Freshlyground rekindle fond memories
The Lake of Stars 2016 was a two-fold celebration: the homecoming of the festival to its roots and the second coming of South Africa’s Freshlyground as headline acts.
It was time to rekindle memories of the early years of the festival when it first graced the powder-fine sands of Chintheche, Nkhata Bay in 2004.
Things have changed a little bit on the beach at the venue where lowering water levels in Lake Malawi have left rocks exposed on the shoreline, but that was not a setback for the North to partake of the fun they last experienced in 2007.
Climaxing the fond memories was the performance by Freshlyground who last graced the event in 2011, their first ever public performance in Malawi, on Saturday night.
Since then, the group has only been in the country for the Wired for Sound Music Project they have been implementing in Karonga, Monkey Bay in Mangochi, Mchinji and Nkhotakota to unearth and promote raw talent.
With Zolani Mahora on vocals, the group went straight to business, reminiscing the good ole days when Waka Waka, Doo Be Doo and Pot Belly were hits topping various music charts.
Waka Waka, the official theme song of the 2010 Fifa World Cup done with Shakira which was also performed at the pre-tournament kick-off concert, could be thought to be a fading song. However, the group’s performance proved that some songs are for eternity.
Even the old and, almost, forgotten Doo Be Doo itself was a song incarnate. The group, of course, was not equipped with the old songs only. They performed some of their recent hits such as Army of One and Don’t Leave Me, among others.
The group’s diversity, with musicians from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, helped it produce a musical magic that was highly infectious and undeniably groovy.
This time, they were joined by Malawian beneficiaries of the Wired for Sound Project Boniface Mdzanja and Shaibu and Pitani Pitilosi, performing together a few songs.
“Something of peculiar we noticed this year was the crowd response. It was very good tonight. It was nice to see people jumping up and down. We had a good time,” said one of the group’s members Simon Attwell. n
