Organise calendar events, make cultures equal
Good people, something big happened in the shadow of Hora Mountain, Mzimba, on Saturday when Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture Kondwani Nakhumwa billed the Umthetho Cultural Festival, one of the country’s top places to go.
The minister announced that government has finally come up with a calendar to signpost people to cultural and artistic attractions happening across Malawi.
Someone really needs to put sanity in the way festivals are scheduled.
But no amount of words brings order. It requires more action than sweet talk.
Remember, government spoke of the calendar almost five years ago when Sand and Moonrock festivals happened the same weekend on the gorgeous beaches of Lake Malawi.
We heard it again last year when Sand Fest coincided with Blantyre Arts Festival and the rescheduled Likoma Island’s.
Maybe the only improvement the calendar needs is to make it work because the clash of dates severely inconveniences festival goers who do not want to miss a thing. Hearts may be willing to be at two gigs, but everybody can only be at one place a time.
Put sanity in the festivals that promise a heart-warming breeze of music pure and good as our feet plough into golden sands of the stunning shores of Lake Malawi, our noses gulping the chaste air sweeping from the goose bumps of the vast water body. It’s not just a place to go, but a thing to do without divided attention!
The festivals include Lake of Stars, the globally acclaimed tourism event which pays homage to the niceness of the sprawling treasure that is the continents’ largest lake.
By the way, you don’t need the weather department to see summer is here and the adventurous want a little fun.
Condolences
Having said this and that, condolences are in order to all affected by the death of Mulhako wa Alomwe chief executive Bright Mangulama this week.
The death of the custodian of Lomwe heritage comes a few days after president Peter Mutharika told thousands at Umthetho every tribe needs to preserve and promote its culture.
Just like that, the president outcropped the legacy of his brother, Bingu, by distinguishing himself not as a father of one culture, but all tribes in the country.
Malawians, who have seen some tribespeople deluded to think their culture is superior to the rest, heard the president affirm all culture are equal and beautiful.
Nothing seems to say “we are created with different cultures not to be different, but to beautiful like a bed of multi-coloured flowers” better than announcements of Mangulama’s death MBC which were voiced over a famous Tumbuka dirge, Bati Mweee (Eloyi), not a song from the Lhomwe belt the fallen culture warrior served without disparaging other tribes.
It was a sign that cultures need each other, just like our gogos in the village keep ‘borrowing’ salt, matches and relish from each other. May his soul rest in peace. n
