Curated and hosted by iconic DC impressario and musician Jim Thomson.

Making their US debut, Madalitso is a duo (Yosefe Kalekeni and Yobu Maligwa) from Malawi whose intuitive, authentic, and ruthless rhythms have taken Europe by storm. Madalitso will make you clap, dance, smile and rethink what you thought you knew about African sound and instrumentation. Their authenticity and joyful, jumping, urban folk is the reason they have been invited to perform in festivals and clubs around the world, including Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD in the UK and Roskilde in Denmark.

“Surely only those with a happiness-bypass could fail to enjoy such intoxicatingly accomplished and compelling music.” -Folk Radio UK

“A contender for the flat-out happiest album of the year, just a few months in, is the new album Wasalala from the duo Madalitso Band from the southeast African nation of Malawi.” -The Pulse

“The world should take notice of Malawi, and records like this one will help. Yet it’s clear the Madalitso Band aren’t waiting around for the world to care.” -Rootsworld

Beer, wine, and other concessions will be available for purchase!

Madalitso’s story began in 2009 when a local producer in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, overheard the duo busking outside a shopping center.  Eight years later the duo performed its first concert outside of Malawi at the Sauti Za Busara Festival in 2017. Six months after that the duo headed to Europe for a 2 week tour, traveling by airplane for the first time. Audiences enthusiastically embraced the down-to-earth nature and raw onstage energy of the duo, and their international touring took off. 2018 and 2019 saw them returning to Europe for increasingly extended tours. In 2019 the duo released their second recording, Wasala, on Bongo Joe Records, which was met with considerable acclaim. Bongo Joe Records subscribes to Madalitso’s ethos of “why should we buy our instruments when we can build our own and get the sound we want?” The babatone played by Yobu is a handmade single-stringed instrument, and is the perfect foil to Yosefe’s guitar playing and steady foot-tapping drumbeat. Their music is full of joy, lush harmonies, and syncopated rhythms that will infuse you with delight and haunt you long after the last note has played.

About Jim Thomson: Jim Thomson owns and operates the Brooklyn and Washington, DC-based boutique record label Electric Cowbell Records. He currently runs Multiflora Productions out of Washington, DC, a multifaceted, multicultural agency that specializes in expanding the reach of genre-bending roots-to-the-future music through artist management, event marketing, and music releases. In 2014 he became the music coordinator for the Capital Fringe Festival and also programs the “Fringe Music in the Library” series, which offers free live music in the DC Public Libraries through a sponsorship from the DC Public Library Foundation. He played drums in GWAR, Alter-Natives, Bio Ritmo, and CSC Funk Band. He currently plays drums in the DC-based band, Time Is Fire, which is fronted by an Iranian-born Sufi poet and backed by players steeped in punk, dance, and experimental music. Jim is currently an editor-at-large for The Vinyl District, an indie record store blog that focuses on the vinyl record medium.