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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 that not on
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Would they like nshima?


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The Pilgrim, Friday February 25, 2022*

Something interesting will happen in America this coming Sunday. But to calm your nerves, it has nothing to do with Russia’s Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles over Ukraine.

Rather it’ll be time for Zambia’s staple food, nshima, to shine. We’re confident so far that many Americans at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) will be eating it for the first time. But will they like it? I don’t know how many times I’ve had to ask myself that question.

For your own information, not many things are awkward about Zambia actually. At least once since coming to the USA I’ve seen Americans dance with alacrity to Towela’s Manana hit song. So the people of this country are open-minded as they come.

When I took my appointment as president of the African Students Association (ASA) at SIUE, I was just a few months into graduate school, still smarting from culture shock because of my Zambian and, by extension, African doggedness.

Before long, some African students and I set out to plan for our association’s flagship event, African Night, which we’ve had to rename to African Banquet this year because the highlight will be African food!

Add nshima

Unlike in previous years, we haven’t had a Zambian student to propose a Zambian dish as an addition to the menu. So my Nigerian friends have had a field day with jollof rice and plantain, which are probably some of the most classic foods that Americans have been eating when they come for our event.

But the menu for this year’s African Banquet, which takes place next Sunday, will have a Zambian twist to it. Of course, the goal of the African Banquet is to share an eclectic mix of African cultures with the American citizen.  The eclectic mix this year will entail eating some Zambian nshima!

African food in this part of the world is like a coveted prize. I suppose it’s because Americans are curious to know what it is like to eat African food, whether we lick our fingers in delirious happiness or dance ourselves to death when the food is so good. Maybe I’m exaggerating. But what I know is that they want to satisfy child-like curiosity.

We’ve hired one of the biggest venues at the university for this event and hoping to sell as many tickets as possible. I’ll personally be part of the catering services as we prepare nshima and other African dishes. Though I haven’t seen a cooking stick in America yet, I’m hoping that the nshima will just be as good as the one you can eat in Lusaka, since we’re working with an expert chef who has an ace up his sleeve! 

I’m of the view that Americans will have loads to say about the Zambian dish, which shall include cabbage and chicken stew as relish. Tasting a foreign dish can be like falling in love for the first time. You don’t want to think about what could go wrong: all you want to do is to eat as much as possible.

It happened to me when I visited Switzerland and I was treated to a meal called Cheese Fondue. My goodness! It still whets my appetite when I see it in my memorabilia. It’s as satisfying as nshima, so some Swiss families elect to eat it once a week. A generous portion of melted cheese that’s served in a pot over a portable stove, you eat the Fondue with breadcrumbs. To this day, it’s probably the best international dish I’ve ever tasted!

African Unity

I should state that the African Banquet will not just be about nshima. It’ll be all about celebrating African unity, as the main theme of the event, and really showing the rest of the world what this truly means.

As ASA president and keynote speaker at the event, my goal will be to articulate the idea of African unity as I best understand it.

I know that the father of African nationalism, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, spent a decade studying in America and developing the philosophy that would establish him as the leading theorist and activist of the African Revolution.

My role will be to invoke his passion for a united Africa and his message that “Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands to God.”

In literal sense, indeed, Ethiopia is Africa and I believe that we as Africans have since stretched forth our hands to God. To stretch forth our hands is to unite. To stretch forth our hands is to exhibit our culture in the United States. To stretch forth our hands is to share some of our great dishes like nshima with the rest of the world.

But will they like it? We’ve until Sunday to find out!

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

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