AW: That’s the dream and you deserve it! Tell me about the title of the album, Warm Heart of Africa.

EM: Malawi has been called the Warm Heart of Africa since we got independent [in 1964]. It’s something that comes from within. Malawi is the Warm Heart of Africa. One of the reasons is that Malawi has never been involved in any kind of war, like civil war, since we got independent. And also we just had a free general election a couple of months ago. You know, Malawian people, they are so friendly to visitors. They are so welcoming. It is because of this hospitality and friendliness that makes Malawi the warm heart of Africa.

AW: How did you and Radioclit meet?

EM: My shop used to be in between Etienne and Johan. So when Etienne goes to the studio to work with Johan in his house, he used to pass by my shop. So he became one of my usual customers. When I got any new stuff, he was one of the first customers to have a look. He’d grab whatever he likes. One day he came and bought a bicycle for his girlfriend, and that’s when we started talking about music. He discovered that I was a percussionist. Coincidentally, he had a housewarming party the same night, and he invited me to go to the party. That’s where I met Johan. And we started discussing African percussion. [Johan] invited me to his house, so I went to his studio. [But] I turned out to be a singer, not the percussionist he was looking for. He thought I was like a traditional African percussionist, but I play no more drums anyway. So I wasn’t the one they were looking for. For some reason, he got interested in my voice because he was kind of pulling some tracks on his laptop, and I was just humming on top of them. He said, “Can I try something?” That’s how we kicked off.

AW: Is that how your process with Radioclit generally works? Do they give you beats and then you see how you feel about them?

EM: It works in so many different ways. Sometimes I come up with my own, as well, sometimes they give me, sometimes I tell them this one works for me. I just know that they’re good for me.

AW: So it’s a real collaboration?

EM: Yeah, it depends. [They] might give me a beat, and they might change it one way or another just to adapt to my ideas as well.