Lake of Stars back to light
Good Malawians, a suspected beginning of the end of Lake of Stars was just imaginary after all.
This Friday, the globally acclaimed arts festival returns to Sunbird Nkopola, Mangochi, on the palm-paved shores of Lake Malawi after a two-year break.
During the hiatus, fun-seekers have come to agree with Chikondi hitmaker Skeffa Chimoto that the so-called Lake of Stars is not what the likes of Liverpool-born Will Jameson bring to the shores of Lake Malawi, but the waters of the continents third-largest fresh-water lake which Malawians call their own.
This is the glistening water-body Scottish missionary Dr David Livingstone termed Lake of Stars in 1859.
Yes, the lake was equally sparkling when entrepreneur Will was a volunteer in the sugarcane fields of Dwangwa, Nkhotakota.
Yes, its stars did not fade the day that volunteer flew back to England with a packet of Chibuku Shake-Shake to found a dance club name after the opaque beer.
Neither was it less starry when the Britton returned to launch Lake of Stars started his famous festival at Chintheche Inn, Nkhata Bay in 2002.
Yes, Lake Malawi was still Lake Malawi throughout the 10 years the festival had been running until 2012 when Will and company packed their bits and pieces for a recess only they can justify to the fullest.
Needless to say, they left the lake behind when they flew away from these shores.
Today, the lake is still out there, welcoming the world of Lake of Stars Arts festival-goers with the vastness of its gleaming sands, waters and warmth.
But Will and company are not ultra-capitalists cashing in on the Warm Heart of Africa and its lake. What the festival has achieved in growing Malawi’s music and tourism industry shows how Malawians have failed to market their treasured beauty!
When the music returns to the country’s prime tourism attraction, it is always an encounter with two worlds like no other—a meeting of natives and their visiting counterpart both on stage and in the audience.
Besides, Lake of Stars has come to symbolise the finest in terms of event management, marketing, team play, commercialisation of the arts and making tourism simple.
Let the show begin!
