Glitches as Blantyre Arts Festival stutters

The Blantyre Arts Festival (BAF), despite having allocated sound check activity on the schedule, disappointed fun-seekers with their technical sound glitches that kept on delaying performances on several occasions.

The sound problems also ended a Friday live performance by Skeffa Chimoto and his Real Sounds Band when they had just started giving out the track that is proving to be a hit, Sekelera.

This was after they had sent the crowd on cloud nine with several hits, including Nabola Moyo, Dalitsani Okondedwa Wanga and Amayi Anga.

In an interview, BAF executive director Thom Chibambo attributed the Friday sound disruption to an electrical fault and said it had nothing to do with the equipment that was being used.

The festival, described by some fans as the worst ever, was lowly patronised on Friday with a commendable size of audience on Saturday.

Chibambo said the low patronage was due to poor publicity on the organising team’s part.

“The patronage this year is low compared to the previous years because publicity was not up to the standards we would have wanted. Although we took an initiative to put up posters, we did not have massive adverts in the media as we only advertised with MBC, Capital Radio and Nation Publications Limited,” said Chibambo.

He said they did not have enough finances to allow for massive advertising to cater for other things they had to bring in the corporate world.

The poetry on Friday left fans craving for more as only four poets; Joseph Mazeze, Tobias Kunze from Germany, Hudson Chamasowa and Alfred Msadala took to the stage.

After the poetry session, the small audience was given a reason to smile as Nanzikambe Arts were given the stage to give the audience The Blood Knot.

The patronage on Friday was also mesmerised by Daughters Band from Lilongwe, Muhanya and Dikamawoko Band and Munya from Zimbabwe.

Saturday, which had an increased patronage compared to Friday, was fun-filled too with displays from Kendo Performance on the main stage.

After Kendo’s performance, several poets such as Yankho Seunda and Tobias Kunze, Menes from Democratic Republic of Congo, took over the floor dishing out their recitals with technical problems disturbing a few.

From poetry, came musical performances by international artists such as Soul Samvaad and Papa Fluer.

However, a performance by Namibia’s Sishani was delayed by the sound problems as the fans had to wait for close to 15 minutes before the singer could start giving her set.

Chibambo said Sishani’s performance was delayed because the technical team forgot to plug in one important cable, which they later did.

Chileka maestros, The Black Missionaries, who were billed to be the last performers on Friday, did not make it as they were reportedly attending a relative’s funeral.

Solomonic Peacocks and Fraulein Wunder Ag also showcased their play on Saturday night.

Apart from the performances, there were also workshops, exhibitions and discussions happening at the festival that started on Thursday with a street carnival, school presentations and animation filming.