Mrs Gome Nyasulu has died. The prolific composer of most Dorcas songs, gospels and spirituals died peacefully early this morning.
She was an octogenarian senior citizen.
Gogo Gome Nyasulu with Nsewa dorcus group
Gogo Gome Nyasulu was awarded a medal of excellence by Bright Malopa’s our people our pride in 2011 for her incredible and exceptional achievements in the service of others through the composition of music for the Dorcas in her church.
Her songs are today classic gospels in many churches too.
In her reaction to the death Mrs Egolet leader of the Women’s ministries (Dorcas) in MALAWI expressed shock on the death but urged believers to emulate her selfless service to her church , community and country.
Burial arrangements will be announced by her family later.
Biography of Mrs. Etherine Nyasulu, Gogo Gome Nyasulu
Mrs. Etherine Nyasulu was known simply and affectionately as Gogo Gome. She was born in Kapolo, Karonga, Malawi in 1928 as the fourth of six children. After a few years of schooling in Kapolo, her brother (Late Pastor Samson Mfune) insisted that she go with him to Malamulo College for school. She attended Malamulo and it’s at Malamulo where she met her husband to be, Kennedy Nyasulu. Kennedy and Etherine were married in Rumphi in 1949. They had five children: Marilyn, Edgar, Donald, Frazier and Tapiwa.
After marriage, she and her husband taught primary school at Luwazi Mission, Nkhatabay. Except for Tapiwa who was born at Mzimba, all her children were born at Luwazi Mission. Not discouraged by the responsibilities of taking care of her family, she studied via correspondence and eventually enrolled and completed an accounting diploma at Solusi College, now Solusi University in Zimbabwe. Upon returning to Malawi, she worked as an accountant for Lunjika Secondary School in her native Malawi. The couple transferred to Mzimba, Blantyre and back to Mzimba before retiring in 1991. Kennedy and Gome make their retirement home in Mzuzu, Malawi.
Gogo Gome’s love for music made the family into a singing family. Gogo Gome had no formal training in music. She did not write or read music nor did she know how to play a single instrument. She composed music, mostly spiritual music, by formulating a tune, formulating the lyrics and then recording the song on a small portable recorder. She composed over 300 songs in a space of 20 years. It was as if upon reaching church, you discover that an entire hymnal was composed by one person. That was remarkable. Unfortunately, she did not record her music and so the popularity of her music is less than what it would be had the music been recorded and made available for sale. Many of her songs are widely popular in her native Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church, other churches in Malawi and now her music is spreading very rapidly into the neighboring countries.
She composed music as a means to praise and worship as well as a means to spread the gospel. Much of Gogo Gome’s music was born of the pain of losing three of her five children, Donald (1989), Edgar (1996) and Marilyn (2003). Interviewed on TV Malawi a few years ago, she indicated that her greatest desire was to record her music with her children but that was before the death of Marilyn.
Gogo Gome Nyasulu with Senia (great Grand Child).
Because of the mode with which the songs spread (word of mouth) very few know who composed the songs. Some musicians have recorded her songs and have claimed that they composed her songs. Urged by friends and relatives, Gogo Gome is now in the process of copyrighting her songs. With the help of those in the know, she in the process of transcribing her compositions into a music format, staff notation. Until then, this web site simply has the lyrics to her songs. As one might guess, this is quite a challenge given the number of songs she has composed. Her composing abilities are so respected that people and organizations come to her and ask her to compose for a specific event. Examples are the Luwazi Mission 75th year anniversary, the HIV/AIDS prevention drive by the coalition of churches in the northern region of Malawi and the Malawi SDA Union millennium celebration.
Gogo Gome was one of seven people who attended Malamulo honored at Malamulo’s centennial cerebration. She was the only living honorary recipient and she was honored primarily for her music.