By AUSTIN KALUBA –
IN Zambia the Malawian singer is remembered for the hit song Mwana Wamzako which she popularised regionally when she featured regularly at Hotel Intercontinental as a cabaret artist backed by the Big Gold Six band.
The clip of her signature tune is still shown on ZNBC taking one to yesteryears when she was musically active inspiring a number of local artistes like Muriel Mwamba, Clara Chimfwembe and many local female cabaret artists.
That is Maria Nkhoma who despite being Malawian was also popular in Zambia visiting the country at least twice in a year to perform at Hotel Intercontinental and featuring regularly on ZNBC.

. Nkhoma

Maria, who is also a poet and actress, was Born 62 years ago in a polygamous family being the first born from the second wife.
She was born to a prominent Malawian businessman and politician the late Beston Chidzanja Nkhoma and Chrissey Chiunguzeni Linje a housewife.
“My father was a prominent member of society as a business man and politician in the Malawi Congress Party (MCP)”
She cut her teeth musically with the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Band (MBC) when she was a pupil at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School.
However, the young talented singer did not let music distract her from education.
She attended prestigious schools like La Sagesse Convent and State House Road Girls High school in Nairobi Kenya.
The music bug had bitten her at an early age dominating most of her free time. It was a period when the world was just recovering from the swinging sixties entering the 1970’s, another musical era.
“Whenever the MBC Band came to town, our school would let us go to church on Sunday, but I would opt to go and see the band.
By this time, I was already in touch with people in the band such as the late Frank Kamwendo and William Malikula.
I practised with them from time to time,” she recalls.
After completing her secondary education, she joined music full time as a prominent member of the MBC Band.
Her decision to go into music started immediately paying dividends as Maria and her band mates embarked on an international tour.
The tour saw them visit Zambia in 1972 where they did shows in Lusaka and the Copperbelt.
Maria who was the lead singer did covers of Soul, Jazz, Pop and hits by Clarence Carter.
“With MBC Band, we toured Zambia going as far as Ndola and Kitwe; a tour I will never forget. And our first appearance on television was in Zambia.
Little did I know but I would be visiting Zambia for at least once or twice a year for performances,” she said coyly.
At times, the band would also perform at Pamodzi Hotel in Zambia.
Her signature song Mwana Wamzako is a popular Gule Wamkulu classic that she popularized with her vigorous dancing.
The message in the song is not to mistreat or kill your friend’s child because you must be wary of the pain and the tears of the mother on learning that the child died by someone’s door-steps. Ku ipa mutima kuli na akulu awa/ gaula, ni chilombo ye, /mwana wanga a fela pakomo paja.
It was because of performances in Zambia that Maria was exposed to more opportunities to advance her music career.
Intercontinental Zambia sent the young artist to their hotel in Nairobi, Kenya where she met the head honchos of Intercontinental West Africa who asked her to work in West Africa performing at their hotels.
However, she refused the offer, a decision she said had to do with her young age and naivete.
Nevertheless, she says she does not regret the decision together with the fact that she did not record anything at the prime of her music career.
She explained: “I have lots of music which can make two albums if not three.
“However, I do not want to go into the studios just for the sake of it. I am afraid of giving people a half baked product.”
However, by the beginning of the 1980’s the music career started proving to be a turbulent one forcing Maria to consider her second love, broadcasting.
“ I went into broadcasting not because I was particularly interested in radio or broadcasting per se, but I had to find something to do to put food on the table.
She was employed by Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) in 1982 and left the corporation in 1994 becoming a household name.
At MBC she was an announcer, producer and presenter becoming one of the pioneers of female news readers.
A journey to South Africa to record a radio jingle for a certain company opened other doors for her, as in 1994, she moved to Johannesburg where she joined Channel Africa, an international broadcasting service under South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC).
“I did volunteer work at radio Alinafe for about 10 to 11 months until Zodiak Broadcasting Station came along.
I started as a part timer, but later I was fully employed in 2006,” she says.
Before leaving for South Africa, Maria was also involved in stage drama becoming  part of Wakhumbata Ensemble Theatre and did two productions with Du Chisiza Jnr and Gertrude Kamkwatira; Cry the
Beloved Soldier, which was however banned for being too political.
She later feature in Check it Out a play about HIV stigma.”
Other than that, she was sent to Germany by Malawi Against Polio for a fundraising show.
Her vast experience was again recognized when she was chosen to be part of the group that started what is now called Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma).
In 2009, she attempted to join politics but failed to go past primaries for the Lilongwe City West under the Malawi Congress Party MCP ticket.
Maria still sings from time to time apart and writes poetry and acts.
She has three children Mayamiko (late) Nema Yamungu and Rita Geraldine.
She now works for Zodiak broadcasting station
The Musicians Association of Malawi (MAM) women’s desk recognised her contribution to Malawian music at a fund raising dinner dance at Sunbird capital in Lilongwe.
This author caught up with the artist when she visited the country to attend a workshop on child marriages at Protea Hotel in Lusaka recently.
The artist still sings though she is not as active as she used to be in her heydays when her hit song Mwana wa Mzako was massively popular regionally.