Giddes Chalamanda: TikTok fame wins 92-year-old Malawi musician birthday party with president

The Malawian music legend performed one of his songs with the president, Lazarus Chakwera

Malawian musician turned viral TikTok star Giddes Chalamanda has gained an unexpected new fan after celebrating his 92nd birthday with the country’s president.

The musician, who does not even own a smartphone or have electricity to charge one, became a social media star with his song “Linny Hoo”. The ode to his daughters has racked up more than 80 million views on the video-sharing platform, and has inspired mash-ups and remixes from South Africa to the Philippines.

Putting his small, lakeside southern African country on the digital map last month brought him to the attention of its president, Lazarus Chakwera, who threw a party for Mr Chalamanda’s 92nd birthday at the State House in Lilongwe.

“I did not expect that I would be invited to State House. It was such an honour,” Mr Chalamanda told Reuters at his red-brick home in the village of Chiradzulu, a green area of macadamia and coffee farms situated 30 km (18 miles) northeast of the commercial capital, Blantyre.

“The president asked me about my opinion on Malawi’s music industry and the arts,” the singer added, before launching into a tune on his banjo.

He received a blanket and a pair of leather shoes from the president, and they sang one of Mr Chalamanda’s songs together: “Azimayi a Malawi”, which means “Women of Malawi”.

In his state of the nation address on Thursday, the president at one point said: “Ours is no ordinary nation. Ours is the home of the fine sounds of Giddes Chalamanda.”

Born in 1930 in Chiradzulu, Mr Chalamanda started playing music at the age of 12 while struggling in school.

“I did not go far with school,” Mr Chalamanda said. “The British colonial teachers ... thought I looked too old to be in class,” he recalls – though he doesn’t recollect how old he actually was at the time.

He took odd jobs in the tobacco industry, playing guitar at bars during weekends. In the past decade, he has managed to perform in both Germany and the United States.

But he was overwhelmed by the popularity of “Linny Hoo”. The song, he said, carries “a message to young people to have good manners, by assisting their elderly parents with household chores like sweeping the yard and drawing water”.

Malawian musician Giddes Chalamanda (R), 92, poses with his wife Margalita Alfred, 71, at their home in Madzuwa Village (AFP via Getty)

The original version of the song was recorded in 2000 before being released two decades later as a remix with gospel singer Patience Namadingo.

The video went viral after it was posted on YouTube, where it racked up more than 6.9 million views. Then, late last year, it landed on TikTok and was watched around the globe.

Mr Chalamanda only learned of the song’s sensational social media popularity from his children and their friends.

Since then, he and Mr Namadingo have recorded remixes of several more of his best-known tracks.