Music
Landmark
Evison Matafale
1969 – 2001
The father of Malawian reggae, who died in police custody at thirty-two
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Malawi Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He made reggae Malawian, singing in Chichewa about poverty and power, and built the Black Missionaries into the country's most important band. He was arrested in November 2001 and died in police custody days later.
Evison Matafale founded the Black Missionaries and recorded a run of albums that turned reggae into the vehicle for Malawian social comment, sung in Chichewa and rooted in the country's own conditions rather than imported wholesale.
He was arrested in November 2001 over letters critical of the government and died in police custody in Lilongwe days later, aged thirty-two. The circumstances were never satisfactorily explained. The Black Missionaries carried on under his brother and remain the biggest band in the country, and Matafale's recordings are played at every Malawian gathering where the subject is how things stand.
He was arrested in November 2001 over letters critical of the government and died in police custody in Lilongwe days later, aged thirty-two. The circumstances were never satisfactorily explained. The Black Missionaries carried on under his brother and remain the biggest band in the country, and Matafale's recordings are played at every Malawian gathering where the subject is how things stand.
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