Inmates
of the Malawi high-security jail, the Zomba prison band have not only
produced an album called "I Have No Everything Here," they're also up
for a grammy nomination in February.
The Zombie prison band who are inmates of the Zomba high-security prison in Malawi
The maximum security prison in Zomba, Malawi is not the sort of
place where Grammy-nominated albums are typically recorded. But a group
of Zomba’s inmates, many of them serving life sentences for offences
including murder and theft, have found themselves nominated for a the
prestigious awards in the best world music album category.
Announced last week, the group known as the Zomba Prison Band, are
joined on the shortlist by some of world music’s biggest stars;
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Angelique Kidjo, Gilberto Gil and Anoushka
Shankar.
Ian Brennan, who produced the album, said; "I was shocked.
Absolutely shocked… The other four nominated artists all have roots that
go back decades, so to see this group of completely unknown people from
what is really a lesser known country get recognised is really
humbling." Recorded in the summer of 2013, 16 inmates wrote and performed the songs for the album, "I Have No Everything Here".
They are the first Malawian musicians to be nominated at the
prestigious Grammys. But Brennan doesn’t know if the prisoners involved
have been
informed of their historic nomination, as all communication with them
must go through the prison commissioner or local NGOs.
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Zomba Prison Project - I Have No Everything Here (CD)
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When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014
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