Sound and Light Concert pulls massive audience
The well publicised Sound and Light Concert organised by Entertainers Promotions at Sunbird Livingstonia Hotel in Salima lived up to its billing attracting more than 2,000 people, who came from as far as Blantyre with Lilongwe.
Sunbird Livingstonia cashed in on the concert as they sold drinks and food and organisers also made money as people were paying K5,000 on entry.
Entertainers Promotions proved to the audience that they have what it takes to hold international shows when they mounted a state of the art stage further cemented with the presence of glittering lights.
The organisers also did their home work on security by hiring enough law enforcers such that there were no scenes of violence throughout the concert which started on Saturday through to Sunday.
This was a platform which gave a chance to local artists to expose themselves to the audience and saw some artists standing out while others have a lot to do to polish their work.
Entertainers Promotions which is now being driven by Mr Entertainer Jai Banda’s son Tonderai, has hinted that it wants to bring out new things to people and so during the concert they also mounted two big screens where people were watching the concert.
The big screens gave a chance to those people who were far from the stage to watch the proceedings.
The only setback for the organisers is that they had no proper VIP area for the artists as it’s done in other bigger platforms and again the country still needs more engineers so as to have quality and balanced sound during such high profile concerts.
Apart from enjoying the music vibes throughout, fans also had time to swim in the fresh waters of Lake Malawi throughout the afternoon.
The performances started on a low note before gathering momentum later and the main stage was the only one which was active with live acts and by the time it was getting dark the whole place was filled up and parking space proved difficult.
Some of the performances that people sampled earlier included Super Boys Band, Malawi Police Orchestra led by Andy Kamangwa which took the audience down memory lane with their old songs before Mangochi-based Mulangeni Sounds, also dished out several songs including ‘Juju Anamwalira,’ and ‘Timadya Chambo.’
Despite not performing on a bigger platform for some time, Mulangeni Sounds showed potential indicating it is still intact although with new members and the climax of their performance was when a Gulewamkulu was incorporated in one of their songs attracting cheers from the audience.
“We never expected to get such support, it’s been long since we performed at such a platform but we promise people that we will come out with new songs,” said Mulangeni Sounds manager Willy Kumilambe.
Ben Mankhamba backed by the Jenna Sisters and Zig Zaggers Band also had his fair share taking people on a journey of his music and his set also had energy.
There were also performances from reggae artist Haxi Momba, The Great Angels Choir, Kamuzu Barracks Gospel Singers, Skeffa Chimoto and the Real Sounds, Piksy, Maskal, Dan Lufani, Anthony Makondetsa, Black Missionaries and Lulu among others.
However, Maskal’s show ended prematurely following a power interruption that lasted for some time before it was restored. People were disappointed this time and Maskal left the stage before power was restored.
Tonderai apologised to the fun lovers for the inconvenience saying their equipment is very powerful hence they supported it with gen sets.
“Escom power could not sustain the equipment so we used generators but then one of the generators could not stand it as well hence the power cut. We thank people for their understanding and next time we will do much better,” he said adding that they were impressed with the way the concert went and that they fulfilled all what they promised.
According to him they spent over K10 million to organise the event and while more people came, he said they spent a lot on fuel for the generator.
He hailed companies for coming in to support them during the concert and they included Airtel Malawi, Times Group, Zodiak Broadcasting Station, Nyasa Manufacturing and Blockbuster.
Random interviews with people indicated they were satisfied with the concert with many praising Entertainers Promotions for the state of the art stage although some expressed disappointment with the power cut.
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