Beer fest brings lilongwe to a standstill

Beer, music and food! That isarguably the best summary of the Lilongwe Beer Fest over the weekend at theLilongwe Golf Club.

For three days, the venue gave the first-hand experienceof how much Malawians love their beer.

The venue survived three days of nonstop heavy trampling and foot-thumping of thousands of revellers who turned up for the event.

From Friday evening, scores of fans from all walks of life began converging at the Lilongwe Golf Club with artists Sangie, Piksy, Fredokiss, Anthony Makondetsa and Black Missionaries turning up with exhilarating performances.

South Africans are better known as best dancers in the southern Africa region.However, whatever dance moves the rainbow nation has invented of late, Malawians did that with perfection and more during the fest.

Talk of the Vosho and Gwaragwara; fans proved how just good they are at the game of squatting and kicking at the same time to the rhythm or gyrating and booty shaking. They did all this as if it was a contest.

Even though weather forecast some patches of rain drizzles, still, hordes of merrymakers came out for a night of party.

By 2am, the fans, mostly the youthful generation, had done justice to thousands of beers as witnessed by empty bottles that littered the ground but the party continued.

With Saturday starting on a slow note with Carlsberg social tournaments, the day picked up later in the day with DJs Maya and Nathan Tunes turning the magic on the decks.

Then, fashion met more music and beer drinking when seven up-and-coming fashion designers battled it out for the Booster Fashion Award.

House of Jadel by Adam, Wala designs, House of Tavarri and Bruce by Bruce from Lilongwe, Mizu and House of Tendai Blantyre as well as Van Weedae from Mzuzu who came with ready to wear couture.

But at the end of it all, it was Bruce by Bruce who reigned supreme on the runway and his prize was a free professional fashion shot.

Thereafter, it was jamming sessions with Lulu, Edgar ndi Davis, Skeffa Chimoto and Lucius Banda with his Zembani Band.

Meanwhile, long queue of motorists stretched out of the Lilongwe Golf Club’s entrance down to Area 3 Police Station, with fans eager to be part of the fun.

With the fun spilling to the early hours of the Sunday morning, it was set to continue with performances from Golden Moon band, Patience Namadingo and Mizu Band.

Fans, who attended the event, described it as one of the best ever.

“I came here thinking I would only spend a few hours. Here I am, a day later,” wrote a reveller Martin Kaisi on Facebook.

Another one calling himself Kingstone said the beer fest was well planned and gave variety to all who attended it.