Epistolary Mourning and the Repressed Unconscious: A Postcolonial Analysis of Selected Songs by Lucius Banda and Mlaka Maliro

This study was conducted to analyse selected songs from Malawi; specifically those done by two artists, Lucius Banda and Mlaka Maliro. Specifically, the study focused on those songs which are in form of epistles. The study analysed the songs using Postcolonial lens, viewing the songs as tools which the artists used to voice out their concerns on the socio-political challenges facing the postcolonial Malawian society. Using Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory, this paper argues that the two artists voice out their repressed desires as they mourn the decay in society caused by the powers that be. The study observes that the two artists use the epistolary form to enable them disguise their message and these songs represent their unconscious minds. It is against this observation, therefore, that the study argues that these songs are a leakage of the unconscious minds of the artists into consciousness, and are, therefore, powerful tools for political and governance criticism.