Malawi Prisoners Recieve Surprise Grammy Nomination; Album Funds For Legal Representation?
The Zomba Prison Project's "I Have No Everything Here" scored a surprise nomination in the Best World Music Album category, according to Rolling Stone.
The most unexpected nominee is a group from Malawi and they are both male and female prisoners in housed in maximum security. The prison that they are in is dilapidated and crammed, revealed Al Jazeera.
"The idea had been fermenting for quite a long time," said the producer behind the project, Ian Brennan. "Wanting to not only to give voice to people who are under-heard or underrepresented internationally, but also to go even deeper into some of the most under-heard and underrepresented people of these populations."
The Malawi prisoners sang in the language of Chichewa and are behind bars for a range of crimes from theft to murder. Others are jailed for "more questionable" offenses like witchcraft and homosexuality.
"My belief is almost everyone is musical and I think that people that are under-heard have even more to express potentially," shared Brennan, who took on the project knowing it would not earn money.
Brennan is an American and a Grammy-winning producer. He is known for his commitment to bring musicians ignored by the mainstream industry, international exposure.
"For a group of unknown individuals to get nominated is shocking," said Brennan to the Daily News. "It's beautiful."
Released in Jan. 2015 via Six Degrees Record, the 20-track album is the first ever from Malawi to earn a Grammy nomination. Out of the 20 songs in the LP, 18 were written by the prisoners themselves and their album was recorded with the most basic equipment.
The songs were recorded in less than two weeks during the summer of 2013.
Funds raised by the Zomba Prison Project went to legal presentation payments for the prisoners in the album.
Since "I Have No Everything Here's" recording, three female prisoners have been released.
Brennan explained that anyone from Malawi involved in the album, will most likely not be able attend the Grammys which is happening next year, on Feb. 15.