Dostoevsky, in House of the Dead, wrote that the character of a society can be judged by entering its prisons. It would not be fair to lay the horrors of Zomba Central Prison—overcrowding, malnutrition, HIV—on Malawian society: it’s one of the poorest countries in the world, and the gap in well-being between free people and prisoners is probably narrower in Malawi than in most other countries. But maybe we can revise Dostoevsky and say that the hope of a society can be judged by the character of its prisoners. The inmates of Zomba make music. Masterful, heart-wrenching music. Music about death, sin, fatigue, longing, forgiveness. Their musical virtuosity should not be mistaken for personal virtue. Some of the singers have done terrible things (and others have done nothing except be born poor). But it’s hard not to hear their songs and believe, like children do, that no one is beyond redemption, and that there is something akin to character, to morality, within a melody. Some of us are good people, and some of us are good songs. Who is ready to judge that one of these is worth less? 10
Zomba Prison Project. I Have No Everything Here. Six Degrees Records, 2015. Reviewed October 12, 2024. Notable tracks: “Listen to Me (Or I Will Kick Your Ass),” “Please Don’t Kill My Child,” “I See the Whole World Dying of AIDS,” “Forgiveness.”