Chris Manto 7 a one hit wonder?

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Thursday March 5, 2009 00:00

 

The track was simply irresistible and not even children could ignore it while the elderly could not help but give the tune the nod every time it played on national radio.

Few cared what the words meant, some even making their own compositions while singing along.

The man behind this mega hit was Baitshepi Mwanchisenge, who chose the stage name Chris Manto 7. The year was 2006 when the charismatic young musician, who used to dance for Jeff Matheatau, went solo to release his own album.

Confident that he could make it on his own, the young man from Shakawe did not expect his debut album to shoot him straight to stardom.

The early success came with its 'packages'. Promoters came flocking, shows lined up almost every weekend and money flowing in.

Perhaps success came too early for Manto 7 that he presumed that fans would just take anything as long as it was from him.

Very few know of the musician's follow up project released in 2007 with the title The Journey Continues.

By his own admission, the album has done little to advance his silhouette. His latest called Amerikano, released in January, is still to prove its mettle.

Many have been left wondering if the musician was just one of those one-hit wonders.

But the musician refuses to be labelled that. In fact he believes that he will be back at the top once he starts launching the album in different places throughout the country.

'I was not taking chances going into music, I am still going to produce more hits. My latest album has done well on the market so far. I believe it is better than the first one because within weeks it had already sold many copies, but the first one only started picking up in the third month of its release,' Manto 7 told Showbiz.

Although he sounded optimistic about his latest release, the musician conceded that Zvaka Pressa had set expectations high and that people would not be easily convinced that the new album could make them as equally happy.

'Batswana like simple things, Zvaka pressa gave them just that. I have done a good album in Amerikano with a lot of East African sounds in it but people often compare it with Zvaka Pressa. I could not do the same thing again, I had to grow as an artist,' he said.

According to him the new album expresses a lot of Mbukushu culture without losing its musical aspect to get fans from across the country hooked at the first try of the numbers.

'If anyone does not believe that this is a good album they will have a different story to tell once I start performing it live during the launch,' he said.

The next few months will determine if Manto 7 can rise again and even go beyond just stardom and turn into a legend.