The mutolilo brought outside of Chibale

In the article on the mutolilo, we see that long ago it was used by boys and herders. It vanished and then came back into vogue in the 1970s for live pata pata and twist music played at Sandauni. I then vanished again until a revival of that type of music was led by Agripa Musonda in the early 2000s.

Francis Katembo, a student of Agripa, took the mutolilo outside of Chibale. He was born in 1983 in Mulembo, Chibale chiefdom. In 2004, he finished secondary school and went to study in Lusaka. In 2006, while back in Chibale for holidays, he met Agripa Musonda, whom he had heard playing the mutolilo as a small child. Agripa made him a mutolilo and began teaching him how to play.

The method he used was to play a short melody and make me produce the same sound. It was very hard for me at first. I used to tell him that maybe my fingers were not meant for the task. He encouraged me to continue practising and said it was normal to experience the frustration I was having. He said the interest I had would teach me and that he was blessed to be my teacher. He confessed that he was scared to die without teaching someone his talent. He did not want to go to the grave with his talent. […] He challenged me to surpass him. He told me that a good student is supposed to outdo his master.
Francis Katembo ∵ personal communication, 2022.

After that, most of the teaching continued via telephone. The lessons went on until Agripa died in 2007.
Francis continued practising using the recordings he had made of Agripa’s playing.
On a trip to the Caribbean for his studies, he played the mutolilo to promote African music and culture.
In 2010, he began making recordings of his own music using the mutolilo.

Music example 87

Excerpt of a recording called Wecibusa (You, friend) by Francis Katembo playing the mutolilo, 2014.

At present, while working in Lusaka, he teaches children to play the mutolilo.