ENGLISH DEPARTMENT RESEARCH SEMINAR

You are all Invited to the English Department Research Seminar as follows:

 Date:  Thursday, 29th June 2017

 Venue:  Chancellor College Language Laboratory

 Time: 3 to 4 pm

 Speaker: Mzati Nkolokosa

 Topic : "Paul Chaphuka: His Music and its World"

ABSTRACT

Paul Chaphuka left one 10-track album, “Ndichiritseni,” which he recorded in the last days of his life, twenty years ago, when his body brought him nothing but pain from cancer. Yet at that moment of pain, he was able to record what remains one of the best music from Balaka, capturing the times he lived, the past before him and the future after him. This paper explores Chaphuka’s reconstruction of the devastation caused by AIDS in Malawi of the 1990s, his portrayal of a person in pain unto death. In addition, the paper discusses the themes of home, love and opharnhood in Chaphuka’s songs.

Finally, the paper considers Chaphuka’s ability to create hope in tragedy. Chaphuka’s body may have been weak but his brain was at its best. His voice may have been faint but the message in his songs remains clear, 20 years later. It is almost impossible to identify a musician who portrays Malawi of the 1990s better than Chaphuka.

You are all Welcome!