Lake of Stars call for artists to play City of Stars festival 2013

Lake of Stars are now taking applications for artists to play at this year’s new City of Stars festival, taking place 27 and 28 September in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Musicians, bands, DJs, poets, comedians, and any other artists who are interested should download an application form and return it by Friday 7 June. The form can be downloaded from here.

City of Stars is looking to showcase emerging talent from Malawi and also give African and international acts the opportunity to perform on a unique and exciting platform in front of an global audience – in 2011 the project reached 200 million people worldwide through media. The programme will feature live music, film, theatre, exhibitions and speakers, will promote Malawian creativity and attract international artists and arts practitioners to the country. Read more about the festival here.

Watch Peter Mawanga on BBC’s Africa Beats

The latest episode of BBC’s Africa Beats series, which showcases the continent’s best up-and-coming musical talent, featured Malawi’s Peter Mawanga performing with his band the Amaravi Movement and discussing his musical influences, motivations and aspirations.

Mawanga notes that while a lot of Malawi’s musicians play musical styles borrowed from elsewhere such as reggae and hip hop, the foundation for all his music stems from traditional Malawian rhythms and instruments.

Known as “the voice of the voiceless”, Mawanga says: “What I want to see myself achieving on behalf of my nation is selling Malawian music – what is truly Malawian – outside Malawi.”

Watch the video over on BBC News Africa now.

One Love Bob Marley Tribute Festival in Lilongwe this weekend

This weekend sees Lilongwe once again playing host to the One Love Bob Marley Tribute Festival, with a theme this year of Unity, taking inspiration from the lyrics of Marley’s song Zimbabwe: We come together to overcome the little trouble/to divide and rule could only tear us apart.

Hosted by Sally Nyundo and taking place at various venues across the city, One Love is a celebration of the music and life of Bob Marley, running from Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 May. The legacy of Marley has inspired many Malawians and Malawian musicians, and it is this legacy that inspired the first One Love concert at Chameleon Bar in 2006. The concert then grew into a two day event in 2012, and this year into a four day festival.

Visit the Facebook event page here or below watch Bob Marley performing Zimbabwe at Zimbabwe’s liberation ceremonies in 1980, where it is said the first words officially spoken in the new nation were “Ladies and gentlemen, Bob Marley and the Wailers”.

Lake of Stars Project announces City of Stars festival in Lilongwe

Last week the Lake of Stars Project announced City of Stars, a brand new city-based festival and arts conference in Lilongwe, taking place 27 and 28 September 2013.

The festival is described as a two-day multi-venue arts festival and conference, that will showcase the best in emerging and acclaimed talent from Malawi and beyond. So far three names have been announced:

Glasgow based DJ Auntie Flo, who fuses classic house, disco, techno and electronica alongside afrobeat, kwaito, cumbia, and South American rhythms (check out his excellent mini-album Future Rhythm Machine).

George the Poet, a 21 year old wordsmith from north-west London whose poems tackle the forgotten side of London, mixing social and political comment with humour.

And finally The Very Best, everyone’s favouite global party-soundtracking Malawian/European duo.

Tickets will be on sale from July, with more acts, as well as the venues for the festival, being announced soon. For more info on the festival head over here. Watch the video for Auntie Flo’s I Want To Blow Your Mind feat. Esa below.

 

Lake of Stars are hiring

Lake of Stars are recruiting a Malawi based project manager, to work on all aspects of the Lake of Stars project to deliver their 2013 programme. You’ve got until Wednesday 10th April to apply and interviews are taking place in Lilongwe, Malawi on Wednesday 17th April. If you’re interested have a look at the job description here.

Africa Oyé festival announces first few acts

The first few acts for Liverpool’s Africa Oyé free festival were announced recently, and it’s looking pretty strong already. They are Mokoomba (Zimbabwe) Zong Zing Allstars (DR Congo) and Atongo Zimba (Ghana).

The festival is held on the 22nd and 23rd of June and will celebrate its 21st anniversary this year. As well as music there’ll be workshops in African and Caribbean dance and drumming, capoeira performances, holistic therapies and more.

Watch Mokoomba live at Belgium’s Polé Polé festival below.

Studio Africa Launches

This week has seen the launch of Studio Africa, a campaign developed by Diesel + Edun, and presented to the world with a series of global live events hosted by Boiler Room.

The campaign presents itself as ‘a virtual loudspeaker for a new generation of creative talents from across the continent’ and champions nine African artists working in fashion, film, music, literature and photography.

The Boiler Room sessions were held in Paris and London earlier this week and streamed live. Both shows had lineups that were off the scale when it came to an incredible mixture of both African and Western musicians. It celebrated the exciting creative kinship that has existed between the two over the years, a kinship which we reckon is producing some incredible music right now. Check out clips from both shows below.