By Ben Kangwa
For
close to 50 years, he was known to the listeners first as “Matinko” and later
“Matty P”, the fun loving, energetic voice on the Zambia Broadcasting Services
(ZBS) English Service. But to his dearest family and friends, he was Matteo
Phiri, who had a dream – a dream that one day he would dedicate his life to
informing and educating his listeners through entertainment. A dream that one
bright day, he would own and run his own radio station. A wish fulfilled in the
establishment of 5Fm Radio after he set sail on a familiar broadcast voyage.
Along
the way, he would face unpredictable winds, rough waves and uncompromising
storms. With patience as his virtue, he would carefully steer the ship with a
sharp eye avoiding the unseen obstacles to safe landing at the final port of
call on Longolongo Road.
I met
“Matinko” through radio as a young secondary school student like many others of
my generation. I listened attentively to the “Schweppes Show” co-presented by
“Matteo Phiri” (as he was known then) and Mannasseh Phiri. It was all about
language, chemistry, jokes, laughter and sighs….. all well scripted. The other
programmes were “Bata Spotlight and Pick-A-Lot”. I would eventually present the
Pick-A-Lot under the tutelage of “Matty P” years after he had left ZBS.
I
talked jazz, a subject he loved so very much. My other elder brother Dr. Mannasseh
Phiri would talk rhumba and world music. Together, we would spend long weekend
hours enjoying South African Township jazz, contemporary jazz, the big band
jazz, jazz funk and smooth jazz. If not, we would spend time trying to decipher
some phrases in rhumba sung in Lingala or French – languages we were really not
good at, save for some help from friendly forces who were familiar with the two
languages.
As the only young broadcaster of the two, I
would be cross-examined on some recorded programme I had presented on radio and
given guidance on how pronounce certain word, how to write a radio script how
to compile genres of music or how to time music at the beginning of the first
groove and all the tricks that a young broadcaster should utilize on the air.
Such was the test I had to undergo before I was baptised in the league of extra-ordinary
gentlemen of broadcasters.
We
became a broadcast family and over the years lived through some of the most
creative moments of Matteo on radio. I have not been shy to “gang up” a few
individuals who, in the course of the new broadcast age interacted with Matty
P.
Take, for instance Dr. Mannasseh Phiri, a
Radio and television personality, a Health Practitioner and a HIV/AIDS Activist
who says,
“I met Matthew Phiri(then) in 1966 or 67
sometime – through an ex-schoolmate who had just joined ZBS. They shared a
house # 9 Kalulu Street in Libala Stage 3. He had recently arrived from
Southern Rhodesia. I immediately became a fan of this sharp knowledgeable DJ
and during school holidays, I attended “live”radio shows he hosted and called
in to his “call-in”shows. His mastery of Soul Music, Pop Music and Jazz was
only matched by his influential command of the English language.”
Matthew
Phiri stimulated in Mannasseh Phiri great love for music and radio broadcasting
that in July, 1970, when Mannasseh completed “A levels”, he no longer wanted to
study medicine. “ I wanted to be a radio announcer like Matthew Phiri – who had
now become a very close family friend, if not a brother. In September 1970, I
joined the Zambia Broadcasting Services as an announcer and was placed under
Matthew to “shadow” him on and off air and learn the ropes. I was in high
heaven learning from the best!”, he adds.
Mannasseh
says Matthew set very high standards of quality, accurate and informed
broadcasting for himself and all around him – researching his subjects
thoroughly and scripting every word he would speak on air.
It
should be remembered that Matthew played Soul and Pop music but clearly loved
Jazz most. He actually played a jazz guitar like a virtuso – and would
comfortably take over lead guitar when invited by bands like the Broadway
Quintet, Lusaka Radio Band and Afromods.
His
sense of humor was unmatched even in those early days in the 70s. He told jokes
on and off air so comfortably. “He changed his radio name from Maththew
(pronounced ‘Methew’) to Matteo (pronounced ‘Ma-te-yo). He became “Matteo the
Phiri Boy”. In a snazzy fast-talking show we did together in 1973-1974 – the Scweppes
Show, I was Mannasseh the other Phiri Boy”, proudly says Mannasseh.
From
the Phiri Boy, he became “Matty Nko”for a while before finaslly settling on
“Matty P’. Looking back, sometimes he took his sense of humor to the edge. He
tested and dared the system, for example when he opened his shows with “Mamas
and Papas, lock up your daughters! Matteo the Phiri Boy is in back in town!” Only
he could get away with gimmicks like that. He was the “Swing King! The musical
host who loves you most!” And at one time, he boldly called himself “The
Godfather of Radio” and no-one disputed.
