Adrian Kwelepeta was born and raised by his mum in Blantyre’s dusty “ghetto”, developing his mix-and-match musical style from playing a goat-skin and bicycle break-wire local guitar while listening to Eminem at the age of 8.
Nowadays he truly stands out in the music scene of Malawi’s capital Lilongwe. While most sounds being blasted in market streets or local bars are traditional dance music or Afro Pop, Adrian wants to combine elements from them both and add it to his own style of singer/songwriting and a good dose of pop/RnB.
The result is a quite complex sonic landscape where the most prominent feature is his voice – not only through the lead vocals, but also when layering harmonies, humming, chanting, breathing and using his voice as percussion. If it wasn’t for that, Adrian’s love for American radio hits of the 2000s and hard-to-place English accent would make it near impossible to guess his origins.
– Adding to it all, Adrian Kwelepeta is already a mature song writer, keen guitar player and very proficient percussionist – this is only the beginning.
LIVE OR DIE STORY is released on Spare Dog Records. Founded and run by Swedish musician and producer Mattias Stålnacke. SDR works hard, both in Bristol, UK, and in Malawi, to produce, promote and to deliver Malawi Music for the World.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. Contacts and links to audio, video and photographs – see below.
2. Adrian’s background story can be found here
3. The Spare Dog Records label was launched in Bristol, UK in November 2014 to work in tandem with our recording facility in Malawi, Moto Wambili Studios.
4. Mattias Stålnacke spends half his time in Nkhata Bay, Malawi, working in his recording studio to produce the music – half the time he’s in Bristol, UK, working with the label to promote those productions.
5. Some other notable artists on the SDR label is Gasper Nali, traditional Malawian one-man-band with a unique home made instrument Babatoni, and Danny Kalima, All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) nominee 2016 and quite successful Voice of Holland TV show contestant.
6. Spare Dog Records are currently working on a 2018 European tour for its Malawian artists.
Media links:
Full album on Soundcloud for review purposes only:
Emotions – Official Selfie Video
Sneak Peak * Official Release Feb 27 2018
Ey Yo – Recording Sessions
Chulu Cha Nchele – Music Video
Shot, Edited & Directed by: Omar Manjouneh
Click on the images for full size. Download and use as you please.
For the story of how we started a recording studio in Malawi and a label in Bristol:
www.sparedogrecords.com/the-story
Contacts (for additional info and interviews): Kate Swatridge: kate@sparedogrecords.com
UK Office +44 (0) 117 370 6400
Malawi mobile +265 993 195359
UK mobile +44 7773 364454
www.sparedogrecords.com
www.facebook.com/sparedogrecords
www.twitter.com/sparedogrecords