Malawian musicians have great roles to play in the country through messages they communicate in their Malawian songs. Daniel Zambas stated that “music play a huge role within everyday society, from the advertising campaigns of corporate businesses to live performances.” The understanding of the power music holds, is vastly recognised and utilised to cause affect to an audience. Music does much more than “depict” or embody values. Music is active and dynamic, constitutive not merely of values but of trajectories and styles of conduct. It plays an important role in shaping society and identities.
The scope of music reaches far beyond the concert hall. It accompanies our traveling, sports, shopping, and working activities. It speaks to us and silences us. Music provides parameters that can be used to frame experiences, perceptions, feelings, and comportments. So musicians are expected to depict valuable roles in the society since they are role models. However, many Malawian musicians have misinterpreted their roles by using songs as a tool for seeking public attention or fame, as a means of attacking and insulting their haters. This invites disappointments in audience.
Malawian Musicians as Teachers in Society
Firstly, Malawian musicians must act as teachers to the society. This involves the musicians playing a major role in educating people living in their society by producing educative songs that are very rich in tangible life lessons for moral, intellectual, and idealistic reasons. Educating people through songs helps to shape the social and moral values of people and enables the people to have new or wide knowledge and understand their society.
Malawian Musicians as Advisers
Secondly, Malawian musicians must also acts as advisers to the society. Musicians need to be producing creative songs that have elements of advising the audience listening to the songs on the dangers of indulging into immoral conducts. Malawian songs must strongly express the negative effects of getting involved in unacceptable social behaviours. These advisable songs enables people in the society to be aware of the negative impacts of participating in unacceptable social behaviours such as dangers of drug and substance abuse, smoking marijuana or Indian hemp, and even theft.
Read: Everything You Want to Know About Malawi Music
Malawian songs as a Medium for Promoting Culture
Another important role of Malawian musicians is to act as custodians of culture. In literature, a custodian refers to a person who is in charge of a society, its morals and culture. By being custodians of the society, Malawian musicians must produce dynamic songs that expresses and reflect cultures that are practiced by people of different tribes here in Malawi. This will help the society to gain a wide knowledge of other people’s culture, know what happened in the past, strengthen the culture of Malawians, avoid the dilution of other people’s culture and even to avoid repeating the same mistakes that were done in the past by some people in their society.
Malawian Musicians as Social Critics
Again, Malawian musicians must also act as social critics of their society. This is where the musicians takes time to tackle some evil doings by some influential individuals in their societies such as members of parliament and councillors by producing songs that exposes and criticises their negative deeds by highlighting issues of political corruption, nepotism, brutality and oppression, and valuable solutions of the evil doings. This helps to promote positive change and act as a means of conveying messages for betterment of Malawi.
Also Read: Richest Musician in Malawi:The Ultimate List
Malawian Musicians as Sources of Information
Malawian musicians must also act as sources of information about life. This involves the musicians producing songs that are rich in information about life and current affairs. Since there are a lot of people, especially from the grass root level who cannot manage to buy newspapers, own a television to be watching news stories every day. Music acts as their source of information of what is happening around their country which they do listen on their radios.
Famous Malawian Artists as Entertainers
Lastly, Malawian musicians must also act as entertainers of their society. This involves the musicians coming up with songs that aims at bringing happiness in the minds of the audience and forgetting their problems. Malawian songs that listeners could dance while spending their leisure time.
Related: Malawi Gospel Music: The Past, Present, and Future of Gospel Music In Malawi
Conclusion
Such expected roles from musicians will help to develop people’s lives socially, academically, spiritually, politically, economically and nationally. Again, it will depict a strong sense of maturity in musicians and set a good practical examples to the society. As such people, organisations and the government may choose, appoint or elect Malawian musicians into some important social, cultural, political, and economic positions in the society.
For example, Malawi gospel musicians like Patience Namadingo is the brand ambassador for MultiChoice Malawi. Fredokiss, real name is Penjani Kalua is one of the famous Malawian artists who is a new brand ambassador for New Building Society (NBS). Sangie, whose real name is Angel Mbekeani is ambassador for Airtel Panel and Itel, and Gwamba, whose real name is Duncan Zgambo was also chosen as UNFPA Malawi SYP ambassador.
