Gospel female singers Chinga, Manon’ga in verbal war

There was controversy last Sunday when gospel songbird Grace Chinga lost her temper and descended on organizers of Gloria Manon’ga’s launch to demand her payment despite her failure to perform.

Manong’a, who was the main act of the show, confirmed the confusion, saying Chinga did not deserve any penny because she did not perform, according to a report in Friday’s The Weekend Times.

“She showed up at 4:00pm while I, the main act, had already started performing. Moreover, it was time for auction. So, would you expect me to pay someone who did not perform?” the newspaper quotes Manong’a as wondering.

She said her show started at 1pm, meaning all supporting artists were supposed to be at Comesa hall by that time.

“Grace came very late, a move which necessitated the MC to dismiss her due to inadequate time. So, who is to blame because other artists who were on the programme showed up in good time?” she said.

However, despite not performing at the show, Chinga had the audacity to demand payment, a move which brought misunderstanding but yielded nothing.

An eyewitness told tabloid  that Chinga became furious in the course of disagreeing with the event organizers.

“Anything could have happened because Chinga became unmanageable. Things were normalized when she was given K2,000 meant for her transportation,” the eyewitness is quoted to have said.

Chinga’s conduct did not go down well with fans, describing her as “undecided” when it comes to supporting other gospel musicians in Malawi.

According to the report, this was not the first time for Chinga to disappoint gospel fans. During Allan Chirwa’s DVD launch, she failed due to what she convinced the tabloid was communication breakdown at some stage on her business trip from Tanzania.

“How can she turn up at 5pm as if she was the main act? This artist is becoming more and more unreliable these days because she is fond of cheating fans,” the newspaper quotes Kera Nkolokosa, a resident of Kanjedza as complaining.

Other fans had kind words for Chinga, describing her as the most gifted gospel artist who only needs to be professional.

“She must change her attitude towards her music career and make sure that commitments must be fulfilled. Otherwise, disappointing fans like that will cost her a lot,” said Moses Mpemba, another gospel music fan.

Efforts by the newspaper to talk to Chinga proved futile as she could not be reached on her mobile numbers. But according to the newspaper, a close ally of the gospel artist, who did not want to be named, said some gospel musicians in the country have the penchant of using other musicians.

“By the way, I am not speaking on the behalf of Chinga for I am not her spokesperson. But the problem I have observed with majority of gospel musicians in the country is that they just approach you verbally to support them, without even giving a penny as upfront payment.

“They don’t even care about your transportation yet they expect you to support them. Worse still, when you support them, you end up being given K5,000 or less at the end of the show.

“So, with this, how can artists be motivated? I think these are some of the reasons that are discouraging many artists in our country,” he said.

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