Fumba Chama (born 6 April 1984), known professionally as Pilato, is a Zambian hip hop recording artist from

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

. The name Pilato written as pilAto is an acronym for People in Lyrical Arena Taking Over. Born and raised in the Copperbelt province, pilAto commenced his career as a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

at the age of 10, before formally moving into the music industry in 2010, when poetry became his

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. on the 20th of December 2022, he sold out and joined the ruling party after years of being the voice of the people. Pilato has released three studio albums.

Musical career

pilAto's music is largely broad-spectrum social commentary with generous overtones of contemporary hip hop after starting out as a poet. Pilato is referred to as the ''voice of the voiceless'', he is known to be a relevant voice in the dispensation of Democracy in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

.pilAto has managed to affix art and music on the political picture in Zambia today. In 2010 Pilato won the Ngoma Award as Zambia's Best Poet. He was later nominated for Best Music Video at the Born & Bred Awards in 2011.

Music and politics

In between the year 2010 and 2011 at the beginning of he's transition to a human rights activist he had released a song satirically referring to some non-performing Zambian MP's as "Mental Patients". In 2013, he recorded a single entitled "Bufi" featuring

Petersen Petersen is a common Danish patronymic surname, meaning ''"son of Peter"''. There are other spellings. Petersen may refer to: People In arts and entertainment * Adolf Dahm-Petersen, Norwegian voice specialist * Anja Petersen, German operatic ...

, a highly politically charged song that labeled the late

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Michael Sata Michael Charles Chilufya Sata (6 July 1937 – 28 October 2014) was a Zambian politician who was the fifth president of Zambia, from 23 September 2011 until his death on 28 October 2014. A social democrat, he led the Patriotic Front (PF), a maj ...

a "Father of Lies". The song got a negative feed back as the supporters of the

ruling party The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive ...

were up in arms and he claims he received numerous death threats over the song. In 2015 Pilato showed his support for opposition leader

Hakainde Hichilema Hakainde Hichilema (born 4 June 1962) is a Zambian businessman, farmer, and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016 ...

and put up regular performances at his rally's countrywide. His support for Mr Hichilema failed to clinch him

State House State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

; the PF won the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

in what was one of the tightest election victories ever recorded since Zambia reverted to plural politics. 6 months later he recorded a song of Nashil Pischen Kazembe's 1970s hit "Aphiri Anabwela" but he changed the lyrics to "Alungu Anbwela". Unapologetic, the musician was bundled up and slapped with charges of conduct likely to breach peace . His case drew widespread media coverage even beyond Zambian borders. Pilato on record was arrested once in his career over his songs that were considered as conduct likely to breach peace.

2013-2015

In 2013 some rumours spread across that pilAto was arrested over the song "Bufi". In the song Pilato and

sing about broken promises like cheap fuel, construction of roads and job opportunities for young people. They used words like ''Boza'', ''Bufi'', ''Ulabeja'', ''Wenye'' which all mean the same thing: lies. But all these reports where dismissed by the Lusaka Police Chief Joyce Kasosa that Pilato has been detained over his latest song titled Bufi. The police Chef said the police department have not recorded any such incident and that Pilato is still a free citizen. Pilato also then confirmed saying he had not been to any police station. In June 2015 Pilato was arrested over a song remix of the legendary Nashil Pischen Kazembe's Aphiri Anabwela but featuring Pilato's lyrics which call President Lungu"a drunk," among several other insults. After he got out jail Pilato said he can not defame the Head of State with his song and that he was just merely bringing out his message.

Awards and nominations

* 2010 – Award for Zambia's Best Poet – Ngoma Awards. * 2011 – Nominated For Best Video – Born & Bred Awards. * 2014 – Award For Best Collaboration – Zambia Music Awards. * 2014 – Nominated For Most Conscious Song Category – Born & Bred Awards

Discography

Albums

* The Forsaken Prophecy – 2015 * Just Stupid – 2014 * Judy's – 2012

Selected songs

* pilAto - ''Ichashishita * PilAto – ''Bwetete' * PilAto – ''

Hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

(Kesulenifye) (

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

Cover)'' – 2015 * PilAto – ''Ba Peggy'' * PilAto – ''Alungu Anbwela'' * PilAto – ''Bufi'' (lies) * PilAto – ''

Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

'' (

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

cover) – 2011

External links

Official Facebook Fanpage

Official Twitter Account

References

{{authority control Living people 21st-century Zambian male singers 1984 births People from Ndola