Positivity. It’s something we seemingly get little of in Glasgow. But it’s something that was delivered in droves at this exposition of Malawian and Scottish talent. Taking up the smaller of the two venues at the Arches was this, the first Scottish jaunt of the Lake of Stars festival.
Established in 2003, Lake of Stars is an international music festival which traditionally takes over Lake Malawi and the capital of Lilongwe for a weekend of unashamed musical joy.
So, eh, what’s this offshoot of the festival doing in our fair city?
For answers, GOG spoke to the festival’s organiser, Will Jameson. His enthusiasm palpable, the casually dressed impresario told us the story of the festival and its aleatoric origins. Deciding on a whim to spend his gap year somewhere a little out of the ordinary, his love of Malawi, its cultures and peoples began almost instantly. Five years later, the first festival was held: a small affair but, over the next decade, it grew exponentially eventually attracting musicians, poets and dancers from all over Africa and the world.
Jameson told us that this miniature, urban - a City in place of a Lake - festival made sense not only as an exhibition of some great music but because of Scotland’s historical and social connection with Malawi. The night was funded by the David Livingstone bicentennial fund and the sometimes controversial missionary and explorer loomed large over events as he does over the continent in general.
Thankfully the night managed to avoid the sometimes excruciating, paternalistic or imperialistic tone that sometimes appears at the intersection between European audiences and African music (think either Peter Gabriel at his cringing best or Queen playing Sun City). The night was one of collaboration between performer and audience; the tone unpretentious and reciprocal.
Beginning the night (and playing in-between acts) was Glasgow DJ and Scottish Album of the Year nominee Auntie Flo. His cut n’ paste set, sample-heavy and lightly laden with beats was the perfect symbol for the night as a whole. He is not discriminate in his source material, treating each sample and each record on its own merits and synthesizing something new from the results.
The first act proper was Rise Kagona and the Jit-Jive Band. Once a member of the Bhundu Boys - a band promoted by rock stegosaurus Eric Clapton and who opened for Madonna at Wembley - he’s surely seen bigger, more active crowds than this. But the sheer joy that this man (and the two more anonymous members playing mbira and bass) has performing is palpable. Playing effortlessly amazing major-key guitar lines, the infrequently touring band was inclusive and friendly, teaching the Glasgow crowd the traditional Jit Jive way to show appreciation (apparently making a loud ‘Ohohoh’ sound while slapping your cheek). Kagona is clearly a performer who’s in it just because this is what he loves doing.
Riding this wave of positive energy was the second performer, Malawian polymath John Lwanda. Not taking himself at all seriously, the man partially responsible for multi-party democracy in his home country due to his campaigning work with the United Democratic Front treated us to some poems and an interpretative dance about the restorative power of music.
Attempting to prove Lwanda’s thesis were the headliners, Edinburgh’s Bwani Junction. At first glance a ten-a-penny indie rock band, they showed more depth as their set rolled on. With a lot in common with the Vampire Weekend/Dirty Projectors style of using sub-Saharan music as a prototype for their tunes the undisputed highlight of their performance was a ‘mash-up’ performance of Ewan MacColl’s ‘Dirty Old Town’ and ‘Shauri Yako’ - a song originally performed Ngaushi Ntimbo. Working on a similar theory of synthesis and symbiosis as Auntie Flo, theirs was a set that was as uplifting as it was rocking.
Bwani Junction - pending a grant from Creative Scotland - will be at the Lake of Stars festival on the 27th and 28th of September in Lilongwe. The festival’s still looking for volunteers, participants and attendees and, despite the fact that City of Stars was more of an exploration of cultures rather than promotion for the Malawian tourist board, we reckon that if you haven’t booked your summer holidays (and have more money for flights than us at GOG) then you should should consider heading to Lilongwe. If it’s a continuation of the good natured, positive cultural fun that City of Stars was - it’ll be a damn sight better than whatever tired, corporate festival you may be considering going to otherwise.
