Lake of Stars 2011

I am aware that most of my latest entries have borne a reference to a similar period from last year. In fact I can predict that if I stayed here once more year, the same would hold true for next year’s entries around this time. Yet this in no way makes me reluctant to write about them again for fear of repetition. This time of year is momentous for me in Malawi and each year it represents a climax, with very different elements to it. The work climax that recently was has properly made way for the post-climactic chill which could find no better embodiment than this certain festival known as the Lake of Stars. This year’s event was an entire journey starting as a post-nightshift blues on a typical sequence of public transport modalities (taxi, minibus, matola). Having worked from 7.30am the day before to noon the same day, clearing up an unexpected theatre list, I was ready for a major showdown. So was Janet, equally saturated with work over the last few weeks. Despite having had to cover the last 20 or so Km in the back of a pick-up truck in pitch black darkness, and then get accused by the driver and some drunk conductor of damaging one the windows, once we reached the place, it was like someone had reset the time to start from scratch in our minds. Within seconds, we were captured by the spirit of the festival. This remained so for the next 48hours where every minute was simply unique. Now I don’t go on describing festivals from the UK with such exuberance, despite probably being more excited about some of the main acts on show. But when you have sun, sand, a cool lake and funky laid-back people in abundance, it almost doesn’t matter what music is on offer for you to have fun. Now imagine the prospect of still having great music with all these ingredients! Could you blame me for banging on about it?! Now for the geeky bit- my favourite acts this year. Take note. From Malawi, all the regular crowd pullers were there: Maskal, Lucius Banda, Theo Thompson, Dan Lu and Black Missionaries. But it’s the new discoveries that always stand out and this year it’s a band called Mafilika that really dazzled me, not just for their talent, but for the fact that this talent was in the genre so rarely heard around here which is ROCK! Yes Mafilika rocked and indeed reassured me that somewhere in everyone, there is a dormant rocker waiting to be awoken. Another beautiful discovery was of the 79year old acoustic artist called Giddes Chamalanda, who simply eased me through a somewhat dreary mid-Saturday state of exhaustion before the major line up. His original take on classic and original rock blues was just great. My excitement at seeing the main Malawian singer I was waiting for, Maskal, was unfortunately tainted by a slight incident in which I got pick-pocketed of my phone. But that doesn’t lessen the quality of his performance, hyped by an impressive advertising build up from his sponsor distributing free T-shirts and all. And that brings me to the next band I wanna talk about: The Very Best! Not the very best name for a band by far, but the elements that made it up were fantastic, namely a Swedish DJ, an English rapper and a Malawian hip-hop singer, all complete with dance troupe. Again the publicity from free T-shirts flung into the crowd worked quite well. But above all the music was very original, and you must believe me because I am very partial with this genre. As for the international line up, this is the bit I get most excited about, because you hardly get such a diverse mix of origins in a UK festival (even though I’ve never been to Womad- so hold me back on that one). Here there must have been a good 10 countries represented, each with a special twist to their music. Rwanda was represented by Sophie, playing a string instrument called Inanga, Namibia by a troubadour reminiscent of Tracy Chapman, by the name of Shishani and Kenya by a most energetic designer/singer called Liz Ogumbo. England was definitely there in the bodies of Mercury Award winners of this year: The Foals, which is probably the longest uninterrupted metal rendition Malawi has ever heard in its history. The fact that I didn’t exactly connect with them straight away is quite telling about how distanced I’ve grown from this style in my time here. However I was reminded there about how much I do miss it. Again from England we had soul queen Beverley Knight, whom I’d never really attached any memorable songs to before... until last night of course. She was just brilliant. It makes such a difference seeing what they call a Diva performing in front of you, as compared to hearing it from a tape or disc. I now admit there is an incredible talent in getting a human voice to do such things. There were also acts from the US and France that I missed. Now for what I considered the cream of the International line up, an international band in itself, who alone would have justified my cross-countrying all that way to the festival: Freshlyground. This was in many ways a new discovery because I only got listening to them in the build-up to the festival, apart from a few faint snippets I’d had from other people’s musical selection before. The band is from South Africa and they literally took me back there in the tantalisingly electric spirit of the world cup. The musical scene I discovered there had significantly marked me and I’ve been sampling more and more music from that country. Last night’s addition will remain on the playlist for a while to come now. The band is real encounter of artists and instruments, not least of which is the amazing voice of the main singer. The guitarist, a Mozambican, particularly stood out for me and gave that final eclectic quality to the band. So look out for them if the name is new. To wrap up, I’ll just have to mention one last artist, who is not a singer in the precise use of the term, but without a doubt an expert lyricist. Lake of Stars like all good festivals had more than just music on show and the guy I’m gonna talk to you about added an incredible sense of brilliance to the poetry scene this year and he goes by the name Q Malewezi. His style is his own creation and defies any attempt at classification, however intent I might be at rounding him up with the slammers. I do insist, probably more than for the set of musicians I’ve described above, that you go and look him up! And better still watch him perform (Blantyre Arts Festival next week). So that was the Lake of Stars in a more of a watermelon- than a nut-shell! But this event is so exciting that one can’t help recounting it other than with the most elaborate descriptions. And I assure you, even so, I’ve missed out loads more. Sophie wih Inanga

Local instruments

Freshlyground

Iwes

Hattrick!!!