by Gasper Nali
Abale Ndikuwuzeni
Gasper Nali
SDR005 Dec 7, 2015
– Original Afro Beats That Took the Internet by Storm –
In July 2015, Gasper Nali, Nkhata Bay musician extraordinare, released his first international single on Spare Dog Records. He is an internet phenomena of late, with a five year old video of him playing his song ‘A Bale Ndikuwuzeni’, reaching a whopping 18 million views on Facebook & YouTube in just a few months. Over the Summer, we recorded a full album with him, which has now finally been released on 7th December 2015.
Gasper plays a home made instrument called Babatoni. It’s a huge one string bass guitar played with a stick and an empty bottle, and the sound coming out is truly something special. This in combination with Gasper’s great voice and catchy tunes makes for a music experience you almost certainly haven’t had before!
If the title track of the album is hard to find on the internet it could be due to some confusion concerning the title. The correct Chichewa name ‘Abale Ndikuwuzeni’ (which can also be legitimately spelt Abale Ndikuuzeni) has been misunderstood to be ‘Abale Ndikum Gem’ and even the cryptic ‘Африканский музыкант’. The title roughly translates as ‘People, I want to tell you’, and in the song Gasper voices his concerns about the issue of child marriages in Malawi. You can find the full lyrics here, as transcribed by Gasper and translated to English by our friend Thomas Ngwira.
Over the summer, we filmed a series of short interviews with him, which we are calling ‘Gasper Nali on…’. In the first interview, ‘Gasper Nali on… How to Play the Babatoni’, he shows us to prepare and play his instrument. In others, he describes how he made the instrument, and tells us a bit about his life and his musical influences. The interviews were conducted in Chichewa, so we are getting them translated into English and subtitled. You can find the first video here.
‘A Bale Ndikuwuzeni’ – Gasper Nali
Official music video for the track ‘A Bale Ndikuwuzeni’ from the brand new single from the fantastic Gasper Nali, singing and playing his home made bass guitar called Babatoni. Recorded, filmed & produced in Nkhata Bay by Moto Wambili Studios, in July 2015.
Album Credits:
All songs on the album ‘A Bale Ndikuwuzeni’ is written by Gasper Nali. Recorded & Mixed by Mattias Stålnacke at Moto Wambili Studios, Nkhata Bay, Malawi. Cover design & photo by Mattias Stålnacke.
Musicians:
Gasper Nali: Vocals, Babatoni bass guitar, bass drum. Chapasi Black: Djembe & Percussion. Mattias Stålnacke: Keyboards, guitars & percussion.
The original video was shared by a Facebook page called Vaskimusic (amongst others). You can view it here.