Born NELSON SHABA in Blantyre, Malawi, Born Afrikan is a Reggae musician, performer and director of Born Afrikan Productions. He started music at a very young age at Kindergarten, Sunday school church services and also played with his Uncle who had a band in the rural area of Elangeni Village,Mzimba District, Malawi. Their band instruments consisted of guitars made out of empty gallon containers and drums made out of cow skins and my favorite instrument was the drums. At this time he was only around 7/8 years old and besides the influence Sunday school church sessions and his uncle’s band, Born Afrikan listened to the radio a lot (MBC) Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, run by the state. At that time it was the only radio station in the country.
He grew up listening to RnB, Reggae, Hip Hop, Pop, Country Music, Rumba and Traditional Malawi Music. Growing up as a teenager in the city of Blantyre, Born Afrikan attended a lot of teen time Rap/Ragga sessions and was greatly inspired. After completing his secondary school studies he decided to give music a shot and saved up some cash and traveled to South Africa with the hope of recording and releasing his music. Things did not happen as he had planned cause life in the big city of Johannesburg (South Africa) proved tough and in order to make ends meet, He did odd jobs and informal trading of goods while still sharpening his skills by going to clubs where there used to be open Mic Sessions.
Through the passage of time Born Afrikan managed to buy some music equipment of which helped him to start performing with a Band in different venues. In 2007 Born Afrikan independently released his debut album under his company BORN AFRIKAN PRODUCTIONS. The album was received well but was not ever given its true attention. Ten years later, the album: THE PAST PRESENT & THE FUTURE was re-released worldwide on all digital platforms after securing a distribution deal with VPAL.
Born Afrikan has travelled and performed widely in his adopted country SA and his native country Malawi and also in Swaziland. He has shared a stage with bands like Tidal Waves (South Africa), The Internationals (Belgium), 340ml (Mozambique), Jamaican Reggae Stars Sizzla Kalonji, Luciano, Fantan Mojah, Morgan Heritage,Bushman and Luciuos Banda (Malawi).
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