The folksongs projects contribute to the celebration
of the diversity of cultural expressions of Malawi.
The project involved the identification, recording
and transcribing of folksongs across Malawi.
We have collected more than 300 folksongs on video.
The idea is to use the material to
teach students traditional songs.
Having them collected and documented,
we are putting them to be
accessible to generations to come.
We really wanted to, you know,
to promote and preserve our culture.
It's no use to collect the materials
and keep them on the shelf.
People have to use them.
We had massive response,
because everybody wanted their songs to be collected.
It means, they felt the value of what they do.
When we get to a district,
people there directed us to different
traditional authorities who knew of practitioners.
It was through that,
that we actually got to the people we were looking for,
and then talked to them,
chat with them,
get more information about their traditions,
their traditional dances.
In all of these efforts,
our steadfast partner has been Rei Foundation.
They've really have been supportive,
so we are very grateful to Rei Foundation
for being there to encourage us to do all these projects.
The best result would be,
to see people being able to understand Malawi culture,
but through music.
These songs are so powerful.
They carry the real culture of Malawi.
We have a common denominator,
which are the songs.
This makes it easy for people to come together,
and realise that we can have one vision,
and move forward as one nation.