Zomba Prison Project is a recording featuring music composed and performed by prisoners at the maximum-security Zomba Central Prison in Zomba,

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

. The album ''I Have No Everything Here'' was produced by Ian Brennan, and nominated in the 2016

Grammy Award for Best World Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honor presented to recording artists for influential music from around the globe at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors i ...

Recording

Zomba Prison is an overcrowded maximum-security institution located in Zomba, the former capital city of Malawi. According to data gathered from the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, Malawi ranked as the one of the poorest countries in the world in 2015 based on the country's GDP per capita. The prison in which the recordings took place was constructed during the era of British colonial rule with an intended capacity of 340 people. The facility has become a dilapidated brick structure, that now often holds over 2,000 prisoners. In August 2013, producer Ian Brennan (USA) and documentary filmmaker Marilena Delli (Italy) travelled to southern Malawi to record the music of the male and female inmates at Zomba. Brennan and Delli were granted time with the prisoners, partially in exchange for offering courses on conflict resolution and violence prevention, topics about which Brennan has published four books and, since 1993, lectured on around the world. The recording took place over 10 days and involved the participation of prisoners serving sentences for crimes ranging from double-murder to theft to more controversial and questionable charges related to acts of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

- which remains a punishable crime in Malawi - and accusations of "witchcraft". The recordings were captured at various locations throughout the facility. Recordings of the men were made near an auto shop and woodmill at the prison while the women were recorded outdoors - in their yard area and on a front porch. The project documented over six hours of recorded music, involving over sixty individuals, including the participation of a few prison guards. Brennan engineered all the tracks himself, without the use of overdubs or effects, using a battery-operated portable studio. The record was later mixed by Irishman

David Odlum David Odlum is an Irish music producer, engineer, guitarist, and drummer who has worked and played with Academy Award winners and Mercury Prize nominees. Originally a member of Kíla, a band which was founded during his schooldays at Coláiste Eo ...

at his Studio Black Box in rural France. The completed album is a collection of 20 tracks featuring 16 singer-songwriters from within the prison, sung mostly in the

Chichewa Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) is a Bantu language spoken in much of Southern, Southeast and East Africa, namely the countries of Malawi , where it is an official language, and Mozambique and Zambia. The noun class prefix ''chi-'' is used for la ...

language. Though some of the tracks are by solo members of the prison's organized men's band, neither the band itself nor the band leader are featured on the album. The released recordings focus on those who did not consider themselves to be singers and/or songwriters, with the majority of the tracks coming from the women's side of the prison and from individuals who wrote songs specifically for the project. The completed album was released in 2015 by

Six Degrees Records Six Degrees Records is an independent record label noted for its catalog of recordings from international musicians and vocalists. History In 1996, former Windham Hill employees Pat Berry and Bob Duskis founded Six Degrees Records with the in ...

. A portion of funds raised by the project have gone towards legal representation for some of the prisoners involved in the recordings. Since the beginning of the project, three female prisoners have had their cases reviewed and been released. At the time of the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nomination, two more cases were under appeal but encountering delays in the appeal process that have persisted for more than two years. The project has helped raise awareness around the plight of those imprisoned at Zomba, from the inefficiency of the bureaucratic appeal process to the incarceration of infants born within the facility.

Reception

Upon news of its Grammy Award nomination, Zomba Prison Project ''I Have No Everything Here'' received extensive worldwide press coverage and further positive critical acclaim. The recordings were characterized as highly personal and giving voice to an underrepresented social group. It has been likened to recordings made by

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

and

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...

at the Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman Farm and joins the body of work of "jail music" that includes albums by artists such as the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B genres. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog", in 1952, which becam ...

Leadbelly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

and

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

. The nomination of the album ''I Have No Everything Here'' marks the first time a Malawian artist's work has been nominated for a Grammy Award. The story was covered around the world including on the front-page of ''The New York Times'' and by the television program ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' with

Anderson Cooper Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator from the Vanderbilt family. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news broadcast show ''Anderson Cooper 360°''. In addition to his duties at C ...

reporting. The segment won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Feature Story and was nominated for two other Emmys. In ''Expresso'', Portugal's largest weekly paper, João Santos wrote, "In twenty songs, there is not one that is not corrupted by circumstances. And none is less than crucial." ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

Jim Carroll called ''I Have No Everything Here'' "glorious songs from behind bars in Malawi" and named it one of his top 30 albums of the year.

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Betto Arcos praised the album as, "One of the most exciting projects I've heard.""From Four Different Corners Of Africa, Four Bold New Albums"
NPR. Retrieved December 12, 2015.

Recording

Reception

Track listing

References

External links