Open Letter Penned by Zambian Soul Singer Scarlet on the Zambian Music Industry

My Open Letter

 

To Whom This May Concern,

 

Shoutout to all those who came before me and my generation. All those who made a home for what is known as “Zambian Music.”

Old greats like Joyce Nyirongo and Uncle PK Chishala, the Maureen Lilanda’s, Sakala Brothers, Amayenge, Daddy Zemus, Mainza, Joe Chibangu, and so many more who had raw talent, a wish, a dream, passion and the drive it took to create this industry. The people behind the music, all those nameless, faceless but amazing instrumentalists like Lord James who made the music and played the music and created the history even though half of us will never have a chance to know them.

 

Our generation could learn a lot from all of them. There is no respect for our craft anymore. No respect for the artistic quality it takes to create something timeless and beautiful. Crucify me if you want. All the bubblegum themed, party music has a time and a place…but is that all we are going to be known for? Why do we start out talking real issues, caring about our sound, being so careful that we don’t put out rubbish material and then as soon as a dj makes a mistake to play that one promo we think we have made it and just throw crap off the pipeline? I speak for all of us, because I have had music play on radio that was not the best quality and I wasn’t proud of it but I took advantage of the goodwill I enjoyed at the time. Never again.

 

I respect my craft.

 

Lip synchers are not professional. Period. Nobody will convince me otherwise. You cannot ask people to pay good money, money they work for to come out of their homes and watch you move your lips to the rhythm of a song they can get off the street from a vendor at a traffic light. NO! And then call yourself a musician. We owe it to our fans, to our followers, to people who believe in what we do, to put in the effort to learn our craft, sing if you are a singer! Autotune doesn’t make you a singer! Autotune should be used to PITCH CORRECT! For uniformity and clarity of sound, not to hide the fact that you couldn’t make the effort.

 

A ballerina cannot fake her craft. They practice piruoettes until their toes bleed. Why can’t we put in even half of that kind of effort?

 

Speaking of auto tune…just because you know how to use computer software and move sounds around and then click to record and smear with auto tune doesn’t mean you are a producer. Please! Learn from the likes of Chali Bravo, and TK and Ben Blazer and Mutamula Mwale, just to mention a few. I will leave out my own people to remove bias. It doesn’t have to be live sound engineering which requires a different kind of skill, all you really need is an ear for melodies, good timing, CREATIVITY!!! Why should everything sound the same even if you produce for yourself? Then you get shocked when people won’t buy what you put out.

 

Musicians let’s have standards. Don’t accept just anything. Create something that is valuable and people will pay for it. Don’t put out everything for free. Do you make it for free? Really? And when everything is available for free download before your album comes out, what is left for people to buy? And what will you eat? Oh money from the shows where you lip sync. And then what? This is why we struggle to break borders, because we don’t take the time and put in the effort to create something worth something to anyone out there.

 

I rest my case.

 

Shoutout to all the djs playing Zambian music. And for those of you artists who take demos written in unreadable ink and then get mad and cuss Flava FM out because they don’t play your stuff, grow up! Be professional. You might be good but you won’t get a chance if everything about your work product is sloppy. The top of the stack is the cd that is packaged the best. Or the one that is directly emailed with a call to say what’s up. No money involved, just the courtesy it takes to show that you know they don’t owe you anything but you are grateful they are giving you a shot. Some of us are still relevant because of the djs. I am grateful for every single time my album gets a spin anywhere, because they don’t have to play it, but they do.

 

Let’s learn to market ourselves properly. Its a process. Some of us are far from where we need to be, but we are still learning and growing and improving every day. Carry yourself right. You want to be a respected member of society, an artist in your own right, be sober, polite, well spoken, well groomed. Nobody wants to see your boxers hanging out of your pants, or your off white bra straps. Ladies let’s respect ourselves. Musician does not equal hooker, cover up! And you don’t have to sleep your way up the ladder, if you’re good you’re good. And if you’re not, go back to school. Don’t sell yourself for a pipedream that will never come true. (All puns intended.)

 

Beef is not sexy. There is nothing artistic or musical about starting foolish fights over nothing. Disrespect is not necessary, we each have our own piece of this pie, why should you talk down to me as if you pay my bills? Let’s respect each other and help each other to rise, not pulling each other down every chance we get. We are small fish in the global sea, but imagine if we joined hands and worked as one, what a force we could be? Zambia has some of the best talent in the world, all we lack is resources.

 

There are issues to be discussed, love is important, religion is important, Kudos to Petersen and others for discussing those issues, and to Pompi and his crew and so many other great gospel artists for spreading the light of God’s word and still paying attention to quality. Just because its church doesn’t mean it has to be substandard, how are we to attract those who want quality if we make them think church equals mediocrity?

 

Music videos. All it takes is a little more effort on the edit. Take it from someone who knows. That’s why we take time between videos, to come up with new and great ways to deliver a great product. Dare to be different, it never killed anyone. The difference between everyone else that we never heard of and James Brown was that he dared to be different. There are so many great videographers out there, all it takes is some commitment to QUALITY.

 

Music is art. Let’s respect what we have been given, this God-given gift of creativity, of sound, of poetry and dance. Like a doctor respects his responsiblity to be a preserver of life, like a teacher values his calling to nurture and encourage the education and growth of a young child, we have been tasked with the responsibility to create sound and movement, to bring joy and relief to others, to give someone a reason to sing or dance along to create immortal and unforgettable beauty in the mode of poetry and sound, to speak messages of hope, happiness, love and peace to effect change and stir emotion in the hearts of our people, let’s do right by our craft.

 

Sincerely,

Scarlet “Mwana O Kondwela”.