There comes a time in one’s career when they must face a test to gauge their mettle. This is often a defining moment which offers a real reflection of what you are made of.

How you move on from that test is equally critical. The outcomes of such litmus tests can make or break someone. Whether it falls on the negative or positive, one requires to be calculative in the next card that he throws.

For Evance Zangazanga alias Piksy, perhaps that moment came last Friday when he launched his third studio album Mtunda at Comesa Hall in Blantyre. This event was coming against the background of a number of negative undertones which in earnest threatened the success of the event.

The city of Blantyre had earned itself a reputation of being a bad host of entertainment events. In the recent past, a number of high-profile events have received almost zero reception from the dwellers of the commercial capital.

That track record, certainly was supposed to scare anyone planning an event in the city. There is nothing regrettable as making a huge financial invest which will never be recouped. 

Again, the enforcement of the drink and drive traffic regulations has sent shivers through the spine of many party-goers. The risk of going out and later part with a handsome K200 000 is a luxury that many can hardly put up with.

This has meant limited involvement in night activities, especially those where a bottle or two is the likely indulgence. The outlook in the night clubs paints a real picture. The speed of night life has miserably shrunk and the businesses are bleeding.

But here was a man who was armed with nothing, but self-belief in the kind of event he wanted to deliver for his fans. Riding on that determination Piksy threw all caution to the wind and focused on one thing, the album launch.

The local music industry has a lot of talent. Some of it is being put to good use while a majority of is being wasted. It can be due to lack of focus, ill-discipline, lack of self-realisation, poor professional advice, lack of self-belief in their abilities and all that.

These factors have meant some artists are failing to attain an attraction to earn them corporate confidence, it has meant stagnating careers, it has meant they can’t win the trust of event promoters to sign them up for gigs and they cannot even command serious followership.

If we can take a closer look we can see that Piksy has all the stated factors on the positive side. Since he broke out 18 years ago, his goal and focus appears to be well defined. He understood his strength and talent in life and he realised it was possible to make a life out of it.

Through the years he stayed the course against the odds. Eighteen years ago an artist doing urban music was dismissed as a wayward kid just to gain some limelight through the music medium. Very few people took urban music seriously.

But Piksy is among those artists who believed in their art and found their way to the top. What we witnessed last Friday at Comesa Hall was a culmination of the investment and effort that he has ploughed in his art in the last 18 years.

Today, Piksy is a brand that has that corporate pull. Today, Piksy is an artist standing on his own, a thing most of his peers can only dream of. 

There are some who started their careers circa the same time Piksy did. But if you ask what progress they have made, they have nothing to show for it.

It is a sad thing watching artists who have potential letting it go to waste because they can’t manage themselves well or set their priorities right. A good number of local artists need to lift themselves up and they need to look no further, Piksy is the perfect model.  n    

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