Sand Fest beefs up headline acts
Sand Music Festival organisers have beefed up the list of international headline acts for this year’s event following the addition of four more names.
Sierra Leone’s artists M.I.C, Future K, Rox P, and Reggae Sisters from South Africa join the list of headliners announced last week.
Zimbabwean DJ Stavo, who has performed at the last two festivals, will also be making a return to the SandFest platform. The Sierra Leone artists will be accompanied by one of the country’s top DJs DJ Jesse.
Sand Music Festival director Lucius Banda said the acquisition of more international artists fits into SandFest’s mission of creating a fine diversity that aims to satisfy a wide range of patrons. He said they are pleased to get the artists on board as the festival is a cosmopolitan that caters for varied tastes.
He said: “The fact that we are hosting artists from West Africa for the first time in the history of the festival shows that we are growing. We are able to attract attention from across the world which for us is a big plus.”
The South African music trio, Reggae Sisters, is expected to bring both a feel of freshness and experience owing to its impressive pedigree, having performed alongside some of the biggest names in reggae music both as backing vocalists and independent performers.
On the other hand, Sierra Leonean rapper, songwriter and producer M.I.C is currently riding on the popularity of his chart-topping single Panda. He is one of the most talented young rappers in Africa, having received the 2017 best new artist award in the Teens Nation Awards.
The additional headliners join the list of acts which already has names such as Jamaican reggae outfit King Sounds, Botswana’s Vee Mampeezy and Zambia’s B1 which were unveiled last week.
Music critic Sam Chiwaka welcomed the addition of the four artists, saying it will provide an alternative for some people who may not be keen followers of the other acts.
He said: “We need to applaud the efforts of the organisers considering that Sand Music Festival is a pure local initiative. We can only hope that the corporate world will come in to offer support as well.”
