Malawi’s copyrights body to honour artists

Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) will use the Bwalo la Luso Arts and Cultural Festival later this year to award the grandest creative minds in the country.

Cosoma is organising the festival in collaboration with associations which represent musicians, photographers, theatre practitioners, journalists, book publishers, writers, filmmakers, poets and folk dancers.

According to festival publicist Francis Tayanjah Phiri, Bwalo la Luso will be an annual celebration of talent and the theme of the inaugural edition aims at consolidating artistic diversity.

“This will be an ongoing event to be celebrated annually. This year, the artists will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of Cosoma,” said Tayanjah.

The event will run for five days at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe starting November 26 to December 1. However, deserving awards will get their accolades during the shutdown gala on December 1.

“The festival will have action-packed performances and there will be presentation of awards to Malawian artists in various sectors. We believe that Malawians will take this opportunity to appreciate local talent,” he said.

Funded by the Royal Norwegian Government, the event will feature a unique diversity of traditional dances, including gule wamkulu, ingoma and vimbuza.

There will also be music performances, visual arts exhibitions, poetry recitals, drama, sensitisation marches and workshops.