SOUNDS OF MALAWI VOL. 1 Compilation Released on Hen House Studios
The album spotlights diverse regional sounds from one of Africa's lesser-known music scenes.
Hen House Studios has released SOUNDS OF MALAWI VOL. 1, a compilation drawn from recording sessions held in 2024 that captured 18 bands performing 85 songs over the course of 10 days, offering a broad survey of musical traditions from Malawi, a country whose artists remain largely unknown outside their own communities. The project grew out of the Jacaranda Foundation's weekly concert series at the Alliance Francaise de Blantyre in the city of Blantyre, a showcase coordinated in part by Malawian ethnomusicologist Waliko Makhala. The Jacaranda Foundation, primarily a school for orphans, launched the series with the stated aim of preserving and promoting Malawian musical heritage and passing those traditions on to younger generations, according to foundation director Luc Deschamps.
Working with Deschamps and Makhala, in 2024 Los Angeles recording engineer/producer and record label director Harlan Steinberger spent ten days at Jacaranda Studios in the outskirts of Blantyre city recording as many Malawian artists as possible. Steinberger had been coming to Malawi since 2009, working with artists and producing previous albums from Keturah and The Kasambwe Brothers, but this trip was on another level. During the ten days of marathon recording sessions, Steinberger recorded 18 bands and 85 songs total. Once word spread of what he was doing, hopeful singers dressed in their Sunday best showed up hoping to get recorded. It was an impossible choice narrowing down the offerings, but Steinberger is releasing fourteen songs from these recording sessions as SOUNDS OF MALAWI, VOL. 1, coming July 24, 2026 on record label Hen House Studios. It's a compilation aimed at showcasing the breadth of Malawian roots music.
A few names on SOUNDS OF MALAWI, VOL. 1 may be familiar from Steinberger's recent work. Malawian singer Keturah enjoyed an acclaimed album release in the United States and Europe with a self-titled debut album in 2023. A social media star in her home country, she's parlayed a remarkably powerful vocal style with a fashion and style sensibility that's seen her rise as one of the most visible female artists in the country. The Kasambwe Brothers, a group of street musicians playing homemade instruments from the Ndirande township, also received wide acclaim with their self-titled debut in 2025 on the new MASS MoCA Records label. Both Keturah and the Kasambwe Brothers have key tracks on this new compilation; Keturah with a new song, 'Nsanje,' and the Kasambwe's with a full-octane live version of their popular song 'Mtima Wanga.' Ethnomusicologist Waliko Makhala, who helped gather the musicians for these sessions, opens the album with his song 'Moto Wayaka,' a social mobilization song that encourages Malawians to push for self reliance in the face of adversity. Some artists may be a surprise even to Malawians. Eunice was a well known theater artist in Blantyre who recently transitioned to singing and has a voice with astounding power as she demonstrates on her song 'Uchindere.'
Waliko and Deschamps worked to bridge generations as well as different languages and communities to bring the artists on this compilation together. Younger generation artists like Kefasi rub shoulders with the previous generation of artists like Ben Mankhamba, who is also a traditional chief in the village of Chingalire, just West of the nation's capital of Lilongwe. Giddes Chalamanda is an elder of Malawian music at 95 years old. He's well loved in the country and has been a force in Malawian records for many decades playing his homemade banjo. Surprisingly, this is his first real recording in a studio, and it's of a song of his, 'Linny Ho' that's a major viral hit on Malawian TikTok, racking up millions of views. Not bad for a nonagenarian. Another veteran group, Boniface Ndamera and The Lucky Stars, united the rhythm and dance traditions of both Southern and Central Malawi around the compositions of bandleader and blind guitarist Ndamera. The Northern traditions of Malawi are taken up by the guitarist and singer Goma Nyondo on the compilation.
Much of Malawian music is tied to traditional rhythms and dances that were part of community and tribal rites of passage like coming of age ceremonies. As the pace of modern life accelerates, these traditions are often left behind and the urgent work of both the Jacaranda Foundation and the SOUNDS OF MALAWI concert series is aimed at preserving and celebrating Malawi's musical heritage. There's no gatekeeping here, however, as the more modern sounds of urban Malawi are embraced as well, and connected to their roots in the countryside. Jacaranda's work has created a web of networks, artists, and community spirit that's easy to enjoy in SOUNDS OF MALAWI, VOL. 1, a compilation of music from one of the least known countries in Africa.
SOUNDS OF MALAWI FESTIVAL COMING AUGUST!
Photo: Winnie Msowoya
