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The rise and rise of Yo Maps

  Yo Maps Originally published in the Zambia Daily Mail  By VICTOR KALALANDA For any ardent follower of Zambian music, there appears to be enough reason to believe that celebrated Zambian artiste Yo Maps (real name, Elton Mulenga) is nothing short of extraordinary. If he was average, as his detractors would desperately have us believe, he wouldn’t have lasted more than six months on the local music scene after releasing his smash hit song “Finally.” He would have disappeared like snow in the summer sun. The unwritten rule in the music industry is that without a decent prior music catalogue, any artiste who happens upon instant fame is destined to become the infamous one-hit wonder. In any cut-throat field of human endeavor, big doors don’t swing on small hinges. The roots must run deeper than outward appearances, or else nothing lasts. For an artiste that keeps exceeding public expectations since rapturously coming to the notice of the nation in 2018, Yo Maps proves th...
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A response to my good readers

 

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The Pilgrim, April 1, 2022*

My column today is a sequel to last week’s piece on the endearing late UPND founder Anderson Mazoka, whose memory I tried to evoke for commemorative purposes, having been born on March 22, 1943.

What I didn’t realise is that Mazoka still captures the imagination of Zambians as much in death as he did when he was alive. Some readers found it as a sentimental reminder of who he really was. 

This sequel is thus prompted by the instructive feedback from two readers, Ephraim and Aaron, who read the column last Friday.

Ephraim briefly wrote: “Thank you for the article in [March 24, 2022] edition of the [Zambia Daily Mail]. I would like you to do more research on CARS - referred to as Central African Railway Systems in your article. This should have been Central African Road Services, a company that was providing bus services in Zambia and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and later became UBZ in Zambia after nationalisation.”

Aaron’s feedback was just as brief, though I went on to have good-natured banter with him: “Thank you for the article on Anderson Mazoka in the Zambia Daily Mail's 25th March 202 edition. I enjoyed reading it. You mention the word column. Is this a regular feature? Have you been writing about Mazoka for a while now? Also, I am wondering if you have any plans for writing a book? I think we need all the history we can document about such luminaries as Anderson Mazoka. I look forward to reading some more articles from you. I myself fancy writing, and of late have the urge to write about our history as Zambia, with special focus on some of our nation's prominent leaders.”

I take my hat off to readers who take the trouble to reply to columnists because newspapers, as I understand, are sometimes read under difficult circumstances. It could be while on one’s way to work, caught up in the ebb and flow of traffic. In this kind of situation, nobody has the luxury to pull out their phone to give a writer a piece of their mind if need be.

Let me take on Ephraim’s response first. The first encumbrance I faced when I was writing on Mazoka was lack of not only original but also sufficient information, as is the case on many historical figures in this country.

So the little details I found actually misrepresent the late politician by stating that he worked for Central African Railway Systems instead of Central African Road Services (CARS).

It has since transpired that there is some more information on the late politician, which was reported in a 2001 BBC article written by the late Zambian journalist Anthony Kunda.

Kunda himself felt that Mazoka displayed western sensibilities when he donned his executive suits. Of course, there is nothing egregious about this because Mazoka at his prime could be seen as the be-all and end-all of the corporate world, a driven business leader trained in the United States of America.

The said article further reports that Mazoka was born to teacher parents. Since his mother died when he was seven years old, it must have been his father who provided the greatest motivation for him to succeed academically.

Kunda states that before leaving for America to work and study, Mazoka became one of the first graduates of the then newly opened University of Zambia (UNZA), though it’s not clear what he studied at UNZA.

Having undertaken his education in different parts of the country, Mazoka had a more cultivated worldview, as could be demonstrated by his ability to speak different languages.

Despite his staggering success in the business world, he was still in touch with his past, which is why he campaigned on a platform of pro-poor policies such as free education, which the UPND government has introduced under President Hakainde Hichilema.

I will close with my response to Aaron. The Pilgrim runs as a weekly column, but the Mazoka story was published just as one of the installments. I’ve no plans to work on a book project now, but I’ll most likely take on a related challenge soon when I’m something more than just a student.

In the final analysis, it’s my hope that a response like this one helps us understand Mazoka’s psyche and appreciate his memory better. Such journalistic work is also probably the fastest way that some of the yawning voids in Zambia’s history can be filled up!

*This column is published every Friday by Zambia's best-selling newspaper, the Zambia Daily Mail

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