Alan Namoko and Chimvu Jazz

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Last year I did a weekly 30-minute music podcast dedicated to overcoming Xenophobia by exploring music from all over the world. I did 52 episodes and loved every minute of it.

One of the joys of doing something like the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow (find out more about the podcast here and/or stream/download every episode here) is discovering terrific music from all around the world. One of the downsides of doing something like the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow is not taking good notes which results in not remembering where you came across certain albums, especially in the digital age.

Allmusic says:

Here's a gem indeed -- an acoustic quartet: two singers, guitar/banjo, drums -- with music closer to the grass roots than anything since Africa Acoustic and From the Copperbelt. Namoko hews to a pure rural acoustic string sound: precious people music. The packaging of this privately issued CD is odd, but the sound is fine.

I don’t know where I got this album and informationa about Alan Namoko is sparse, even in this abundant internet age. I featured the title track "Ana Osiidwa (The Orphans)" from Namoko’s 1992 album on Episode 04 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow and here’s what I wrote at the time:

Alan Namoko was a blind blues and jazz musician from Malawi. Namoko played the banjo and sang in the Lomwe, Chewa and Nyanja languages. Namoko became an influential figure in Malawi's music scene in the 1970s and 1980s and around the world with the Chimvu Jazz band and was even featured on several episodes of the John Peel show.

Namoko’s music is folk blues that transcends borders. The music is nostalgic and familiar (in the best way) despite the language barriers (at least for me). The album cover says that it was put out on Pamtondo Records, but the Pamtondo website doesn’t appear to be a record label or store of any kind. The page listing their titles says: “At first a small amount was put out on cassette and CD format for sale but now most remains as a collection for research purposes.”

According to Wikipedia, he put out 9 albums, but I haven’t had much luck tracking any of the others down. Maybe you can do better? In the meantime, stream or download the album here.

Tracklist:

  1. Achilekwa (Mr. Chilekwa)

  2. Gitala Kulira Ngati Chitsulo (Playing Guitar Like A Ringing Bell)

  3. A Namoko Akulira (Namoko Mourns)

  4. Kakhiwa Miyene (And When I Die)

  5. Lameki (Lameck)

  6. Ana Osiidwa (The Orphans)

  7. A Chilenga (Mr. Chilenga)

  8. Mwandilanga (You Have Punished Me)

  9. Mwalimba Mtima (You Can Be So Heartless)

  • No purchase or artist links available

  • Download the album as a zip file.