘Ifya Kon Ka on Ka’ and Chika’s ‘Chimibaba’. Milli Jam chose LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem’ which he told us is one of the most popular western tracks in the Livingstone clubs right now. He coupled this smash with Rihanna’s beautiful ‘Watch N’Learn’. After our oldie of the week, my ‘Pick Of The Week’ (another new feature for our show in 2012) was ‘Cross My Mind’ by Ludacris ft Damian Marley and Kevin Cossom. We spun the Military Wives and their lovely Christmas number one ‘Wherever You Are’ at the end of the show to say ‘bye’ to the holiday!

Bernhard and Gerda told listeners that they’d lived in Zambia in 2002-2003 when Bernhard was the civil engineer in charge of the construction of the bridge across the Zambezi between Sesheke and Katima Mulilo in Namibia – a beautiful bridge it is too! We demanded he now builds a bridge at Kazangula between Zambia and Botswana and we were treated to a lecture in why it was proving so difficult politically to get the project started, but Bernhard remained confident that the bridge would be built before long. The family had formed a consultancy company – Senex – in Zambia and were looking forward to settling in Livingstone in due course. We wanted to know if Robert had a girlfriend pining for him back in Germany, he said he had not. He told us he loves clubbing in Munich. Although he had not done the bungee jump in Livingstone he’d done the gorge swing and had also been white water rafting. Bernhard and Gerda had not!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Bernhard and Gerda said they hoped they would still be around and enjoying life in Zambia, Robert said he hoped he would be following his chosen career as a marine biologist, living an exciting and interesting life. “Married with children?” I asked. The answer wasn’t “yes!”

5
JAN

2012, Africa, Botswana, Chanters, Christmas, entertainment, Germany, guests, music, Namibia, Zambia

Scott Taylor & Aimee Aspinall Drop Kick ‘The Experience’

Milli Jam, co-host of our regular Sunday night radio show, The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild, was quick to ask our guests last Sunday “which country do you come from?” Scott and Aimee, pictured above, told listeners that they were from New Zealand, Scott from Auckland and Aimee from Dunedin. “That’s a small country near Australia that recently won the Rugby World Cup” Scott continued. Talk about getting it in early! “Where were you when that happened?” We asked this engaging couple. “Well actually I was there!” Replied Scott proudly, “and I was in London on the phone trying to make sense of what he was drunkenly trying to tell me!” Quipped Aimee. We laughed.

Our programme goes out at 18.30 hrs GMT every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm and is a cool mixture of music and chat. The show streams live on the internet too. We’re popular locally not just for the great music we play, but because we give away a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge on each show! The prize goes to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week. On this particular show no-one won! Ha ha! The track I played was ‘Macarena’ by Los del Rio – everyone knew the track, no-one knew the artists. As our next show will be on Christmas Day we promised to carry forward the prize, make it easier and dinner for four people to compensate! So watch out for that one!

Scott and Aimee told listeners that they’d spent the last 7 years living in London, working but travelling whenever and wherever they could. Scott works in IT and Aimee in property management. This was their first visit to Africa and they were very much looking forward to their three week safari through Botswana, Namibia and South Africa which would start in a few days’ time ending in Cape Town. From there they would head home to New Zealand for a visit with friends and family before moving to Sydney, Australia where Scott was scheduled to take up a new appointment. “Are you married?” Milli Jam asked. “No, but he’s popped the question and I said yes!” Replied Aimee, breathless and excited!

The music on the show was cool and latest as usual. Dev featuring Enrique Iglesias with ‘Naked’ kicked off the programme back to back with Natalia Kills featuring Far East Movement and ‘Lights Out’. Local tracks were ‘My Police’ latest from Magic Links featuring K’Millian coupled with ‘Ngani i Gelo Wandi’ by Macky 2 featuring Dandy Krazy and Kanene. Milli Jam featured ‘Never Lost’ by BoB ft TI and Coldplay, back to back with Rihanna’s ‘Drunk On Love’. We wound up with T-Pain’s smash ‘5 O’Clock’ featuring Lily Allen then Sway’s ‘Still Speeding’.

