Thirty-five year old Nkhata Bay musician Gasper Nali has become superstar of the web after a video of him playing a home-made babatoni went viral and earned him instant fame.
A video of the folk artist has received worldwide acclaim and has seen about nine million views on Facebook and over one million views on YouTube despite that many of the people cannot understand the Chichewa language he uses.
Nali is a talented self-taught traditional musician from Nkhata Bay whose unique sound stems from the babatone, his self-made, one-stringed instrument played with a metal baton and a glass bottle used as a slide. He combines the babatoni with a floor bass drum (also self-made) and a crisp, clear voice to produce a rich blend.
A two minute, 57 seconds clip of him playing Abale Ndikumbukeni was initially recorded in 2007 but it went viral last month after Latin website Latinos Post reposted it, where it has so far garnered close to nine million views and 150 000 shares.
And since then, the video has been reposted by websites, with even reputable sites such as Huffington Post, Daily Motion and Heavy Metal picking up the clip and reposting it with commentaries.
Huffington Post described Nali's Abale Ndikumbukeni as the next Gangnam Style, except it is good!
Five years ago, the video was posted to YouTube. It is still there, with 95 000 views.
Then a Facebook page called Latinos Post picked it up and posted it and by Facebook's count it had got over 8.8 million views.
"Eight point eight million views!-a small number, hardly Taylor-Swiftian (to say nothing of Korean rapper Psy, whose Gangnam Style has over two billion views on YouTube) in the big picture, but it's off the chart for a Latino audience's response to an unidentified African man whose song has an unreadable cyrillic-alphabet title.
"The Latinos Post page has been edited, and now does contain some information: 'The song is Abale Ndikumbukeni by Gasper Nali, next to the Nkhata Bay in the Republic of Malawi. He is playing a small drum with his foot and one of his large string guitars that he makes of recycled materials, including wire from burnt tires. Nali was featured in the documentary, Deep Roots Malawi, where he explains the origin of his instrument," reads the post by the Daily Motion.
The clip, shared by Latinos Post, is from Deep Roots Malawi, which examines how folk musical expression is influencing Malawi's contemporary and urban music.
In the song, performed with Lake Malawi on the background, the artist while using the babatoni, a form of bass banjo combined with a bass drum, sings against early marriages and sinful activities that church people engage in.
He was also featured and rated highly by the Huffington Post, who write: "It's Malawian, play an instrument and a rope made about him on social networks since Sunday. Gasper Nali appears to have been filmed by Russian tourists who posted the video on Youtube on May 16. In the images, we see the singer perform a song entitled Abale Ndikumbukeni with his instrument. Users Reddit were in love with his music, highlighting the 'original' character 'happy' song Gasper Nali in a subject named "African Disco".
"Quickly netizens questioned the meaning of the words, giving rise to a debate. The first woman, whose husband is allegedly Malawian, ensures that Gasper Nali denounces the prostitution of young women in the country. Too sad lyrics looked so happy, according to several users, who finally agreed to declare all that he sings in Chichewa."
In Deep Roots Malawi, Nali is seen explaining the origin of his instrument: "My little brother built a three-stringed guitar. I told him it was a good idea and we started to train us. The sound was really good! So, we decided to make a guitar from a rope called 'babatoni'. When we play, people love music. "
And in an exclusive interview from Nkhata Bay, the Standard 7 dropout said he has been surprised by the sudden interest in his music.
"I am honestly surprised by this interest because the video was recorded many years ago," said the soft-spoken musician who is a resident musician at Mayoka Village Lodge in Nkhata Bay.
Nali told Chill that he started his music career playing alongside his younger brother when they were youngsters in Mzimba.
"My young brother used to play a four-string guitar while I played a one strong guitar. But when my brother died in 1999, I decided to improvise and created this babatani," he said.
Since 2002, Nali, who hails from Mabulabo in Mzimba, has been engaged by Mayoka Village Lodge, a tourist haven in Nkhata Bay.
In 2002, a Briton who he only remembers as Lucas, saw him playing at the lodge and sponsored an eight-track album Olemela, which was recorded at Masudi Khonje at Classic Studio in Mzuzu. However, the album did not pick up and he continues to sell single copies to eager audience.
This year, with the help of Nkhata Bay-based producer Mattias Stålnacke, intends on recording another album. Stålnacke runs Spare Dog Records, which also has Danny Kalima and Michael Mountain under its label.
Aside that, Nali says he is looking forward to performing at this year's Lake of Stars Festival in Mangochi.
"Mattias is working on something for me to perform at the festival so I am really excited," he said.