Nyasa Music Festival in second coming

Organisers of the Nyasa Music Festival (NMF) say they have learnt lessons from their maiden event held in Blantyre in April and want to make improvements.

Nyasa Music Group, who are also behind the Nyasa Music awards, have announced the second coming of the two-day festival, which will be held in Lilongwe from October 26.

According to an official announcement, the festival, whose venue will be announced on September 1, will be headlined by 10 international acts which will be fused by local artists. South Africa-based Malawian producer and composer Gemini Major will be part of the cast.

Nyasa Music director James Makunje Jnr in an interview said they have worked on all the complaints relating to the Blantyre festival and they are hopeful to deliver what the fans want.

“We had a lot of problems about the pricing. This time we have made the prices friendly to all segments lower, middle and upperclass. We have also increased the number of performing artists to give people more to look forward to,” he said.

Makunje refused to call their maiden festival, which was held at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, a flop, saying that as organisers they were impressed with the turnout and performances.

He said: “I cannot call it a flop. Minus the pricing issues, we also felt the effects of the Easter holiday as some of our potential clients had gone away for the long weekend. The work we have done so far looks amazing and we should make a grand return.”

Rapper Fredokiss, who performed during the maiden festival, said away from the gate prices which prevented most people from attending the event, the festival was a success.

Fredokiss said: “Maybe what the organisers need to do now is to make it more affordable to many. It will still give them huge profits if well executed.”

During the Blantyre event performers such as Busiswa Gqulu, Dj Kaygee The Vibe, AKA, Nasty C and Dj Noxx rocked the stage.