A new album of Malawian roots music is the inaugural release of a new record label from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). A collaboration with California label Hen House Studios, Mass MoCA Records released the Kasambwe Brothers’ self-titled album today, and you can hear it below.
The Kasambwe Brothers are a band of four decades, based in the Ndirande township near Malawian capital Blantyre. They found their way to a Mass MoCA residency with help from Hen House and Luc Deschamps, the director of the Jacaranda Foundation and France’s honorary consul to Malawi. Watch a documentary on the making of the album, which involves collaborators from the Massachusetts music scene, below. Clement Kammwamba is the artist behind the cover painting.
Mass MoCA Records will operate in tandem with the museum’s curatorial ethos, a press release notes, and is running as a three-year pilot. Museum director Kristy Edmunds said, “By joining forces with Hen House Studios and being able to tap into the remarkable number of music studios and intimate venues in the local area—the ingredients for a hand-made record label were all around us. I see this label as an extension of how we innovate to support the mobility of artists’ ideas and connect audiences the world over.”
Harlan Steinberger, the producer and engineer behind Hen House, added, “Though technology today can work wonders, the digital world has de-humanized us. I believe in an older-world method that emphasizes the magic of a band making music together in one room, playing off the creativity of the moment. The humanistic approach creates a deeper emotional listener experience that can not only be heard, but also felt.”
An album from Compton jazz artists Black Nile will follow in 2026, the press release notes.
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