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Last month the singer did both, thanks to his
unlikely new stardom on TikTok, a social media platform beloved
of youths four generations removed from him -- and one he can't
access because he lacks a smartphone or even electricity to
charge one.
Chalamanda's ode to his daughter, "Linny Hoo" -- a chirpy reggae
tune with drums and synthesizers -- got more than 80 million
views on the video-sharing site, owned by China technology giant
ByteDance. His fame launched his career locally, with multiple
paid requests to perform live.
Putting his small, lakeside southern African country on the
digital map last month brought him to the attention of President
Lazarus Chakwera, who threw a party for Chalamanda's 92nd
birthday at the State House in Lilongwe.
"I did not expect that I would be invited to State House. It was
such an honour," Chalamanda told Reuters at his red-brick home
in his village of Chiradzulu, a green area of macademia and
coffee farms 30 km (18 miles) northeast of the commercial
capital, Blantyre.
"The President asked me about my opinion on Malawi's music
industry and the arts," the singer added, before launching into
a tune in his banjo.
He received a blanket and a pair of leather shoes from Chakwera,
and they sang one of Chalamanda's songs together: "Azimayi a
Malawi", which means 'Women of Malawi'.
In his state of the nation address on Thursday, the president at
one point said, "Ours is no ordinary nation. Ours is the home of
the fine sounds of Giddes Chalamanda."
Born in 1930 in Chirazulu, Chalamanda started playing music at
the age of 12.
"I did not go far with school. The British colonial teachers ...
thought I looked too old to be in class," he recalls -- he
doesn't recollect how old he actually was then.
He took odd jobs in the tobacco industry, playing guitar during
weekends at bars. In the past decade, he did manage to perform
in Germany and the United States.
But he was overwhelmed by the popularity of 'Linny Hoo'. The
song, he said, carries "a message to young people to have good
manners by assisting their elderly parents with household chores
like sweeping the yard and drawing water."
It remains to be seen how many of his millions of young viewers
take that message to heart.
(Writing by Tim Cocks, Editing by William Maclean)
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