Michael-Fredrick Paul Sauka

Michael - Fredrick Paul Sauka, Michael Fred Sauka ( b. 1934; † 15 August 1990), was a poet and composer from Malawi. He wrote in Chichewa, the most widely used language in Malawi.

Life and work

Sauka wrote the lyrics and composed the age of 29 mulungu dalitsa Malawi, a song in the style of African folk songs, the national anthem of Malawi in 1964.

Michael Sauka worked at the time of composition of the anthem, which emerged victorious from a competition in the audit department of the Government of Nyasaland, as Malawi was called to the British colonial era, and was besides a teacher.

The poet and composer also dealt theoretically with the traditional music and poetry of Africa. In 1967 he gave a lecture in Malawi acclaimed A Talk on Tribal Music

Sauka, who died in poverty in 1990, has never received any compensation from the government of Malawi for composing the national anthem. His family tried unsuccessfully for many years with the Government to a severance payment.

Effective history

Michael Saukas work belongs in Malawi to the important cultural assets. His musical and poetic work is hardly known in Europe. The rumäisch - German musicologist Alexander Sumski sought the attention Saukas outside Malawi. Sumski gave Saukas four-part choral work in G major Mchona ( " The Emigrants " ) out.