Day's Diary

May 25, 2007 ~ Shalom Crusaders

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One of the college choirs, Shalom Crusaders, is working to produce a CD of their music. This is a very popular thing here now, thanks to the technology available from the US and the UK. It is expensive by Malawian standards, but affordable by Western standards. Shalom recorded about 4 years ago, but in the life of a college group, that means that all of the membership has changed, so they believe it is time to record again.

They have prepared the music, and now they must raise the money. This is where creative Malawian work comes into play. About a month ago they had a musical afternoon where they invited folks from Zomba to join them, pay a small admission fee and then pay by the song for them to sing. They invited people who knew them and their music. They sang a few songs for the admission price. Then they invited the audience to pay whatever they wished for whatever song they wanted from the group’s repertoire. They suggested as small an amount as five kwacha (that is less than 5 cents). They got generous support and sang for almost two hours. That was seed money for the next event – a choir festival.

A choir festival is unlike anything we have in the states. It is something like a “battle of the bands” for cash. Several choirs are invited to a venue to sing. One choir hosts the event and they get the profits from the event. Admission is free but everything else is contributions and contributions in a most Malawian way. It is much like a Paper Sunday, but for music.

Limbe CCAP offered to host the event for Shalom. Limbe is just outside of Blantyre so the first hurdle was to get the group of 11 there. Since the event was scheduled for a Sunday afternoon and the church had offered for them to come for worship and participate, they came to me to see if I might be going to Blantyre that day and they might accompany me. I was and so they joined me. In order to do this we needed to leave at 5:30 a.m. in order to be able to drop them at Limbe and me to get to where I was going for a 7:00 a.m. service. That was no problem they said. The next was a challenge – for them. There are 11 of them and we are talking about my Isuzu. That meant one in front with me, four in the back seat and the rest in the bed of the truck. Again, the response was, “No problem.” So at 5:30 a.m. they were all waiting at my gate, with a mat in hand for the back of the truck, we piled in and headed off. I deposited them at Limbe, went on about my business and came back about 2:00 p.m. for the festival. That is when the fun began.

The first thing that happens at a choir festival is that the audience must decide the order of the groups to perform. This happens by each group coming up and singing one song. Then one representative from each group comes back up to the front and the audience votes by giving money to the group they want. Money is given with style and flair – tossed, tucked, gently placed – whatever suits the giver. Everyone had fun with this. It is great competition. The MC for the event updates everyone on the progress and the competition increases until the contributors stop. Then the order of presentation is announced. There were five groups at this festival so there was great room for competition. Since one of the groups was the Mvano choir from Limbe and the rest were youth or student groups, I had no doubt who would go first. These women had come prepared to sing and to pay. Elvie Chirwa, of the Partnership, is session clerk at Limbe and a mvano. She made the competition lively and the mvano went first.

Once the order is established, the real fun begins. After one song, the audience can participate by offering money to sing with the group, by paying for others to sing with them, or by voting for them to stop and another group to come forward. If someone pays for that, the amount is announced and anyone can pay more to have them stay. This is not like bidding. This is actual kwacha in hand to go or stay. It is all done in fun. Once one group is “voted down,” the next one comes up and the process begins again. The music is lively and the giving is generous. One group was voted down and up six times. They would begin to leave the stage area and then be told by the MC to return because they were voted back up – more kwacha given. This went on for two and a half hours. It was such fun.

In the end, Shalom raised 16,000 kwacha, a great amount, especially when the money is given in five, ten, and 20 kwacha increments. Then in a great act of generosity, Limbe congregation (at Elvie’s prompting) gave the group 10,000 kwacha. This was an incredibly successful festival.

After all the appropriate thanks and farewells, we piled back into the truck and headed back to Zomba. By this time it was almost dark but that did not dampen spirits. The group in the back of the truck were still enthused from the event and, crowded as they were (six grown men pressed together, knees in chins), they sang the entire way to Zomba, praising God for his blessings.