Two musicians bridge gap between US and Africa

If musicians Trevor Bystrom and Peter Mawanga were born a couple of decades earlier, there’s a good chance they never would have met. 

Bystrom, born and raised on Anna Maria Island, and Mawanga, born and raised in Malawi, Africa, connected through the power of the internet, and both said they were instantly drawn to each other’s music despite the more than 8,000 miles that separated them. 

People in attendance at Ranch Nite Wednesday on Dec. 18 at Waterside Place likely didn’t know it at the time, but they had the unique opportunity to witness the two playing a rehearsed show with a full band — joined by percussionist Benny Maldonado and harmonist Judit Maldonado — for the first time. 

Photo by Vinnie Portell

For close to five years, Bystrom and Mawanga had to get creative to collaborate. 

That meant using WhatsApp and Zoom to communicate and WeTransfer and Google Drive to share sound files. 

Sometimes that would put them at the mercy of frequent power outages in Malawi that could last up to 10 hours. 

Other times it helped facilitate a blend of music that is hard to find elsewhere.

“(Bystrom) loves reggae music — he describes his music as coastal music — so his influences and his love for African music is so easy to relate to,” Mawanga said. “Even when he first sent me his recordings and I listened to it, I felt like I was speaking to another African musician.

"There wasn’t a huge difference until I realized where he was from. I think our music complements each other. With me bringing traditional instruments, traditional sounds and Malawian rhythms and what it does, it jells together really well.”

Mawanga primarily plays a thumb piano instrument called a nsansi while Bystrom primarily plays the guitar. 

Photo by Vinnie Portell

Bystrom said he has been drawn to reggae African music since attending a summer program at the Berklee College of Music in 2016 where he first encountered that type of music. 

That eventually led him to stumble across Mawanga three years later in his pursuit to find a musician of that background to work alongside.

Mawanga had toured the United States with fiddler and violinist Andrew Finn Magill from 2015-18, which led Bystrom to think, "IIf he worked with that guy, he might work with me, too."

However, those hopes of in-person collaboration were soon dashed when the COVID-19 pandemic struck shortly after they established contact.

Though Covid made performing together impossible, it also cleared each artist’s calendar of any upcoming live shows and allowed them to devote much of their time to their first project — Mawanga & Bystrom, a six-track EP (extended play). 

“We had very similar ideas of how we wanted the music to go, and we gave each other a lot of freedom, so there weren’t many edits,” said Bystrom, who often plays at Lakewood Ranch Main Street and Waterside Place. “He laid down some stuff, I laid down some stuff, and he’d be like, ‘Maybe change this,’ and I’d go, ‘Yeah, I hear that too, I didn’t see that.’”

Bystrom and Mawanga finally met in person in August of 2022 when Trevor and his wife, Katrina, went to Malawi on their honeymoon. 

It was there that Bystrom and Mawanga first performed together. However, problems with power outages and sound problems in the studio meant those performances were limited.

That’s what made Dec. 18’s performance at Waterside Place such a breakthrough moment for the two, who made the most of their first live rehearsal together.

Mawanga is set to return home sometime in early January, but those hoping to experience his music in person could likely have a chance to do so in the near future. 

“I’m starting my U.S. tour again, possibly next year,” Mawanga said. “I’m basically doing the groundwork, and letting people know that I’ll be coming back.”