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Music Landmark

Lucius Banda

1970 – 2024

"Soldier" — the reggae voice of Malawi's poor

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

They called him Soldier, and he sang for people with no one else arguing their case. When he died in 2024 the country stopped; two years later his family built him a mausoleum.

Lucius Chicco Banda, known everywhere in Malawi as Soldier, was a musician, producer and member of parliament, born in Balaka in 1970.

He founded the band Zembani and released albums including Yahwe, Unity, How Long, Not Easy Road, Money and Power, and Love and Hate, using them steadily to argue for human rights and democracy. He died in Johannesburg on 30 June 2024, aged fifty-three.
Sources

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