Janta’s Blooming International Video Taste
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.
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