Dennis Liwewe Radio Commentary

[Paul]

Perhapsmany keen followers of the local league football commentaries on National Radio are familiar with voices of Leonard Chibasa and Patrick Nyangulu. Yes, to the older generation, their commentary style bring back to life the voice that has literally driven Zambian Football to where it is now. The voice of iconic Football Legendary Commentator, Dennis Liwewe.

Wherever the Zambia National Football team travel to games Liwewe was always available to give his followers all the updates. Football fans would troop to a live football match with a radio and listen to his commentary, while those watching by television would turn down the volume on the TV set just to match live pictures to his dramatic superlatives.

Born on 22 May 1936, a trained teacher Liwewe started his journalism career working as a junior reporter for the mining newspaper known as the Nchanga Drum in the mining town of Chingola in 1971 when he joined the mining conglomerate Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines (NCCM) that was run by the Anglo-American Corporation.

Liwewe was later moved to Public Relations department as a PR officer and was later transferred to Lusaka as director of media and public relations of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM). ZCCM was an amalgamation of NCCM and Roan Consolidated Mines (RCM).

Dennis Liwewe breathed and ate football, football was Dennis Liwewe. He was Mr Football. In an interview with BBC correspondent, Kennedy Gondwe, former Zambian President Rupiah Banda was shocked to learn of the death of his personal friend.

Liwewe will be remembered for his radio commentaries that were so lively that people including former President Kenneth Kaunda had to carry radios to the stadia whenever Liwewe was running the commentaries.

His saddest football moment was the loss of the entire Zambia national team off the coast of Gabon in April 1993, a flight he was scheduled to be on. The loss of the entire national team took a toll on his health as his blood pressure rose such that medics advised him to scale down on radio commentary and football.

Philip Denis Liwewe was born on 10th January,1936 in Malawi,and moved to Zambia in 1960 to join Nchanga weekly Newspaper a newspaper owned by mines before he later joining Zambia Consolidated copper mines under the capacity of Media director and public relations. He was also a teacher by profession

Commentary in football is a descriptive,detailed and well analysed account of what is happening with the aim of enriching viewers or listeners with capturing and crispy moments and knowledge. The aim is to give viewers and listeners a live feeling so that they experience the frenzy by driving all their attention to the event.

He took time(years) practicing in the bush and in the shower infront of his unamused wife. All this was done with the idea of him trying to find the right rhythm,identify the gaps in the commentary circles and meet the expectations and demands.

He understood the formations of football,knew the profiles of players. He knew their ability and what they could do with the ball when placed in a particular area of the field. He knew the strength of each player in the Zambian national team setup thereby giving him accurate prediction of the outcome of each move. Knowing the demands and expectations of soccer fans and also knowing the strength and weakness of each player and giving correct predictions and opinions made him win respect from everyone.

He could enter Independence Stadium when it was filled to capacity and whole stadium would give him a thunderous roar as he waves his arms back at them and immediately the atmosphere in the stadium would be electrified. He carried with him an aura of power and hypernormal.

The football fans would come with radios to the stadium and glue them to their ears and if Kenneth Kaunda is in attendance,his bodyguard would carry him a radio. People at home,clubs could turn off the volumes of their TV sets and turn to radio to hear Denis Liwewe who could make them picture the football event, out of this world really, as he made them focused to the match.

He could give detailed and yet catchy description of the event exactly as they are happening as he could interprete mood,read moments,architecture the pace with a clear blending vision. He was a master of his voice

Not all Zambian national soccer team matches were so entertaining but because he could command the entertainment in them,he made people who were there to believe and who have never watched the Zambian national of then who at the time were young or were not born believe that all Zambian national soccer team matches were so entertaining. He stamped command on the game.

Had a huge impact in Zim too up now our commentators like Charles Mabika and the late Evans Mambara imitated him but never surpassed him .he had an impact on me personally we used to chune into radio Zambia for commentary

In Zimbabwe, we have had our fair share of good football commentators and in this article I pay tribute to them. A word of caution, it is not possible to discuss everyone in detail, I will focus on a few outstanding ones but also give honorary mention to the rest.

