Most musicians don’t list “selling mouse on a stick” as their former profession. But the Malawi Mouse Boys used to peddle that tasty snack to hungry travelers in their native Southeast African country.
Discovered by producer Ian Brennan, this eight-piece band dispenses family-style harmony. The group honed it’s harmonies in church, and the presentations here are technically gospel songs, but the arrangements belong to the world.
“Ndatopa Nawe” (“I’m Tired of You”) sounds Hawaiian. Their native Chichewa language as musical and lilting as that of Big Island natives, their handmade sheet metal guitar resembling an ukelele. “Kulira Kwambewa” (“The Crying of the Mouse”) is distinctively African, but the group’s vocal mouse-squeaking impersonation puts it within EDM range.
Some of the music resembles the sounds of a more rural, unpolished version of Ladysmith Black Mambazo — whistled choruses give the music a down-home feel. With a wavering falsetto soaring over the Mouse Boys’ thrumming harmony, “Ndikukondani” (“I Love You”) sounds like it could have been taken from one of Ladysmith’s set lists.
“Ian a Blessing” delivers laidback reggae reminiscent of Toots and the Maytals’ early work, with gospel lyrics and a heart-felt thank you to producer Brennan spoken in English: “Bless you Ian, for what you have done to me,’” vocalist Nelson Mulligo says. “I was a poor man but now I am not, Lord bless you every day.”
This is powerful stuff in any language. On “Umasiye Wanga” ( “My Loneliness”), vocalist Joseph Nekwankwa breaks down mid-song, weeping as he recalls the trauma of losing his mother and being orphaned as a small child. Kuthokoza” (“Thankful”) is stripped-down reggae gospel, the homemade acoustic steel guitar and whistling of vocalist Nelson Mulliga the only accompaniment until the rest of the Boys join in on a mouse-like falsetto chorus. A few bars in, one big mouse drops down to provide a hoarse, bass doo-wop element to the mix.
Producer Brennan broke the Mouse Boys out of Malawi, but it’s their astounding voices and unfettered emotional delivery that keeps them circulating in the free world — no longer mice boys, but soulful men with a celestial mission to deliver their music globally.