Lake of Stars a lesson for Sand Fest

Good people, Lake of Stars Festival is gone and the countdown to the Sand Music Festival is underway.

What happens in Vegas is supposed to end in Vegas.

But Lake of Stars is an offside spot for pilgrims indoctrinated to believe the puritan maxim: see no evil, blah, blah, blah.

What happens at the festival usually winds up on showbiz pages of newspapers and other media products.

Most importantly, what happens at the country’s oldest lakeside carnival offers the brains behind its fast-growing offshoot, Sand Festival, numerous lessons on everything not to do when putting together an entertainment event on the dazzling shores of Lake Malawi.

Looking back to the gruelling three-day musical holiday by the waters of the country’s topmost tourism attraction in Nkhata Bay, the shortlist of don’ts cannot be short indeed.

Certainly, the return of South Africa’s Freshly Ground, a group that lit up the festival’s nights a few years back, was not the biggest hit of them all, but digging history.

They are no longer the same. Only archaeologists digging the past and height of a one-time band would dance and smile all the way to exhumations of an act that has lately released no hit worth the buzz and spotlight the diverse group was supposed to hog by headlining one of the globally-acclaimed festivals.

But the remedy is simple:  let sleeping artists lie. Sadly, simple rules are not simply simple for all.

If you think Freshly Ground were out of place at the calendar event where patrons expect newer and better beats, the news of Senzo coming to headline Sand Fest would be like a dinosaur springing back to life today. Senzo!

The mention of Senzo and Sand Festival leaves one feeling that it is just a matter of time some show organisers invited David, the soother of King Saul, back to life.

The Rasta Wake Up hitmaker has been in slumber far too long to be the main act anywhere beyond his hometown.

It is pleasing to hear that the farcical flirtations with this Senzo of theirs are no more. Good riddance.

Now, Sand Fest has roped in Diamond Platnumz from Tanzania. Yes, patrons need neither diamond nor platinum, but music worth every penny.

Will the Tanzanian artist explode like dynamite and sparkle like a northern star at the festival where Jamaican dancehall ace Busy Signal wowed thousands of the hardest-hearted fans last year?

The difference is probably the major reason to attend or not to attend the festival once envisaged to bring reggae hothead Sizzla Kalonje this year.

Aside…

I am hearing some people suffered food poisoning at the Lake of Stars. At least, nobody died of it.

Expectedly, the festival organisers quickly distanced themselves from allegations of laxity in ensuring food sold was fit for human consumption.

They did as much when a youthful patron drowned in Lake Malawi at the same festival a few years back.

But blaming the revellers and voiceless communities surrounding the festival ground solves nothing.

The festivals are prized tourist attractions and it is perilous to leave them to their devices. They need to be regulated because leniency puts thousands of adventure-seekers at the risk of disease outbreaks and deaths.

The Department of Tourism, which is quick to shut down tourism businesses because of poor food handling and unsanitary facilities, must wake up to its duty of ensuring that all foodstuffs and latrines are up to standard before and throughout these festivals. n