Matteo’s
dream was to own his own radio station one day. Says Mannasseh, “He was able to
finally achieve that with the opening of 5Fm…the Happy Day Station…. Zambia’s
first and so far, only adult contemporary music station”.
He
believed and really lived that radio is about spreading happiness. With 5Fm,
Matteo had finally arrived. He could play all the jazz and all the rhumba he
liked.
Mannasseh
concludes by saying that from Matteo, he learnt to love and appreciate jazz
music, while from Mannasseh, Matteo learned to appreciate rhumba music.
“He
was the last one of the true generation of veteran radio presenters of an era
who was still standing. A true icon. Radio in Zambia will never be the same
again.”
Former
Zambia Television (ZTV) personality, former lecturer, Department of Mass
Communication (UNZA) and former Managing Editor at the Zambia Daily Mail, Leonard
Kantumoya says for him, Matteo Phiri was the first superstar DJ in Zambia.
“His
Spinout Show in the mid- 60s was what killed my earlier ambition to be a pilot
and ignited my desire to be a broadcaster. Matteo’s insight into musicians and
their music was incredible. He was a consummate broadcaster. He also possessed
a great sense of humor which found expression in his trademark one-liners and
clean but funny jokes. We mourn the loss of a broadcast colossus whose memory
will last a long while.”
As for
Mike Daka, CEO and Chairman of Breeze Fm Radio, former Director of the Zambia Institute
of Mass Communication and former Director of the Zambia News Agency (ZANA),
Matty P found his purpose in life by using radio to inform and entertain people
for a very long time. He also sadly adds, “His death marks the end of an era of
natural broadcasters who used their talents to make radio a popular people’s
medium of communication.”
While
Edem Djokotoe, Journalist and Media Consultant, reminisces, “I heard about
Matteo Phiri at least three years before I actually met him and to be honest, I
was not disappointed and that is because he was as irrelevant in the flesh and
he was on radio as the gregarious, mischievous host of the “Pick-A-Lot” Show.
He would always start his show with a warning, “Mothers, Matty P is in town, so
lock up your daughters!” And then he would go into his own personal archives
and share some choice anecdotes about people he knew, places he had been to,
events he had witnessed or things he had heard. It was often difficult to know
what was true and what he had made up just for the laughs.” Not that he cared.
He would get always get away with it with the aside, ”Don’t argue – you were
not there!”
Former
ZNBC Director-General Chibamba Kanyama says Matteo Phiri lived by his calling –
broadcasting to masses using radio as a medium. Chibamba further says Matteo
never thought television had the power of creativity suitable for mass
entertainment. He says Matteo adopted a style of communication that worked well
for him and his fans. He was original, agile and flexible.
At
personal level Chibamba adds, ”He taught me that paying attention to little
things in life shaped a man. His shoes were often times extremely immaculate:
even in July when Zambia is windy and dusty. I decided to learn from him and
have never looked back.” He concludes by saying, “I urge all those that worked
and lived with Matty P to learn from him the principles of independence, hard
work and fun.
Vernon
Mwaanga, a former Minister of Information, a former Editor-in-Chief of the
Times of Zambia and former CEO of Lightfoot Advertising says Matteo was a
consumate professional media practitioner who dedicated his life to electronic
journalism.
He
adds that Matteo believed in true values of his profession to inform, entertain
and educate in a fair and balanced manner.
Mwaanga
says Matteo had infectious sense of humor which he put to good use and which
won him the acclaim of many admirers through- out Zambia. It was working for
Lightfoot Advertising Company, which later became Fleetfoot Advertising Company
that once again gave him prominence to present the much anticipated
“Pick-A-Lot” programme on behalf of the National State Lotteries Board.
“He
would crack jokes like ‘Our correspondent in Chipata has reported that a snake
bit a whitch-doctor and the snake has died!” Mwaanga adds.
The
former Minister of Information also says, “Matteo belonged to a legendary
league of broadcasters of yesteryears who set the bar high for objective and
entertaining broadcast journalism in Zambia. My hope is that there will be a
new crop of broadcast journalists who will emulate his quest for journalism
excellence and take it to a higher level.”
Matteo
was put to rest on 23rd December, 2015 at the Memorial Park Cemetery
in Lusaka. There had been a mixture of jazz (Hugh Masekela’s Nomali and Frank
Sinatra’s I did My Way) and some Catholic gospel tunes by the Catholic Women’s
League Good Shepard Choir both at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and the
cemetery. To spice it all, dances from the Ngoni dancers at the entrance of the
church and at the cemetery added to a good Matty P’s celebration of his life. A
fitting send-off and tribute to the legacy of Matteo Phiri, the great
extra-ordinary electronic journalist, who brought laughter to the homes of many
adoring Zambians.
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The writer is a broadcast journalist/Media consultant
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