Madalitso Band

Madalitso Band are a two-man musical army from Malawi. Yobu Maligwa plays the babatone, a homemade one-string slide bass. Yosefe Kalekeni plays four-string guitar and a cow-skin kick drum. Together they create the traditional Malawian ‘banjo’ sound, and they get crowds beaming with wonder and moving with joy every time they play.

They were discovered busking outside a shopping centre in Lilongwe in 2009, and had never left Malawi until their international debut at Sauti Za Busara in Zanzibar in 2017. Since then they’ve played some 450 shows in 20 countries. Highlights include Glastonbury, WOMAD, WOMEX, Roskilde, Shambala and Boomtown, and this year Edmonton Folk Festival in Canada and Sukiyaki Meets the World in Japan.

Their albums are released by Geneva’s Bongo Joe Records, most recently Ma Gitala (2025). They’ve recorded a live BBC 6 Music session with Cerys Matthews at Maida Vale, and they featured on the BBC’s Glastonbury 2025 coverage, which called them “Uplifting and Vibrant”.

Off the road, Yobu farms, while Yosefe farms and also makes and sells bricks. Their story is told in The Banjo Boys, an award-winning feature documentary. The rollercoaster ride, fuelled by joy, goes on!