World of entertainment moves to Malawi: Lake of Stars

Over the past few months, Malawi might have hogged the limelight for bad reasons. But come October, musicians and tourists from across the continents will grace the majestic beaches of Lake Malawi, with the likes of African music maestros Freshlyground featuring in front of thousands of revellers at an event dubbed the Lake of Stars Festival.

Will Jameson, the founder of the Lake of Stars, agrees that Malawi has been known in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and beyond for bad reasons.

“All you hear about Malawi is famine and sadness. No one seems to realise how much fun and happiness there is here,” he said.

Jameson said the festival starts on September 30 and ends on October 2, on the palm-fringed shores of Lake Malawi, at the Sunbird Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi.  At least 3,000 tourists from within the country and across the world are expected to grace the occasion.

Fun time: Lake of Stars festival

The choice of the venue couldn’t be any better – Lake Malawi was recently ranked as one of the world’s fourth and Africa’s most beautiful lake by an influential international tourism magazine, Budget Travel.  Such news was picked by leading international travel news media, including Yahoo Travel, who featured the item on their website.

The magazine, which offers worldwide travel guides, travel tips, and advice on trip planning, recommendations and tour guides, among other things, describes Lake Malawi as the world’s only lake to have a freshwater national park.

In position one globally, according to Budget Travel, is Lake Crater in the United States of America (US) followed by Lake Peyto in Canada and Lake Taal in the Philippines.  Lake Malawi is fourth while and Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is fifth.

Jameson told local radio, Capital FM, that the intention in setting up the festival seven years ago was to bring some much-needed attention to the unarguably positive aspects of this country – the music, the natural beauty and the people.

“As the festival evolves, its outreach into the community is also growing,” he said.

According to the Lake of Stars website, in 2010 the festival generated $1,000,000 (P7,314,060) in forex.

Dishing out the music during the festival will include South African-based Freshlyground, known for their collaboration with Shakira for the 2010 World Cup hit, Waka-Waka.  Born in 2002 and operating from South Africa’s tourist capital, Cape Town, the group – with diverse nationalities from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, will undoubtedly be a must watch for the audience with their music, a fusion of rock, jazz and afropop.  This is their first ever public performance in Malawi.

“This year we are really excited to have one of the world’s greatest live acts, Foals, headlining the festival. Foals are fresh from playing a selection of the world’s most prolific festivals this summer to incendiary reactions, so it’s only natural their next stop should be what Q Magazine has described as the “finest festival in the world,” says Jameson in a press release.

According to Lake of Stars festival organisers, other international artists and DJs include New York-based Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio Brings, Goldierocks is Sam Hall; DJ, presenter, and party planner du-jour and experienced BBC Radio 1 Xtra DJ Gemme.

Nyasa Times 30 Sep, 2011

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Source: http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/09/29/world-of-entertainment-moves-to-malawi-lake-of-stars/
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