Donald Kachamba

Donald Kachamba
Born	(1953-09-18)18 September 1953 Blantyre, Malawi
Died	12 February 2001(2001-02-12) (aged 47)
Nationality	Malawian
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, bandleader

Donald Kachamba (1953–2001) was a Malawian musician, composer and bandleader.

Biography

Kachamba was born on 18 October 1953 in Blantyre, Malawi and died 12 January 2001 in Chileka. He was born in a musical family and he contributed enormously to the development of the Kwela music.

Beginning in 1972 Kachamba toured extensively covering 33 countries in Africa, Europe and the Americas. In May 1988 he toured Finland on the invitation of the Institute for Workers Music, Helsinki, in May 1989 he performed at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zürich. In 1991 his band toured Belgium and Germany. In September 1994 Donald Kachamba was invited to the colloquium "Music and Anthropology" in Lisbon to present one of his films. Thereafter he gave lecture performances in Berlin, Frankfurt and Salzburg. The most recent European tour was in January 1995 to the Netherlands, Belgium and France (on the invitation by Radio France).

Kachamba was artist-in-residence at UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology from November 1999 until July 2000.

Donald Kachamba died on Friday 12 January 2001.

Works

Audio recordings

• Concert Kwela – Donald Kachamba et son ensemble LDX 274972 CM 212, Le Chant du Monde 1994.
• Donald Kachamba; Donald Kachamba's Band (1978). Simanje-Manje and Kwela from Malaŵi. AIT Records.
• The Kachamba Brothers' Band (1974)
• Donald Kachamba's Band: Simanje-Manje and Kwela from Malawi (1979)
• Donald Kachamba et son ensemble Concert Kwela, Le Chant du Monde (1991)
• Donald Kachamba's Kwela Band: Live and in Kachamba Donald's Studio 1974–1995, popular African music (1999).

Movies

• Donald Kachamba's Kwela Music. Malawi Twist Encyclopaedia Cinematographica Göttingen, B 2328 (Institute for Scientific Film) 1978
• Donald Kachamba's Kwela Music: Simanje-manje, cha-cha-cha Encyclopaedia Cinematographica, Göttingen 2329 E 1978.

Notes and references

• Harris, Craig. "Donald Kachamba Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
• Kubik, Gerhard (July 1979). "Donald Kachamba's Kwela Music". The Society of Malawi Journal. 32 (2): 45–59. JSTOR 29778423.
• Kubik, Gerhard (2005). "A Presentation of Kwela Music". Scientific African. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
• Kubik, Gerhard (2008). Africa and the Blues. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-728-8.
• Kubik, Gerhard (2010). Theory of African Music. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-45694-2.
• wa Mukuna, Kazadi (1980). Readings in African Urban Music. African Studies Center, Michigan State University.