October 9, 2007 | Posted by Blair at 10:53 AM

Yo Radioclit Radio...

Esau Mwamwaya - Tengazako

I've been waiting to be able to post something by this guy, Esau Mwamwaya, for ages. Robot Mark and I both literally freaked out the very first time we heard his tracks back in the spring...

See, I was trying to get Radioclit to come play my party, but when they were gonna be in town just wasn't going to work out with when I had a space for them... anyway, I was really bummed it didn't work, because I think they're pretty awesome. They produce original tracks and make some truly amazing remixes (see their remixes of Bonde do Role, Lily Allen, Buraka Som Sistema, David Banner, Timberlake, etc on their Hard Working Class Vol. 1 CD available here as reference), and they have been working with this genius African immigrant, Esau Mwamwaya, for a minute too.

Esau is from Malawi, but moved to London in 1999 where he runs a second-hand furniture store, on the same street as the Radioclit boys' studio. Johan from Radioclit showed me Esau's Myspace page back in the spring, and as I said, both robot Mark and I have been salivating over his tunes, produced by Radioclit, and written and sung by Esau. Absolutely check out the demos for "Chalo" and "Chimbolo" - they're crushingly beautiful, but they've got a bit of bump to them too. I don't know what language Mr. Mwamwaya sings in (the official language of Malawi is Chichewa, but there are a half a dozen other dialects/languages spoken there), but it is gorgeous. This track is sung to the instrumental of MIA's "Paper Planes" and almost made my heart stop when I first heard it. Oh, you can also see Esau on this YouTube clip from the Tim & Barry TV show.

Big thanks to Radioclit for letting us post this for you all! Support independent music!

Comments

Hello. I like your blog. And I like this track. You should know though that when you say

This track is sung to the instrumental of MIA's "Paper Planes"

what you really should be saying is that MIA and this guy are both using a straight sample of Straight To Hell by The Clash. The Clash were a London band, from a few years back. x

Posted by: Keef at October 12, 2007 9:03 PM

Well played Keef...

Posted by: robot Blair at October 16, 2007 7:25 PM
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