The Official Trailer is now available!

We’ve finally gotten through most of production and we’re proud to present the film’s official trailer. See below, and watch in HD!

Deep Roots Malawi featured on BBC World News!!

We’re privileged to have been featured on the BBC World News website yesterday! Click here to read the full story!

Lake of Stars 2008

Lake of Stars 2008 was incredible!!! The Deep Roots team reunited in beautiful Senga Bay, Malawi for three days of music and dance, hoping to collect some great interviews and live performance footage from some of Malawi’s finest musicians. The set up of the festival was brilliant. The stage was built on the beach into a massive rock formation, a smaller and yet still impressive stage similar to that of Red Rocks amphitheater. So, festival-goers could listen and dance while swimming in the lake.

The Lake of Stars music festival in Senga Bay, Malawi

Our relationship with the festival organizers gave us on-stage and backstage access to the musicians, meaning we were able to get exactly what we needed for Deep Roots. This included live performances and interviews with Joseph Tembo, the Black Missionaries, Tay Grin, Lucius Banda, Billy Kaunda, the Makambale Brothers and Body, Mind & Soul just to name a few.

Feeling the rhythm

Also, because Lake of Stars is a young and growing music festival, it has maintained its warm, intimate feel. Performers and spectators interacted, and several performers during the weekend collaborated to do impromptu acoustic jam sessions right on the beach, inviting anyone who could sing or play to join in. It was a pretty special environment, and we felt more connected to music than we have in a very long time listening to those jam sessions on the beach.

Sunday morning gospel

There were probably about 3,000 people in attendance at the festival, most all who were camping on the grounds. Lake of Stars is truly an international music festival, as throughout the weekend we met people from at least 30 different countries. Many of the people were from the U.K., but there were also many Malawians there, as well as Canadians, Americans, and people from other parts of western Europe. Regardless of where they came from, we met wonderful people, listened to phenomenal music and took in the beauty of this beautiful corner of the world. We can’t wait for LOS 2009!

The Trailer, Lake of Stars & The Future

We’ve spent the better part of the past two weeks readjusting in Namibia and scrambling to get together a trailer to be screened at the Lake of Stars festival in Malawi next month. We’re going over film in Windhoek this week before returning to Rundu next Friday to turn all the content over to our editor, Cedar Wolf. From there, we’ll spend the better part of three weeks working to cut things down before heading back to Malawi the first of October for the Lake of Stars.

In addition to the production updates, we have a couple of key developments for the Deep Roots concept. We are currently speaking with several Malawian businesses to solicit corporate sponsorship and make the leap from Deep Roots as a film to Deep Roots as a registered Malawian music/film production and promotion company. We’ll keep everyone posted as the talks progress, but we hope to coordinate and film at least two music and cultural events in Malawi next year under the Deep Roots banner.

Also, we are happy to welcome the first member of Deep Roots’ staff. Sophia Brillant (sbrill33@uga.edu), Deep Roots’ new project manager, is responsible for artist development, advertising, promotion, PR, blog management and registration of the business in Malawi. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions regarding our projects, please contact Sophia.

More to come soon, so stay with us.

Deep Roots back in the Studio

After five days of overland travel from Malawi to Namibia, it feels good to be home. The workload piles up during eight weeks of neglected correspondence, but slowly we’re catching up on everything. In the process, we’ve coordinated an exciting development.

In addition to screening Deep Roots for the press at the Lake of Stars festival, we’re hoping to schedule a show in the festival’s line-up. This Deep Roots Malawi time-slot would feature some of the talent we uncovered while filming, including performances by Charles Mkanthama, Gasper Nali and the Makambale Brothers. Also, we’re looking to bring up several marimba players from southern Malawi’s Lower Shire Valley.

More details are forthcoming, so stay with us!

Tiwanana from the Warm Heart of Africa

Kenny, Waliko and I have spent the past three days in Blantyre going through footage, making sure we’re on the same page—translations, cultural explanations, film treatment, etc—before we all head our separate ways. For Ken, he’s off to Canterbury to start a new year of teaching secondary school in the UK. For Waliko, it’s back to TV Malawi and the election year turbulence stirring the office. I’ll be traveling around Malawi for the next 10 days, tying up loose ends before starting the overland trek back to Namibia.