Football commentary is an art which needs to be mastered. It is also entertainment and listeners and viewers can fall in love with a particular commentator. A good commentator can therefore enhance the quality of a match. There are tricks to the trade and like in any other profession a set of rules have to be followed.

According to John Motson, the legendary British commentator who has worked for the BBC since 1971 presiding over 1 500 matches, a good commentator relies on an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game and knowing when to deploy that knowledge.

Fundis on this subject also argue that the golden rules on bias, clarity of speech and decency must be followed. The expression of racist, sexist and homophobic sentiments should be avoided at any cost. Those who have failed to subscribe to these rules have found themselves out of a job.

Swearing is also out of order though it sometimes happens and apologies are made. One other trick is to keep the commentary simple and to remember that the most important thing is the match itself. The commentator should not be the main show although I have to admit that commentators can add entertainment to the match.

Just to put this discussion into context, let me visit our neighbours Zambia. The country gave us Dennis Liwewe who is regarded by many as the Godfather of football commentary in Africa. Liwewe had a deep knowledge of African football in general and Zambian football in particular.

Earlier, I highlighted the attributes that are expected of a good commentator. Yes , the man has an encyclopaedic knowledge of football, a good understanding of history and a good grasp of statistics. His voice does not offend the ear. But does he pass the litmus test on bias?

This I think can be contested.ManyintheZimbabwefootballfraternitysuspecthimofbeingacloset Dynamos supporter. Charles however disputes this stating categorically that his allegiance lies with Middlesborough, a club which hails from the North East of England. I leave the reader to make their own judgement. What I know however is that he has his own favourite players and he can easily get carried away when eulogising them.

One would have thought that Okocha was doing Zimbabwe any favours, but no, the nation was being taught a football lesson as Nigeria won 3-0. To have your chief commentator literally worshipping at the feet of the tormentor in chief did not go down well with many.

Some fans claim that he was disciplined by his employers for this. I could not verify this without talking to the man himself. Suffice to say on this occasion the legend failed to draw the line between football commentary and hero worshipping, a small blemish on his illustrious long career. Over and above, he is indeed a very good commentator , one of the best from Zimbabwe.

His best moments were with the Zimbabwe National Team and with Black Rhinos Football Club. Due to his military background, he resorted to military metaphors which he deployed with generous abandon. He turned the football arena into a battle ground.

In the vernacular language, Shona had Mukoma Choga Tichatonga Gavhure while Ndebele had Inglam Nyathi, Kingsley Sibanda and later Eric Knight and Ezra Sibanda. These made commentary such a joy on radio.

Let me talk about Mukoma Choga Gavhure. The man had a close realationship with the fans, players and the listeners. He shared inside information which made the listeners understand the match better. However what made Mukoma Choga an outstanding performer was his mastery of the Shona language. People listened to him not just for the football but also to enjoy the language.

Offside as hupfu musauti, kumhanyira kuseva vamwe vasati vaseva, bhora rasvika kwamvura yacheka makumbo meaning the match has ended, Ndarova nzira..i am going. This was classic Mukoma Choga, he made Shona football commentary such as joy.

Inglam Munyati and Kingsley Sibanda provided the Ndebele commentary. Through them I was able to learn one or two Ndebele words . The commentary was enthralling and how I regret that I did not learn more of the language, I would have enjoyed it more.

Indeed as posited earlier in my other articles, Zimbabwe football history is a rich terrain with so many topics for exploration. This task will not be complete without capturing those who brought us the game first on radio and recently on television. Their contribution cannot be undervalued, this article makes a small contribution.

A mark of the vocal prowess of the late Dennis Liwewe is perhaps best summarised in one simple but poignant example: whenever a football game involving Zambia was being televised and Dennis Liwewe was doing the radio commentary, the automatic reaction was to turn off the volume on the television and turn up the radio. When Dennis Liwewe was commentating, you actually needed no television. His voice alone brought a life to the game that completely captured the imagination. It was the poetry; the passion and the penetrating purpose in his voice that made you not only feel as though you were inside the stadium itself but that you were an integral part of the game. His voice had the unerring ability to take you to the soul of Zambian football at a time when our national brand and style of sportsmanship was at its very best.

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