Kabula Festival, led by Kabula Diaries, finally delivered its second edition at Echo’s Park in Blantyre over the weekend.
The festival, which debuted last year, attracted over 60 acts from artistic disciplines such as poetry, music and fashion.
On a weekend which hosted several events across the country, revelers braved cold nights to grace the two-day festival.
On Friday, the fiesta suffered a setback at the 11th hour when South African artist Mawhoo failed to show up due to what the organisers described as a missed flight.
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The artist released a statement later, through her Mawhoo Entertainment, saying she regretted her inability to perform at Kabula Festival on Friday night and that the development arose as result of travel hindrances.
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Despite this, the festival went on as scheduled, with local acts giving out their all on the first day.
Some of the artists that kept the not-so-huge audience on its feet on the first day included Lulu, Joe Ikon, Teddy Makadi and Diminish Band.
With DJs also showing their skills on the decks, Diminish Band from Lilongwe was the last live act who performed in the early hours of Saturday.
The band proved its metal when it served a number of covers, reminding patrons of past exploits, and they included Honjo star San Bennet Msokera’s ‘Pelemende’.
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Unlike on the first day, when fun lovers sampled performances only on the main stage, named Vince—in honour of the first stage manager Vincent Mkwanda, who died last year in a road accident— there were two stages on the second day.
Performances started at the Kabula stage, which hosted a fashion show, led by Terence Thobani, before poetry took centre stage.
The poetry was orchestrated by Vilipanganga Poetry Movement.
Some of the poets that kept patrons serenaded included Yankho Seunda and Refilwe.
Next up came traditional dances, reminding patrons of the country’s rich culture when Kumudzi Troupe served Gule Wamkulu, Beni and Chisamba.
There was an interlude thereafter as patrons got glued to a Champions League final between PSG and Arsenal on a big screen, which added more excitement to the festival.
The performances resumed after the match on the Vince stage, with people enjoying a number of acts—which spilled over to the early hours of Sunday.
The acts included Maggie Kadrum, Tuno, DJ Chmba, Saint, Mighty Virus, Kell Kay and South Africa’s Heavy K.
Hosted by E-D.N.A The People’s Bae from Zambia and the local cast of Rina and Cynthia Zonde Zulu, the festival, which also attracted the presence of Blantyre City Mayor Isaac Jomo Osman, showed progress from its two-day outing.
“We apologise for the no-show for Mawhoo on the first day but we came out to give people the details and what had happened and they understood us.
“Apart from that, we served everything that we had promised,” the festival’s creative director Prince Chikweba said.
One of the participants, Chimwemwe Phiri, heaped praise on organisers.
“I was here last year and, being the first time, there were a number of gaps. This year, they improved in many areas and the performances were impressive. There is more room for improvement though,” Phiri said
