{"id":12528,"date":"2022-02-10T09:28:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T09:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/?p=12528"},"modified":"2022-02-10T09:42:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T09:42:39","slug":"tiktok-fame-wins-malawi-singer-92-birthday-party-with-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/?p=12528","title":{"rendered":"TikTok fame wins Malawi singer, 92, birthday party with president"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/dxKkfhtyYfc\n<\/div>
Malawian musician Giddes Chalamanda plays his song ‘Linny Hoo’, now popular on TikTok, at his home. (REUTERS\/Eldson Chagara<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Malawian musician Giddes Chalamanda had never dreamed in his 92 years that he might one day be famous enough to dine with the president followed by a night in a luxury hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 and one he can\u2019t access because he lacks a smartphone or even electricity to charge one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chalamanda\u2019s ode to his daughter, Linny Hoo \u2014 a chirpy reggae tune with drums and synthesizers \u2014 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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 92nd birthday at the State House in Lilongwe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did not expect that I would be invited to State House. It was such an honour,\u201d 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<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The President asked me about my opinion on Malawi\u2019s music industry and the arts,\u201d the singer added, before launching into a tune in his banjo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chalamanda meets Oresident Chakwera of Malawi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He received a blanket and a pair of leather shoes from Chakwera, and they sang one of Chalamanda\u2019s songs together: Azimayi a Malawi, which means \u2018Women of Malawi\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Giddes Chalamanda reacts as he watches his music video with neighbours and family members on TikTok. (REUTERS\/Eldson Chagara<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Chalamanda 92 with Margaretta 71 his wife.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In his state of the nation address on Thursday, the president at one point said, \u201cOurs is no ordinary nation. Ours is the home of the fine sounds of Giddes Chalamanda<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1930 in Chirazulu, Chalamanda started playing music at the age of 12.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did not go far with school. The British colonial teachers \u2026 thought I looked too old to be in class,\u201d he recalls \u2014 he doesn\u2019t recollect how old he actually was then.
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he was overwhelmed by the popularity of Linny Hoo. The song, he said, carries \u201ca message to young people to have good manners by assisting their elderly parents with household chores like sweeping the yard and drawing water.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt remains to be seen how many of his millions of young viewers take that message to heart
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/youtu.be\/dxKkfhtyYfc Malawian musician Giddes Chalamanda plays his song ‘Linny Hoo’, now popular on TikTok, at his home. (REUTERS\/Eldson Chagara Malawian musician Giddes Chalamanda had never dreamed in his 92 years that he might one day be famous enough to dine with the president followed by a night in a luxury hotel. Last month the singer …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12528"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12538,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12528\/revisions\/12538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}