The Deep Roots Team: Waliko, Benjamin & Kenny

From there, our editor, Cedar Wolf, and I will start the slow process of turning this experience into a finalized product. We hope to have a short trailer ready for screening at the Lake of Stars festival’s international press conference in early October, so we’ll be hitting it hard once I get back. After that, we aim to have the full-length feature available by the year’s end.

Thanks to everyone who has kept up with us along this incredible journey, and please continue to check back periodically for updates as we move into editing. This project was the first of hopefully many more to come, so please stay with us as we move from the field and into the studio. Thanks!

The Body, Mind & Soul of Malawi

This week, Lilongwe played host to the international finals of the Music Crossroads International (MCI) competition, a unique youth empowerment through music program initiated in 1995 by Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) that encompasses five southern African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Since the program began twelve years ago, Music Crossroads has reached almost 35,000 musicians and 750,000 listeners. MCI is comprised of workshops, festivals and competitions to promote the African traditional and contemporary/ urban music of young African musicians. The project aims at creating sustainable musical structures in the target countries, improving self-awareness and social inclusion of young African individuals. MCI promotes the participation of young women in the program and addresses HIV/AIDS prevention through Relationship workshops.

This week, finalists from each of the four other countries convened in Lilongwe to duke it out with the Malawian champions and see who would be crowned this year’s regional champion. On Thursday we sat down with Stieg Hannsen, MCI’s festival director for Malawi. He talked about the evolution of music throughout the region over the past decade, highlighting Malawi’s success in winning back-to-back MCI titles in 2006 and 2007, with Konga Vibes and Body, Mind & Soul respectively taking top honors.

Body, Mind & Soul playing @ MCI 2008

So, today we arranged to sit down with Body, Mind & Soul, the reigning champions and honorary performers for this weekend’s competition. A six-piece band from Mzuzu (Northern Malawi), BMS is led by Davie Luhanga, commonly known as ‘Street Rat’, whose voice places their sound into a league of its own. The band started out as ‘Souls of the Ghetto’ playing reggae music, like many local bands; they won several local awards such as the Kuche Kuche Music Award and participated in festivals such as the Lake of Stars and Hippy Festival.

In 2005 the band felt a stronger connection pulling them towards their Malawian roots. They reflected on the importance of sharing their ancient culture in a modern time and after much thought and experimentation, created a new musical concept that they are calling ‘voodjaz’. It is a subtle mix of traditional rhythms with a jazz feel, creating a bridge between past and present Malawian cultures.

Their first international recognition came in May 2007, when they won the Music Crossroads Southern Africa InterRegional Festival in Harare (Zimbabwe). Most recently, they returned to Malawi from an eight-week European Tour in June/July. Already, they’re scheduled for a North American tour in 2009.

So, it comes as no surprise that BMS blew us away when they took the stage yesterday. I’m willing to bet that within another two years, Body, Mind & Soul will be an established touring act on the World Music scene, one not to be missed. They’ve just released a new album, Kwacha Malawi, which we hope to have up and available for download soon.

Tonight we’re headed back over to Umunthu Theatre to check out the Black Missionaries and see first-hand the new standard to which Harry has raised sound and lighting for Malawian venues. Take care…

Music as an Instrument for Change

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with both Peter Mwangwa and his record label, Rhythm of Life. Mwangwa, one of Malawi’s most prominent fusion artists, has made a name for himself in the last decade by combining indigenous Malawian rhythms with international standard recordings to produce uniquely Malawian sounds. Surprisingly, he has found the majority of his audience not within Malawi, but overseas. This highlights a common phenomenon in Malawi, where frequently, many prominent Malawian musicians find success first internationally before becoming recognized in their own home.

