City of Stars announce first Malawi acts
City of Stars Festival, the Malawi Arts Festival taking place on 27 and 28 September at The Sanctuary Lodge in Lilongwe, has released the first Malawi acts for the event, following three exciting warm-up events in Lilongwe over the weekend.
A statement from the organisers issued on Tuesday indicate that Malawi’s Esau Mwamwaya and London-based Swedish producer Johan Hugo will be headlining City of Stars as The Very Best, following their latest release, the Lilongwe-recorded album MTMTMK which features collaborations with Bruno Mars and K’Naan.
The Very Best have toured the US with Grammy Award-winners Mumford & Sons, and will be gracing the City of Stars stage with Yadi.
Confirmed Malawians on the bill include one of the country’s best reggae artists Sally Nyundo, lead vocalist for Konkalazi, Sirius, and singer-songwriter Jaco Jana.
The infamous wordsmith Q Malewezi and poet Yolanda Kaluma are also among the first confirmed acts.
Other international acts confirmed include Glasgow DJ Auntie Flo who will bring his unique afro-futurist sound, encompassing classic house, disco, techno, electronica influences alongside afrobeat, kwaito, cumbia and South American rhythms.
Congolese rap artist and slam poet Menes also joins the line-up alongside London spoken word artist George The Poet, who was recently described as “the hottest name in spoken word” (The Guardian).
The City of Stars Lilongwe Launch Party took place at Zanzi on Friday where CDs were given to hundreds of fans with music from City of Stars confirmed acts.
The event also featured a draw for the winners of #LLWin3words, the competition to sum up Lilongwe in three words.
Winning entries include: STRONGLY UNIFIED DIVERSITY (Eric Mayombo), CRAZY, HOT, UNFORGETTABLE (Sam Clack), JUST FEEL FREE (Reagan Ndelembo), and WARM HEART’S HEARTBEAT (Telva Jenkins). The top three entries, randomly drawn from a shortlist by Menes at Zanzi, have won two City of Stars tickets, dinner for two at The Sanctuary Lodge and The Living Room respectively.
On Independence Day, City of Stars will launch the #MWin3words competition (Malawi in Three Words) on Facebook and Twitter.