Aimee told listeners about her two years working in broadcasting in New Zealand. We wanted to know how she and Scott had met and they told us it had been in a bar in Dublin where they’d both been with friends. Was it love at first sight? “Pretty much so!” They seemed to agree. They also told our listeners they were very much looking forward to having tea on Livingstone Island the following day and swimming in Devil’s Pool. They hoped it would be the highlight of their stay.

Asked where they’d like to be and what they’d like to be doing 10 years from now, this great looking, happy couple said they’d like to be back in New Zealand, running their own business and married. “Children?” We wondered. “Yeah! Why not?” Was their eventual reply!

20
DEC

Africa, Australia, Botswana, Cape Town, Chanters, computers, entertainment, entrepreneurship, football, guests, innovation, livingstone, music, Namibia, People, radioshow

SADC Visa

This would make a lot of sense

The fate of a single tourist visa for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries will be determined in June this year. Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige, says that single visa is top on agenda of the SADC ministerial meeting slated for June, 2011 in Lusaka, Zambia.

Billed as a ‘grand debate’, the ministerial meeting is expected to evolve a ‘grand action plan’ that will lead to the establishment of the SADC single tourists’ visa. “A single visa will go a long way in easing travel arrangements for those intending to sample tourist allure in SADC member countries,” Maige said in Arusha.

SADC member countries are Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

Bring it on!

24
MAR

2011, Africa, Malawi, Namibia, rsa, Tanzania, tourism, Zambia

Petersen and Kaufela Rock Sesheke!

George da Soulchild, co-presenter of our Sunday night radio show The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, was missing from last Sunday’s show. When I tell you he’s also known as Kaufela and you read the article below, you’ll know why! All in a good cause I guess!

Lusaka-based singer/ragga artist Petersen last Saturday entertained Sesheke’s Goma Night Club patrons when he and upcoming Livingstone based rapper Kaufela put up a spirited performance. The show was set to start by 21.30 hrs but by 19.30 hrs the club was jam packed, with a large number of patrons still waitng to get in and many more flocking to the entertainment spot, popularly known as ‘ku goma’, famous for hosting the most happening Zambian musicians.

Before Petersen took to the stage Sesheke based musicians were on hand to entertain patrons with a selection of different jams, much to the excitement of the audience. Petersen and Kaufela took to the stage around 22:40 hrs, with Petersen belting out his hit songs ‘Nilibeko’, ‘Nkani ya kAgno’, ‘Hule’, ‘Stoga’, ‘Oh No’, ‘My Promise’ and ‘Bobojani’ amongst others, amid cheers from the excited audience who couldn’t help singing along!

Kaufela also unleashed his new single featuring Petersen ‘Nivikolopo’ and later performed his hit track ‘Your Smile’, which has become popular in nightclubs and radio stations. The song received a suprisingly overwhelming response. These two tracks were taken from Kaufela’s 12-track debut album titled ‘Better Late Than Never’ recorded at Raising Sounds Studio in Livingstone to be released in May this year.

The show went on till 05:50hrs in the morning and even at that time the club was still packed to capacity – as the saying goes “party til the sun comes up!” Because Sesheke is very close to Namibia half of the patrons were from Namibia and word is that Zambian musicians are huge over there – more especially Petersen.

Meanwhile Petersen described the show as a success and one of the best in his music career. He also stated that he intends to release his third album this year,”I must give back to my fans. They have been great to me and it’s time I showed love back by releasing my third album – I know they’ve been waiting for it, so it’s coming sooner than they expected.” He said.

After the show Petersen and Kaufela went back on stage and took time to thank their fans for coming and assured them that he’d be back before the end of the year.

18
MAR

Africa, Chanters, entertainment, music, Namibia, radioshow, reviews, Zambia

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.

