Gasper Nali & Band + Luhangah
- Date
- 4 June, 2025
- Start time:
- 19:00
- Venue Name
- Portland Arms
Description
"His music is simple but joyous, and totally infectious" - Songlines Magazine
"His songs are moving to hear and a spectacle to watch" - Evening Standard
Gasper Nali is a not-so-traditional babatoni player from the small town of Nkhata Bay on the shores of Lake Malawi. The babatoni is an African one-string home-made 3-metre long bass guitar, and with a stick and an empty beer bottle, together with a cow skin kick drum and catchy melodies, he creates the most amazing and danceable original Afro Beats possible!
Gasper's unique style of Kwela music has received an extraordinary amount of online attention after a video of him playing by the lake shore went viral with over 20 million views. He has been featured by CNN and in the documentary "Deep Roots Malawi", jammed with Joss Stone, appeared on Wired for Sound - Malawi, remixed by Aroop Roy for Sol Power Sounds and been played by Iggy Pop on BBC 6! His debut album, "Abale Ndikuwuzeni", roughly translates to 'People, I want to tell you'. It is a fitting title as Gasper's songs, all sung in the Malawi national language of Chichewa, talk about life and strife in the country, often including social issues such as the rich and the poor, child marriages etc.
Accessibility at The Portland Arms
The Portland Arms has been awarded Bronze on Attitude is Everything’s Charter of Best Practice, for its commitment to being accessible to Deaf and disabled music fans
Step-free access
The main entrance of the Portland Arms is not step free. There is one step up into the venue. However, there is a step free route available via the courtyard. There is signage to this entrance available from the front door. If you plan on arriving before the gig, please let us know where possible, so we can make sure the courtyard gates are open for your arrival.
Accessible toilets
The Portland Arms does not have a wheelchair accessible toilet at present, we do however have an agreement with the Student Castle complex next door so that customers can use their accessible toilet on request. They are situated around 30 meters from the main bar entrance. Please contact a member of staff on arrival so we can ensure Student Castle front desk know to expect you.
Moving around the venue
Given the age of the venue, some of our doorways and corridors are quite narrow. The main bar front doors have a small step and have an access width of 69cm. Our rear fire door to the corridor and bars is 85cm wide and the corridor has a minimum width of 90cm. Access to the venue space is through a large gate and double fire doors and ramp.