Who would think a maximum security prison as the sort of place to record a Grammy-nominated album? A group of Zomba’s inmates, many of them serving life sentences for offences including murder and theft, have found themselves nominated for a the prestigious awards in the best world music album category.
Announced last week, the group known as the Zomba Prison Band, are joined on the shortlist by some of world music’s biggest stars; Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Angelique Kidjo, Gilberto Gil and Anoushka Shankar.
Ian Brennan, who produced the album, said; “I was shocked. Absolutely shocked… The other four nominated artists all have roots that go back decades, so to see this group of completely unknown people from what is really a lesser known country get recognised is really humbling.”
Recorded in the summer of 2013, 16 inmates wrote and performed the songs for the album, “I Have No Everything Here”. They are the first Malawian musicians to be nominated at the prestigious Grammys.
It is quite possible that the prisoners involved may not yet know of their historic nomination, as all communication with them must go through the prison commissioner or local NGOs.
See their full album here:
The post How A Malawi Prison Band Gets Nominated For 2015 Grammy Awards Is Just So Epic appeared first on KokoFeed - Nigerian News For The Young Generation.
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