In Malawi we have now digitized several thousand tracks of music that had not been heard for many years, stored on old, analog media, like reel-to-reel tapes. An important part of Malawi’s cultural heritage was largely inaccessible, but with digitization it has been brought back to life and is once again part of the country’s dynamic culture.
As in so many African countries, the music industry does not have a long history in Malawi. For decades, the country lacked private studios and record companies. Therefore, the only option for many artists, musicians and bands to get their music recorded, was to go to the studios of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, MBC. Thus, MBC is sitting on a virtual goldmine of recordings from the 1930s and onwards!
Hidden in the archives of MBS we found traditional music from the villages, we found early efforts of making a Malawian jazz, pop, rock and other modern music forms. We found songs telling exciting stories from the recent history of the country, songs carrying old, traditional myths and legends, stories of everyday life, and chants and hymns of rites and religions, old and new.
Now a wide selection of songs have been digitized stored and made available once again to the Malawian audience, to media, schools, universities, and potentially also to record companies, streaming services, and web pages all over the world.
The music has also been re-injected into the rich and vibrant music life of the country, inspiring young musicians to look to their own heritage for the building blocks to create new, unique, and modern styles of music that are uniquely Malawian.
