Karen,Wendel to grace Lomwe’s album launch

Big Brother Africa 2011 (BBA) winners — Karen of Nigeria and Wendel of Zimbabwe — are expected to grace Lomwe’s album launch to take place in May.

The album, on which Lomwe collaborated with Botswana’s Zeus, was slated for launch on April 29 but it has been shifted to another date because it clashed with Lomwe’s music rival Tay-Grin’s show which will feature Nigeria’s Ice Prince on the same date.

Lomwe said he decided to invite the BBA stars because the album is a continuation of the reality show motif.

“The album is all about the realities that young people face in the daily struggle for survival and the celebration of our successes so it’s just a continuation of the reality show that is why we want to invite the other Big Brother stars,” he said.Lomwe already brought to Malawi other BBA representatives in Zeus, Sharon O from Uganda and Lotus from Tanzania during Lake of Stars Music Festival in October last year.The BBA finalist said should he manage to get more sponsorship, he would bring more BBA representatives such as Kim of Zambia, Lucray of South Africa and Hanni of Ethiopia. He said the process of recording the album has taken him to Botswana and Kenya.“It started when I went to Botswana in August last year upon being invited to attend the Botswana fashion show after party and we recorded two tracks, including the album title track, Double Wowza. We even shot the video of the song and it’s scheduled to come out soon,” he said.He said after recording in Botswana the duo reunited their talent at the Lake of Stars Music Festival where they also recorded two tracks.“After performing on the stage with Zeus we met up with Theo Thomson and set up a studio in the hotel room because Theo had the equipment handy. We recorded two tracks at around 2am. It was amazing because one of the tracks we recorded ‘Catch Me If You Can’ is the second single out after ‘Double Wowza’.After Lake of Stars, Zeus decided to stay a little while and we recorded two other songs at DJ Sonye’s BaselineStudio in Blantyre,” he said.After Lake of Stars the two teamed up again in Kenya when they were invited to attend a charity programme organised by that country’s BBA representatives, Nick and Milliscent.

“In Kenya, apart from recording, we also had the opportunity to perform at the Wapi talent show and it was great because it cemented our collaboration,” he said.

He said being in Kenya was a blessing because it accorded him the opportunity to record with East Africa’s urban music juggernauts such as Nameless, Mad Tracks and Wyre.

He said other songs in the album have been done through internet correspondence and the album has 12 songs.Lomwe and Zeus hope that the BBA stage will assist them to market their music brand to audiences in Africa.He said after launching in Malawi the album will go to Botswana and other African countries where BBA is popular. ‘Double Wowza’ is already shaking airwaves in Malawi, Botswana, Kenya and South Africa on Y FM.