Pre-Winter Party dwarfs Blue Elephant

Blantyre’s popular entertainment joint Blue Elephant on Saturday proved too small a venue for Entertainers Promotions (EP) Pre-Winter White Party.

The venue was completely transformed. The snow, smoke, fog machines and the moving heads all combined to create a unique atmosphere that has rarely been experienced at any live musical event locally.

Originally the list of performers only had Lucius Banda, urban music up-and-coming songstress Tuno and DJ Mask as the main headline acts for the night’s events. But the surprise appearance of Chileka reggae band Black Missionaries changed the whole complexion of the event.

Entertainers Promotions director Tonderai Banda, in a pre-event interview, indicated that the artists’ performances will be limited to three or four songs as their intention was just to give fun lovers a taste of what they should expect on July 26 when they finally hold the highly anticipated 30th anniversary All-White Winter Party.

But this too was never the case as performances spilled over to the early hours of Sunday. Sensing that the venue would not accommodate the crowd as patrons  kept flocking in, the organisers and management of the venue were forced to close the entrance.

Tuno was the first to get on the small make-shift stage. After her performance, Lucius Banda took charge of the proceedings and gave out some of his best compositions from over the years.

His stay on stage, which saw him perform 12 songs, ended around 2am. That was the moment when the night’s surprise package Ma Blacks stepped on stage much to the delight of the patrons who had thronged the place.

The Chileka-based group performed four songs which included Sitidzagwada, Mwala Okanidwa and one-time party anthem Tidzingocheza.

In a post-event interview, Fumulani said their appearance was a way of showing support to EP for their forthcoming 30 years anniversary celebrations for everything that they have done in promoting local music.

“As you know, by the time the celebrations will be held we will be outside the country. So, we thought it would be proper if we came in to show our support tonight and to assure them that our thoughts will be with the EP family,” he said.

The show was part of preparations for the entertainment outfit’s 30th anniversary celebrations.