Janta’s Blooming International Video Taste

                                                          Heavyweight musician: Janta 

Of late there has been an influx of Malawian music videos that are of international taste. This development has now signaled that the music industry in this country has got what it takes to make an impression on the global musical village. 

It has not been so in the past. Local musicians, even at the turn of the millennium, have cared less about the quality of their music videos. And Afterall, not many Malawians at this time had the luxury of owning a television set, something that discouraged local musicians from investing in filming their videos. This meant that artists only put all their focus on song audio production.

Jai Banda, Malawi's most renowned music promoter, describes this period of robust concentration of audios than videos as ‘hegemonic audio era.’ Spearheaded by a local market leader, O.G Issa, the circulation of local music in the country in this era was mainly in audios. 

“It made sense then only to have audios. Now things are different,” he said. 

First to break boundaries onto the international stage in 2016, was the artist, Tay Grin. Working with Pilot Films in his Chipapa highly defined (HD) music video which also features Nigerian music icon 2Baba, the Nyau King and his music video, had received a significant recognition.

After Grin's successful international video production, there has been an influx of Malawian music videos that are of international taste. More local artists have followed suit by storming continental music platforms such as Channel O, Trace Television and MTV Base with videos that attract global appreciation and recognition. 

Dan Lu featured Kcee in Sweet Banana and the video that followed made waves on foreign soil, Gwamba featured Emtee in his video Uzoyimela and the video became household both in Malawi and South Africa. Fredokiss who’s internationally shot video Dadada won the prize of video of the year during the 2020 Nyasa Music Awards. There are a lot of Malawian videos which have been shot internationally which have excelled.

And in most recent times, Afro-pop sensational, Janta, born Shukuran Mwachumu, registered his name on the international scene when he sought the video services of international director Mazi CJ when shooting the video of Ndampeza. Then the two creatives worked together again in Nawe, before proceeding to work again in Khumbe. Just a fortnight ago, Janta released another video titled Moto which has Mr. Brown and a Stellar cast. This is a development that has cemented Janta’s brand name on the continental scene and raised Malawi’s flag in as far as music is concerned. 

Commenting on the emergence of Malawian videos on the international scene, Joy Nathu said Malawian artists are on the right track in as far as music videos are concerned. 

He said: “international music videos are a powerful tool in as far as music circulation is concerned because the catchment area is broadened and these are the videos that make noise on YouTube as a global music community. International videos have a fingerprint that audiences can’t ignore, I therefore, recommend Janta and other Malawian artists to carry on with international videos.”

Speaking of the same, Jai Banda described Janta’s present videos as a perfect embodiment of art, an epitome of marvel and a joy to watch. The giant local music promoter said: “It is critical for any heavyweight artist to take interest in the production of excellent moving visuals that will consequently appeal to an extended fan base on the international market.”

Janta is an Afro-pop artist, songwriter and producer who has won a couple of music awards locally. He broke onto the limelight with his hit single titled Divorce. Currently, Janta is still riding on the wave brought forth by his internationally shot videos. 

Note: This article was published in the Weeend Nation newspaper on 13 August 2022.