Being a government lawyer and at the same time a very popular singer/songwriter and entertainer Victor Kachaka is not your average Zambian. In court he speaks the Queen's English and in his songs he uses the local Zambian English that children are told by their teachers not to talk. He says he has no problem combining his different roles:
My songs are a get away from my serious character. I am a very serious person and a serious lawyer...On stage I am the exact opposite.
But then again his songs are also serious:
I may joke I may exaggerate things but it goes down to an important message.

The Lawyer and his robe

Viktor Kachaka performs very much in an African tradition, although his songs are modern. Using exaggerations and jokes to communicate a general message is part of African tradition. His musical language is maybe more influenced by the style of Bob Dylan than that of rappers. Talking about Dylan he says:
In Africa we believe in storytelling so I was attracted by that style of telling a story, although I tell the story in my funny English. But my songs actually are based on social issues.

The main focus of his popular song It is true (.wav format 790 kB, KUC MC102) is speeding on the road and on accidents with minibusses. The message is that people should drive carefully. About things that can happen when you are in a vehicle. It also contains bribery and robbery issues. As you can hear in the sound sample they are stopped by the police and have to pay some money, and the vehicle is stolen at a gun point. There is an accident in the end and that is when people start saying "It is true".

Before he gives the caution to be careful what you do on the road he tells a story about somebody who was on the road and what happened. People has to refer to something that happened before they are ready to listen to his caution. The rhythmical flow of the song is very African.

Victor was also talking to us about the problems performers are facing not having a music industry in Zambia:
Musicians are forced to do everything. You are the songwriter, composer, do the recording, you are your own manager. You have to run these tapes, you have to even do the sales. We need an industry so that I can focus on what I know best, that is compositions of the songs and the recording. Let others do the rest.

Victor is hoping that a music industry will be established in the near future and he has seen some positive changes in the last 2-3 years, like:
- The copyright act is in place. Earlier he saw his tapes coming from Tanzania as pirate tapes being sold on the streets. As you can see on the cassette cover at the top of this page he signs every copy of his tapes in order to be able to see if a tape is legal or a pirate tape. Through the copyright act people are now more aware of piracy.
- There is now a National Art Council.
- They will soon have an Award Ceremony for musicians, which hasn't happened for the last 10-15 years.

Victor Kachaka and our guide Mike Tabor