Most recently, Mwangwa has turned his attention toward philanthropy and social activism, founding Talents of the Malawian Child (TMC), a program designed to empower the forgotten children of Malawi orphaned by HIV. He works with these young people to teach, form and develop music groups. He records and produces their work, markets their albums and organizes performances for them. The proceeds of the albums go to pay the orphans’ school fees and purchase their clothing.

Rhythm of Life Records

Rhythm of Life, a UK based NGO, strives to use music as an instrument of change to empower youth. In Malawi, they support a range of programs, including young artist development, professional recording services and support for Mwangwa’s TMC. They gave a number of insights into the challenges facing aspiring young musicians, from inadequate financial resources to production, promotion and distribution obstacles.

Over the next two days, we’ll be filming some of the best young talent southern Africa has to offer at the Music Crossroads International festival. Stick around to hear more…

The Wheels Got Tired

Saturday morning, we caught up with the Makambale Brothers, one of Lilongwe’s most talented groups of traditional musicians. Their unique sound, born from oil-can guitars and bottle-cap cymbals, screams Malawian. We recorded three songs with them, hoping to produce a music video from our short session with them. Afterwards, we were so impressed with their sound that we invited them to open up for the Sangalala Band at Saturday night’s show at Chameleon’s. The show was yet another promotional gig for Deep Roots, and Kenny once again dazzled the audience with his high-tempo stage presence.

Makambale Brothers, Lilongwe

Yesterday (Sunday) morning, we packed up the Land Rover to drive back to Blantyre, only to make it 10km outside Lilongwe before running into clutch problems. So, it looks as though we’re stuck in the capital city for the week, which isn’t such a bad proposition, as we have plenty of interviews here to keep us occupied. Additionally, Lilongwe is hosting an international music competition this weekend, Music Crossroads. So for our purposes, we’re stuck in Lilongwe during the best week of the year possible.

Today we met with Peter Malata, a well-known Malawian fusion artist. He launched his career as a reggae musician in the mid-1990s, but has since pioneered the effort to blend traditional Malawian beats with contemporary sounds. He, along with his brother Jerry (among others), recently started the Mabingu Band, an experiment delving into the cultural roots of the music associated with Gule Wamkulu

Jerry, who has been initiated into the Gule tradition in the past two years, has been given permission by the society to popularize some of the inner-elements of their music. He and Mabingu Band thus represent the first effort to incorporate the tradition’s music into the Malawian mainstream. We listened to some of the music they’re currently in the studio recording, and the results are sounds that I’ve never been exposed to before—gems waiting to be uncovered.

Jerry (left) & Peter (center) Malata

So, we’re back with Ken’s family tonight, where we’ll be for the remainder of the week. On tap for us in the next couple days are interviews with Peter Mwangwa, the Black Missionaries, Konga Vibes, Body, Mind & Soul, Lester Mwathunga, Harry Gibbs, Rhythm of Life Records, Music Crossroads International, and more, so stick around….

Back in the Capital City

After spending Monday-Thursday in production review in Blantyre, we resumed filming today in Lilongwe with Harry Gibbs, a key figure in Malawian entertainment and music promotion. His activities range from organizing Malawi’s annual international music festival, the Lake of Stars, to owning and operating Lilongwe’s premier venue, Umunthu Theatre.

Umunthu Theatre, Lilongwe

He was able to give us his take on Lilongwe’s music scene while showing us around his newly opened theatre. Harry opened Umunthu last year, aiming to attract both national and international artists by providing unparalleled sound and lighting quality. Judging by our tour, he’s accomplished just that. We’re fortunately going to see the Black Missionaries at Umunthu next weekend, so we’ll be able to see Malawi’s new performance standard for ourselves.

Additionally, Harry pointed us in the direction of the Makambale Brothers, the capital city’s very own traditional music quartet. So, we gave them a call and arranged a recording session for tomorrow afternoon. Also, tomorrow night, Kenny and the Sangalala Band are playing another Deep Roots promotional gig at Chameleon’s Bar, a stylish venue for musicians, poets and comedy groups in Lilongwe. Stay with us for more. Ciao.