By Durrell Namasani

One of the pioneers of Reggae Dancehall Music in Malawi ,TearGas has died. The announcement was made by another Veteran Dancehall artists Anne Matumbi when he posted on his Facebook page.

TearGas , whose real name was Leonard Chongwe was dominant in the Ragga scene in the late 90’s making his first breakthrough on Ragga Street, a music programme that was aired on MBC Radio 2 by Tailos Bakili aka DJ Tai B. After releasing so many singles that include the hit “oneness” which was done alongside Anne Matumbi, The Late Dr Lizad and San B as part of the group called DAST

TearGas eventually dropped his first full album that included the hit “Warn Dem Still” which enjoyed alot of airplay

Writing his tribute , Anne Matumbi wrote

“You are gone but you will still be unforgettable to Malawi Dancehall fraternity, In 1998 we used to enjoy your Caribbean accent with Tailosi Bakili on Radio 2fm every Friday in the Ragga street show, I can’t forget our first session at MC studio with Chuma Soko and then we formed a group called DAST which was named after our names Dr Lizard, Anne Matumbi, Teargas and San B, we did one song by then “ONENESS” and it was all over the nation”

Other old-time dancehall Artis have also shared their tributes. Chalo Mvula aka Lover Cham said the death of TearGas is a blow to all Dancehall music lovers as he was a legend of the game , a pioneer who paved the way for most of the other artists.

Stanley Mthenga of the Mphinji na Mkazache fame wrote “TearGas was huge talent but humble and was also a friend to me. Everytime we met we had good chat and discussed music. We encouraged each other to push on in our different genres. He is the one who introduced YouTube to me and he uploaded two of my songs onto his channel around 2012. Fare thee well jezzman”

Dr Lizad young brother Manasseh Chisiza aka Ostrich wrote “We talked a lot last year… possible projects and the like… and since this year started we haven’t talked n just to hear the sad news. I always see my late bro in his friends. Recalling the days of DAST and Ragga Street with Tai B… and the songs; oneness, praise him de fada and afraid of HIV in Lizad’s albums…rest well my bro… you were a rare talent”

For year TearGas took himself out of the music scene to focus on other things in life. He told journalists at some point that he took time to learn to play music instruments and learn music production. He resurface again in 2010 when he worked on an album called
Reporting for Duty which was produced by Tiya Chalamwendo. By this time TearGas had changed his style from hardcore Ragga to singjay dancehall style.

Details of his funeral will be announced later