The Lake of Stars festival in Malawi has grown from humble beginnings in 2004 to attracting nearly 4,000 music-lovers last year. Its organisers now hope to launch similar festivals elsewhere in Africa, in a bid to help change perceptions about the continent and attract more tourists.
I met with company director Will Jameson, who explained how he launched the three-day Lake of Stars festival in 2004, after returning from a gap-year in Malawi determined to do something to help the country. “I was so aware of the imbalance of what you read in the press about Africa’s problems, compared to the reality. Yes there are poverty and HIV and education issues, but I also saw a lot of positivity and hope,” he told me.
Will ran a Liverpool club night called Chibuku Shake Shake, named after a Malawian beer, while he was a student, and held the first Lake of Stars festival in Malawi in 2004, with local and international acts including Andy Cato of Groove Armada. Subsequent years have seen BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac and Mary Anne Hobbs, The Maccabees, Foals, Noisettes, Beverley Knight and Basement Jaxx’s Felix B perform, alongside top African acts such as Malawi’s Black Missionaries.
Will describes the festival as “joining the dots between tourism, events, the arts and charity”. In 2010, it generated $1 million for Malawi’s tourism industry, and reached 200 million readers and listeners through media coverage. Following successful meetings at World Travel Market, Will’s events and communications company, Bokamoso, is now in talks with representatives from Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Ethiopia. “People have only heard of Rwanda because of the genocide; I believe music can change that by creating a new, positive story. Ethiopia has one of the most thriving jazz scenes in the world but nobody knows about it,” he says.
“There are so many artists who’d love to play in Africa but have never set foot there. Rather than celebrities coming to Africa to hold a baby or cut a ribbon on an orphanage, why not perform at music festivals where they can really raise the profile of the country, and also celebrate the continent’s own artists?”
Lake of Stars packages have been sold by STA Travel and Black Tomato in previous years, and the festival has received sponsorship from Kenya Airways. Bokamoso is looking for tour operators and agencies interested in working together on the 2012 festival.
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