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Malawi and Back in 6 weeks

You wouldn’t know it but Spare Dog Records have been away for 6 weeks in Malawi, working on a bunch of new material – and we’ll have a lot of videos coming up shortly to prove it! We’ve for example recorded new music with roots accordion legend Overton Longwe, finished the Tonga Heritage album sessions and made a new stripped down recording with Gasper Nali on the shore of Lake Malawi – without any add-ons of any kind. (These three recordings plus new works by Danny Kalima and Michael Mountain make 5 exciting albums to be released in the near future!)

In the mean while, please enjoy the annual Malawian record producer hair shaving event!

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Gasper Nali playing at WOMAD UK

The Gasper Nali 2018 tour is shaping up! Here he is amongst the first acts to be announced for this year’s WOMAD UK festival – we think that’s a BIG deal! Here’s the blurb:

GASPER NALI is playing at @WOMADFestival alongside the great Amadou & Mariam, Django Django, Camille and many more amazing acts. Join us at #TheWorldsFestival this July and experience the world in a weekend. Don’t miss out on over 200 free workshops, talks, physics, the WOMAD spa, fabulous food from all over the world and amazing music! Find tickets, full line-up and info on the WOMAD website. #WOMAD2018

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Adrian Kwelepeta Album Release Teaser

It’s almost here! On the 27th February we’ll be releasing Adrian Kwelepeta‘s fantastic album ‘Live or Die Story’. It’s sooo good! And in anticipation of that, here’s a little teaser of what’s to come. Mwalandilidwa

 

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Welcome 2018

 

A new year and lots of new adventures! While 2017 was a year of content production – this year will be a year of reaching new audiences. And lots of new music! Things to look out for from Spare Dog Records in the new year:

 

27th February 2018 – Adrian Kwelepeta releases ‘Live or Die Story’

A very impressive debut album by a very talented young artist. You’re guaranteed to have never heard anything like this coming out of Lilongwe before.

 
 

May 2018 – Danny Kalima album release

Danny’s second album ‘Ligineti’ is recorded partly in Malawi and partly in the Netherlands. This Chichewa language album spans genres from Malawian Rumba to Modern RnB, and we can’t wait to release it on the world!

 
 

Summer 2018 – Gasper Nali Euro/UK tour

This year will finally see Gasper Nali in Europe! Confirmed tour dates will be announced in a short while – and there are some goodies already!

 
 

Winter 2018 – Michael Mountain New Album

Michael’s second album is also coming up this year. If you like his previous work, his warm and folky tunes and his perspective on rural Malawian life and struggles, you surely won’t be disappointed by this!

 
 

Winter 2018 – Tonga Heritage Debut Album

This year will also bring something never heard of before – the very first international commercial album in the local language of Chitonga. Ever! Tonga Heritage brings rhythms and subject matters of the Tonga people and gives us something both danceable and mystic.

 
 

From Kate and I
To all of You
HAPPY 2018

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Live or Die Story – Adrian Kwelepeta

A debut album soft launch for the fans

 

 

 

Live or Die Story
Adrian Kwelepeta
SDR006-1 Feb 27, 2018

Buy Now

 

 

 

 

While the big fanfare release of Adrian Kwelepeta’s debut album ‘Live or Die Story’ is set for the 27th of February 2018 – this one’s just for the fans of Adrian and Spare Dog Records. We know a lot of you have been waiting a long time! 🙂

 

Follow this link to Bandcamp and give it a listen. Then you can either buy the digital album, or (even better) pre-order the CD for February and get the included download immediately.

 

‘Live or Die Story’ is really a unique creation. It fuses the traditional Malawian and with pop music and RnB and the result is something quite complex and rich. This mix of urban and Malawian roots reflects much of the young artist’s influences as well as his search for expression.

 

We are so proud of working with and releasing the music of Adrian Kwelepeta – a true talent and a rising star.

 

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Spare Dog Records meets Prince Richard!

 

Temwa is a fantastic development organisation from Bristol that work with food security, education, HIV prevention issues etc in the very remote Usisya area of the Nkhata bay region (not very far from where our studio is located). They asked us to come along and play some Malawian music for a royal visit to their Bristol office, and of course we couldn’t say no!

 

Here’s me having a short chat with Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, talking about some of the musical talents that we’re lucky to work with in Malawi. We really hope he enjoys the Gasper Nali CD!

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3 months in Moto Wambili Studios!

Back in the UK with hot showers, fine ales and super fast internet – we’re ready to dig in and work on the material we’ve recorded with these guys: Gasper Nali, Tonga Heritage, Danny Kalima, Ovaton Voices, Adrian Kwelepeta and more! We’ll keep you all posted more regularly while being in Europe – that’s a promise.

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We’re in Malawi

If we didn’t tell you already – we’re back in Nkhata Bay for more content creation. The studio is busy with rehearsals and recordings and the cameras are running hot with stills and new videos. We’re even almost done producing a 30 min documentary and we can’t wait to share that with you.

But for now; here’s proof of Mattias getting back into his ‘Malawi producer look’, ready for some hard work!

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A Gasper Nali Review

Here’s what RootsWorld think of Gasper Nali’s ‘Abale Ndikuwuzeni’:

https://www.facebook.com/RootsWorldMagazine/posts/1408881542476008

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