NAMADINGO’S ADOWANNA: A REINFORCEMENT OF COMMODIFICATION WOMEN AND A PROTEST TO ZOKAKAMIZANA KUKWATILA

Reviewer: Esteemed Ziliro Mchulu, Malawi. 

While many recognised him as a gospel artist, the majority have accepted him as a positive artist and since he made that broad move and declaration, Namadingo seem to be voyaging in his waters and he is slowly becoming an all-time hit maker. The trend has remained the same from the day he produced Ngw’i  Ngw’i, Mapulani and now Adowanna. The ‘talk of the town’ artist has produced Adowanna video which has complemented the audio message. The love song gives an account of a man striving to win a woman’s heart and in a submission to communicate this, the artist has commoditized the female sex and has protested against coercing people to marry simply because you think so.

 The song starts with a male persona who is narrating his encounter with the wife to be and in the sequence of this narration the persona makes statements that commodify women. To commodify in this case means to treat the female sex as a commodity. “chaka chatha mu October, Maonekedwe ako ankandiputa dala, Sindinachedwe kutenga nambala, Chaka chino ndiauza ako madala, I will take care of you, Nzakusalama….. Some proclamations above paint a picture of a man viewing a woman like a commodity. What attracted the man is nothing but the looks of the girl, nothing but looks. This is taking a woman from the cover, thinking about her based on what you see and we all know that the attraction is sexual. This means the artist is reinforcing the popular view of women as sexual objects.  The woman is not seen in her cognitive aspects or other abilities but just sexual ability, “Chili bho amwene ndichikwatira” thus the thinking expressed.

 Since every commodity has the owner, the male persona says he will tell the father of the girl that he will take care of her. This underpins the patriarchal idea that a woman or girl is owned by her father and the father is a final stamp to a girls choices. This speaks volumes of how we think as a people. Up to date some parents still think they can decide who their daughter should marry. As exposed in the song, the father is in charge and not the mother. This strengthens the view that a man is the head of the family while a women is the head slave. The song could have done better by presenting the girl as the final decision maker of the marriage deal.

 The commodification hormones were also high in the last lines of the song when the persona claimed the woman will give him more children. “Vomelezani nkaziyu izandipasa mbumba, Vomelezani makolo anga apata”. As argued by Spratt “Women are stripped of their rights and forced to live out their lives in service of a patriarchal society where their productivity is measured by their ability to bear children”. In contemporary times, with women seen as the “natural” nurturer of the domestic household, this role dehumanizes her such that her labours are deemed valueless and her subservient position situates her as the property of the man (Friedrich Engels’). So the man is saying the woman will give him more children to make a clan and if the woman will be barren this marriage will end because the baby making factory will be closed. Even if the man will be impotent, he will still blame the woman because he married her to make children. This thinking is outdated. Furthermore, the view that “makolo anga apata” buttresses the argument that the man is viewing the woman as a ‘thing’ as presented in the bible.

 Produced at OBK, the audio is well balanced and the fusion that Namadingo did was properly mixed. The video was directed by Ron CZ at Redink media films. When you hear the name Ron CZ you are assured of a good production. The persona in the video brought gifts for the family of the girl and all the people were happy. From the video you can agree to the idea that “give a man a gift and you will know the person you are dealing with”. The father of the girl and the brother were not happy with the coming of the suitor and when they were given gifts they were wholly happy. The father was given beer and all his teeth’s could be counted. This displays the power of alcohol.

 Finally, Namadingo took a swipe to all people who are fond of telling others to marry. This group of people usually reminds those not married to do so. They are fond of asking stupid questions like “Tivina Liti?” “Mukwatira liti?”. As presented by the persona “Popanda ondidandulira achimwene mwakula mukwatire”,it means there were people who were on his neck in the past reminding him to be married. This behaviour is unscrupulous and should stop. Everybody has his own time of doing things and marriage is one. A marriage decision is personal hence we should all understand that one has to make it on his or her own. Whether you are a parent or whoever you think you are, your child is not your property that you can decide what he or she should do with his or her life in terms of marriage. This is archaic. Listen to Lulu’s “Banja” song and you will comprehend.

 The song “adowanna” is another mouth-watering tune this year. However, the artist could have done better by not treating women as sexual objects and as commodities that can be bought and used as baby making machines. Women have more to offer in marriage and viewing them as providers of sexual pleasure is obscene in this century. On a positive note we hope his message to all those who tell others to marry has been understood and we will not see anyone telling someone to marry Kudos Namadingo.

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