15
JAN

2011, Africa, entertainment, music, Namibia, radioshow, Zambia

Caprivi River Lodge

We’re often asked about accommodation in Katima Mulilo, the Nambian town on the border with Zambia, some 2 hours drive from Livingstone. In the past it’s been difficult to recommend anywhere. Now though, we’ve had a commendation from one of our Guests for Caprivi River Lodge – approximately 4.5 kms east of Katima. There are 12 accommodation units and the lodge is owned and managed by Keith and Mary Rooken Smith. On their website they say:

Wake up to the sounds of the Zambezi in our cool, comfortable, thatched, river-facing chalets each with:
• en-suite facilities
• Ceiling Fans
• Bar Fridge
• Electrical Kettle
• telephones

Also offered: very cozy cabins with:
• en-suite facilities
• Air Conditioning
• Bar Fridge
• Electrical Kettle
• Braai Place
• Screened Stoops (Porches)

Lastly:
Our fishermen’s cabins with outside ablutions, with hot showers; these cabins are suitable for backpackers or older children. The cabins are air-conditioned with braai facilities and screened to keep the bugs at bay while you sit back and enjoy the sounds of the Caprivi.

Caprivi River Lodge has a swimming pool, bar and dining facility. Meals are served on the open lapa where one can sit back, relax and enjoy the sunsets over the mighty Zambezi River, surrounded by the sounds of nature.”

Sounds great doesn’t it? And as mentioned it comes highly recommended!

30
SEP

accommodation, Africa, guests, hotels, livingstone, Namibia

George Mukwita – Guest Blog

Here’s George Mukwita’s Guest blog for the week. George, who works under the name of ‘George Soulchild’ co-hosts our weekly radio show which goes out live every Sunday at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm – ‘imitated but never duplicated’.

ROBERTO.
Local artist Robert Banda AKA Roberto has been nominated for this year’s African music awards in the following categories: best artist Southern Africa, best African new comer, best collaboration with Toniks of Uganda. The Awards are set for the 15th of October 2010. His new song ‘Your Love’ sung in English and Nyanja from his forthcoming album played for the first time on 107.7 Zambezi FM on my breakfast show and we also featured it on the Chanters show just days after its release, its red hot! Something for this coming summer I must add.

DANNY
Danny is labelled as one of the BIG 5 local artists, his new song ”Live” has like all of his songs in the past received criticism in one way or the other. In his new song Danny educates on the importance of consistent and correct use of condoms every time one has sex…In a twisted clever way bringing out the artistic self that he is known for, in the local music industry there are few who can deliver like Danny does. The song is a big hit in the clubs taverns and shabeens it’s also the title track to his new album. We featured it on the Chanters show. Danny has been in the Zambian music industry since 99/2000. His last album didn’t fare so well, now all eyes are on his new project as it promises to do better – guess we just have to wait and see.

MAMPI ROCK’S SESHEKE
Local artist Merriam Mukabe aka Mampi last Friday attracted a very large crowd of Sesheke fans at Goma night club in Katima Mulilo Sesheke, Western Province where she appeared for the first time and delivered a spirited performance that was also meant to introduce some of her new songs from her forthcoming album.

Rumour has it that the Diva has some roots in Sesheke. Therefore it was not surprising that a number of people turned up to witness a daughter coming home. The performance started at 10:30 pm, her stage act was great and it kept the fans screaming for more. After the show she talked about her performance .

“My performance here is one of those usual shows to just help me keep in touch with my fans and let them know what I am working on and that I’m the best when it comes to this because I always aim to give my best. I’m glad I came here – I had no idea how much they love me here. As you may be aware, I am currently working on my new album which hopefully will be released by end of the year. I will be back”

Mampi, whose second and probably most successful album, Chimo ni Chimo was released two years ago says her new project is specifically targeted at introducing her to the international market.

Thanks George!

13
AUG

blog, Chanters, livingstone, music, Namibia, radioshow, zambezi

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