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Artist Profile: Ballad Zulu

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In the industry of music, there are those who do it for a living, the one hit wonders who appear on the scene but fail to keep up, and then there are those who do it simply because they are massively talented and its hard for them to stay away. Ballad Zulu is in the mould of the talented who do music for fun, for him its a hobby.  By profession, he's an Economist. When you look through YouTube you won't find much in terms of interviews, but what you'll find is a bit of music videos that are testament of this mans talent. Quite poetic how his parents named him "Ballad". His 1990 single , Cook On (Woman of Truth) is an industry classic. How the hell didn't he win a Grammy? one wonders. Otherwise the lack of proper documentation of Zambian music makes this a hard article to write, the source material is inadequate. But this legend deserves to be appreciated. His sound was international quality, only God knows what could've been if music was his primary career...

Natasha Chansa - The Genesis EP Vol. 1 Review

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Princess Natasha Chansa - PNC - The Genesis EP Vol. 1.  REVIEW by Alfred  I first heard of Natasha Chansa in 2018 when she appeared along with Frazer Xongs on Era Black's 'Not here to kill' and on that song she raps "my tunnel vision is impeccable". As a keen follower of zed music, I've noticed that we are an industry starved of talent, even much worse, female talent. Over the years, I think only Wezi has dropped a project worth listening to. Scarlett has new album btw, go and stream it. The rest of the industry is one hit song, do shows and repeat with no respect for the art that comes into making an album.  So here comes Natasha Chansa burdening herself with the crown as Queen of the New Wave. It's not easy when you come in the industry with such galore of expectation. Over the 3 years that I've followed PNC, I won't lie, at certain points she has been underwhelming (OMG). It had me thinking "what if she is qualified but not eligible?" ...

T Low - The Awakening

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 Album review:  Artist: T Low ALahji  Album: The Awakening.  It's been two weeks now since the album release and after multiple listens I'm ready to give my take.  First off, the title of the album was a brave one, especially for a singer and that already puts pressure on the artist to deliver but from the first song, the intro by Tale Sheezy, it's clear that T Low hasn't come to play. He knows what he wants to achieve with this album.  The journey through the album is as you'd expect from someone who calls himself "The Melody Man". He experiments with different sounds and around different genres through the beat selections. On the second song, the vibe is raggatone and T Low's (plus his co-writers) pen game is as sharp as ever. He wants to communicate a deeper message. From the 3rd song onwards, it's T Low as we know him, the voice is melo, the rhythm is immaculate. The 4th song feels a bit out of place, highly experimental that one.  The one thin...

Cultural lag and Zambian women

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There is a term that I recently came across unbeknown to me before a month ago. The word is "cultural lag" and it got me thinking about a lot of things specifically in the Zambian sense. Cultural lag refers to a situation where culture takes time to catch up with the latest advancements in technology and innovations and this has been a source of a social problems across different cultures. We often hear older generations complain about how "the youths of today have lost their culture" so my question is have we really lost our culture or we have evolved and the older generations are failing to embrace this evolution?  I believe culture comes as a consequence of norms established over time and while cultural preservation is important for identity, some elements of our culture aren't so progressive and can be subjected to secular intellectual debate and thus improved on. When I read Chinua Achebe's Things for apart, I was bemused to learn that it was once their...

Zambian youth and alcohol abuse

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Well, most blogs have background stories, however this one doesn't. It is just an expression of my thoughts from personal experience and what I have seen in my surroundings.  It doesn't take a long scroll through twitter to realise the extent to which alcohol is glorified by Zambian youth. At first glance, it is harmless banter, for likes and retweets maybe. It makes the handler look cool and classy, for others it is evidence of their strong financial position when they post themselves drinking the finest whiskeys or spending their time at the best places that Lusaka has to offer. However, amidst all the glamour and glitz, what I have come to learn is that there is a thin line between taking alcohol for recreational purposes and alcohol addiction. Alcoholism is a social ill that often times goes unnoticed because in part of how much the larger section of society has normalised it. Drinking  is the most common theme amongst most social groups, whenever and wherever th...