Poet Dark Shadow real name, Christina Kamwendo, finally launched her album Lost at Summer Place Gardens in Blantyre on Saturday night.
The launch, which attracted a sizeable audience, delayed to start due to rains.
Organisers Ngoswe Event Management led by Angali, who is also a poet, shifted the launch to indoors due to the rains but after the rains had stopped, they decided to push it back to the garden on the night.
But despite the delay, the launch went on as planned with a number of curtainraisers including short musical performances by Episodz and Classick.
Unlike Episodz who also collaborated with Dark Shadow in one of the verses it was a different story for Classick, showed questionable behaviour on stage.
Veteran poet Alfred Msadala was billed to perform during the launch but he was not available.
Dark Shadow’s album is a mix of poetry and music hence the presence of Classick and Episodz, who feature in the collection.
Angali, who was also the host, also offered her short poems as she drove the launch and she ushered the headliner to the stage.
Dark Shadow was welcomed on stage with cheers as she went about the business of sharing her story through the poems.
She did not perform for long but tried her best to give people some of the numbers which they would sample in the album.
“I am excited that finally I am launching this album. I would like to thank all of you for showing up to support me during this launch. I ask you to buy the album and sample my works, there is just so much which will appeal to everyone,” Dark Shadow said.
The poet also has another album to her credit titled Revelations which has singles such as ‘Dear Mama’, a poem she wrote for her mother.
“I have grown so much with my poetry from 2016. It has been a beautiful journey. So, this album, Lost, is a collection of poetry that I hold so dear to my heart and I was trying to go towards the angle of Mental Health,” she said.
In the album, Dark Shadow has also not skipped love as one of the areas and in one of the poems, she talks about her ex-lover.
During the launch, the audience dominated by the youth, also saw a performance from dancer Racheal and performances from other poets such as Khumbolane and William Shumba.
Young people are doing well as far as showcasing their talent in different art disciplines is concerned however, many, need to be serious when they come on stage, as many come unprepared and do not rehearse.
This was observed during the launch with some acts showing signs of lack of preparedness.
Again, poetry needs a listening audience that observes the strict rules but there was that lack of respect for the performers in some moments as some people were completely high on alcohol.
