The festival season is back. Two weeks after organisers of Lake of Stars International Festival, Blantyre Arts Festival and Sand Festival announced the return of their annual events, organisers of Mwezi Wawala International Art and Theatre Festival, a fiesta that combines theatre and other art, have said their gig will be held in August.
A press statement released on Monday says the festival will be hosted at Nanzikambe Arts Café in Blantyre and will run from August 29 to 31.
“Mwezi Wawala International Art and Theatre Festival is back with the usual slogan ‘Culture Within and Beyond’. The festival is improving every year and we are able to show some improvements to our patrons. We are starting our preparations early to ensure we maintain our reputation and we are promising for more new things at this year’s festival,” said festival coordinator Vincent Maluwa.
He said they have started receiving applications from artists from within and without the country who wish to participate in the festival. Maluwa said they will announce the names of the international artiststo headline the festival in different categories.
Maluwa said the festival is accommodating applications from artists to perform in theatre, poetry or story-telling, traditional dances and acoustic music categories respectively.
Mwezi Wawala is a Malawian traditional phrase which means ‘the moon is out and shining’ and traditionally it denotes the time to be outdoors at night to play and share some interesting stories.
In the past, during this time, elders used to sit around a fire-place with their children and grandchildren to tell them stories about their cultures and traditions, and Maluwa said the objective of the festive is to remind citizens about the practice, by creating a platform where they can appreciate art.
