Pakhonde Festival excites Chingalire
After its successful launch on Friday, the three-day Pakhonde Ethno Music Festival, which ended Sunday at Chingalire Cultural Centre in Lilongwe, maintained its entertainment package by treating people to different performances, which included a slot from Chingalire Cultural Troupe and Ben Mankhamba.
As hosts, Mankhamba and Chingalire Cultural Troupe gave the audience perfect performances that showed that there was massive talent in rural areas.
The festival, which is aimed at preserving and promoting culture, had a moment where it celebrated the life of rapper Martse, who died recently, with a DJ playing a number of his songs.
Football lovers were also accommodated on the second day, with a Champions League game between Liverpool and Real Madrid on the big screen.
Apart from enjoying performances, the audience had been enjoying local food.
Some of the artists that starred on the second day and put up explosive performances include Lusubilo Band from Karonga District, a band that continues to prove to the nation that it has more in its tray, Lulu and Mathumelo Band, who also performed at Sand Music Gospel concert at Lilongwe Golf Club the same day.
Lulu once again proved his prowess when he delivered an exceptional performance that kept people on the dance floor throughout.
There were also performances from Kadembo from Chingalire, which offered a traditional dance known as Mganda, and Ethno Malawi Music Band involving artists from Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique and the the Democratic Republic of Congo and created their sounds through a camp they held from last Sunday to last Thursday ahead of the festival.
Apart from music, people also sampled a fashion show from Zanji, a brand by Wenafwi Mwase, daughter to the late veteran actor Frank Patani Mwase.
Wenafwi, apart from exhibiting her designs through her stall, decided to display her designs through a fashion show.
“I am using every space available to reach out to people and, again, I thought my brand augurs well with Pakhonde Ethno Music Festival,” she said.
Solomonic Peacocks in partnership with a theatre group from Germany took advantage of Pakhonde on the second day to conduct a theatre workshop ahead of their collaboration performance this coming Friday at Jacaranda Cultural Centre in Blantyre.
The festival, driven by Music Crossroads Malawi in partnership with Chingalire Cultural Centre and Festival Institute, has since announced the dates for next year, which is May 26 to 28.
