Jetu defies old age

In Blantyre’s Bangwe township a hitherto incognito granny is shooting to stardom at the ripe, prime age of 71.

In a hard-to-impress society that Malawi is, the trendy up-and-coming Jetu – that’s her stage name – is defying the odds both on social media and at household level; wooing little children, the youth and adults alike with her urban music genre.

Then, there are other sections of society who are just interested to get to know who this woman causing debate on the entertainment scene really is.

This growing show of interest is not surprising considering that by going into music, Jetu whose real name is Christina Malaya is “breaching” tradition when many would have expected her to be at home; telling folktales to her grandchildren.

One other interesting aspect is that while her fellow older persons are suffering abuse, torture and even death following false accusations of witchcraft; Jetu is endearing herself to a society that has all of a sudden become unrealistically hostile to persons with grey hair.

How it started

Jetu’s music journey began with short TikTok videos of her singing out her name in the company of others.

“Iwe ndi ndani? Iwe ndi ndani? Ine ndi Jetu…” (Who are you? Who are you? I am Jetu…)

Those videos then produced a song that soon made her popular.

What has been achieved so far?

Through an initiative by local socialite Dorothy Kingston dubbed; “Empowering Dreams at Any Age,” Jetu now owns a piece of land courtesy of Eagles Real Estate Consultants.

Jetu is also set to have her first-ever passport courtesy of Chi Chi Beauty Parlour. The travel document is being processed to help Jetu travel the world as a performer rather than an old, frail and desperate woman in need of medical or other such attention abroad.

While established musicians and other artists struggle for weeks and months to get many views of their social media content, the trendy celeb granny has, through her Chakwaza song, smashed the records after it became one of the quickest music videos to hit over 800 thousand YouTube views within at least 12 days of it being uploaded on the platform.

Meanwhile, Jetu continues to be booked for live performances including social weekends in various colleges and universities.

Many corporate brands are also riding on her back as they strive to market and make themselves visible to the public while also offering her support.

Is this sustainable?

Obviously, that’s subject for another day but at least here we have an old woman who is living her life in modern times while earning something out of it.

Jetu is a good example to her fellow grannies that old age is not a ticket to begging on the streets in rags. Her rise to stardom is proof that one can use oneself to make people have a different view of them!