A decade of Malembe

THELMA BWALYA, Lusaka
GOSPEL singer Kings Malembe Malembe is today celebrating his 10 years in the music industry with the launch of his seventh album titled Emwali at Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka where President Edgar Lungu is expected to be the guest of honour.
Kings says he has seen the work of God in his life as well as in his team and that is why he has decided to have a concert to celebrate the faithfulness of God.
He says he decided to invite President Lungu so as to bring government closer to the music industry.
“The concert is about us celebrating our 10th anniversary in music, the faithfulness of God, we have seen God’s work and Him standing with us and we thought we can’t just have it in a church, we thought of also involving the nation so that we can praise the name of God together on this particular day,” Kings says.
“It’s just about celebrating the grace and faithfulness of God. We went as far as inviting the President to be guest of honour. He has been my biggest fan, not just when he became President but even before.
“And so, I thought it wise to celebrate it with him and also bring him to the music industry so that he can direct us on where we are going as artistes as well as how to fight piracy and how to add value to our music.”
Kings says the mere fact of the President accepting his STELLAinvitation is an achievement not just for him but the entire music industry.
Kings released two albums this year, Emwali and Fix Me, and he is supposed to launch both albums at the concert.
He said there will not be any performances by local artistes because the concert is more of a Malembe family celebrating their anniversary.
However, Debora Lukau from South Africa will perform.
“It’s more of a Malembe Malembe thing. Those who have been singing with us but I’ve got Kings from Chililabombwe, he has been a follower of our music and he sings like me and we’ve got Pethias from Kapiri, he’s an upcoming artiste,” he said.
“My motivation is to expose this talent that is not exposed because if they don’t ride on our platforms, then we’re not celebrating well, we can only celebrate well if we push others.”
The concert will start at 13:00 hours and tickets are being sold for K35 standard, K100 VIP and K1,000 VIP.
Since coming on the scene, Kings has released seven albums: Uwampele Ameno; Pye Pye Pye; No Retreat; Shut up; Alikula; Emwali and Fix Me.
“People should expect to hear the other side of Kings in terms of the music, we have done something international now so they should come and listen to the international side of me. We also want to unveil more songs that we want to put on the map of Africa,” he says.