Afrobeats From the Margins: Malawi’s Quiet Homage to West Africa

The geography alone suggests distance: Lagos is far from Lilongwe, both in distance and in pop culture references. Afrobeats, after all, is a genre closely associated with West Africa’s major cities like Lagos and Accra, where nightlife, radio, and more recently, digital culture have helped shape its global reach.

And yet Afrobeats has found a home in Malawi, a country quietly situated between eastern and southern Africa and missing from the African pop culture map. Here, the genre takes shape not as imitation but as homage. Local artists engage Afrobeats as a global language. One that allows their music to travel while remaining rooted in the Malawian context. There is an unmistakable sense of tribute in how Afrobeats is approached: an acknowledgement of West Africa as source and influence, rather than a template to be copied. What emerges is something distinctly Malawian. Sonically, rhythms may seem familiar, and some Afrobeats identifiers are undeniable, but they are softened and sometimes slowed down. In fact, Malawian artists often draw more from the early Afrobeats sound, which was less percussive than today’s interpretation that increasingly overlaps with amapiano log drum.

While Afrobeats lyrics can be bold and audacious, Malawian artists have stuck to their usual minimalist way of approaching urban music. The songs are more lyrical, and the melodies are longer. They also haven’t followed the flash lifestyle of the Afrobeats culture. This is because Malawi has always had a love for music culture. Most pop music is about love, in-laws, and other honest themes. You will hear words like Chikondi, which is love in Chichewa (the most spoken language in Malawi), and mkazi wanga, which can be interpreted as my woman or my wife in Chichewa. In essence, there is often a man singing about the love of his life in Malawi. That’s what Malawian audiences relate to.

OkayAfrica caught up with a handful of artists who have tapped into Afrobeats. Among them, the most committed to the genre is Onesimus — real name Armstrong Kalua — born in Blantyre.

“When I started playing with this Afrobeats sound, a lot of people in Malawi were apprehensive and didn’t quite believe in it,” he tells OkayAfrica. “But because I fused it with some local elements and I was singing in Chichewa, it was easy for audiences to connect with it.”

For Onesimus, genre fluidity is part of the freedom of being an African artist. “The great thing about being an African artist is that you’re not limited to just one genre, you are able to ride on different waves,” he says. “In my upcoming album, I’ve included Afrobeats, amapiano, and a bit of 3-Step, although Afrobeats is still my go-to sound.”

When asked about the effect of Afrobeats on Malawi’s music scene, Onesimus says it has only added value. For him, the genre has brought growth and diversity, an addition that feels both natural and welcome.

Over the years, he has also collaborated with Nigerian artists, including Joeboy on “Controller,” Tekno on “Foyu,” and Fireboy DML on a track yet to be released.

Genre Fluidity and the Warm Ear of Africa

Saint Realest — real name Yamikani Chikwawe — approaches Afrobeats with a similar sense of intention. Like many Malawian artists, his background is in dancehall. On whether experimenting with Afrobeats felt like a creative risk, Saint Realest chuckles and says, “It may have been a creative risk, but at the end of the day, I am an artist, and I have to experiment with different genres. What matters is that I have to be good at it. Malawian audiences love good music, and they can’t be fooled.” Some of Saint’s standout tracks are “Falling,” “Una,” and “More.”

OkayAfrica spoke to Kimba Mutanda Andersen, founding member of pioneering hip hop group Real Elements and board member of Malawi’s flagship music festival, Lake of Stars, on how Malawian audiences engage with new sounds.

“On a night out in Malawi, you’ll hear music from all over the world, hip hop, soul, R&B, Kwaito, Congolese rumba, Zimbabwean chimurenga,” Kimba says.

“I only realized how eclectic Malawian dance floors are once I started traveling. In South Africa, for example, dance floors are dominated by South African music. Other sounds exist, but not with the same range. In Malawi, we listen widely, even to songs we don’t understand linguistically, simply because we connect to the music. That openness naturally shapes the music we make, without taking away from the strong following our local music still has.”

That openness is precisely what gives younger artists room to experiment. At just 22, Merchah is confidently stepping into Afrobeats, blending West African rhythms with local melodies and Chitumbuka, a language spoken by a smaller percentage of Malawians. Born Uchizi Msowoya, Merchah says he is drawn to Afrobeats because the genre itself is a fusion, making it easy to find elements that feel both global and distinctly his own. This is evident in songs like “Dongo,” “Tempolale,” and “Khorwa.” On tracks like “Nkhondo,” he offers a hint of amapiano.

“Afrobeats has become an African sound that has no borders. This is one of the reasons I am drawn to it, and now that it’s a global sound and the world is listening to it, I have more reason to tap into it, without losing my own identity.”

For Merchah, Afrobeats is a framework, and he explains it using an analogy of a pizza: “If our music was a pizza, Afrobeats would be the base, the beats, the BPM, the producer plugins, and the toppings would all be Malawian: our languages, our cadence, our melodies,” he told OkayAfrica over the phone. “That would be the cheese, the pepperoni, and the mushrooms. What separates us from the Nigerians is our stories. Malawian artists don’t sell fantasies; we write about our real lives or the lives of those around us, and that’s why audiences can relate.”

Onesimus, Saint Realest, and Merchah are far from the only Malawian artists leaning into Afrobeats. Eli Njuchi, Namadingo, Driemo, and Kell Kay are also shaping the genre locally, proving that Afrobeats in Malawi isn’t a novelty; it's a space for experimentation, homage, and much-needed local storytelling.

Malawi is widely known as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa,’ a slogan long used by the country’s tourism board. Andersen jokes that it could just as easily be called the ‘Warm Ear of Africa,’ where music is concerned, a place where audiences are open, tolerant, and deeply receptive to music from across the continent and beyond.