This year’s Lake of Stars festival in Malawi promises to be the biggest yet, hosting a line up of international artists from Malawi, the UK, South Africa, Kenya and the USA

Over 5,000 miles away, deep in the heart of Africa, are the paradise, palm-fringed shores of Lake Malawi. This is the setting for one of the most talked about events of the last few years: The Lake of Stars Festival. For three days Western and African artists gather at the award winning festival for a musical, social and cultural exchange unlike anything seen before. With a music policy ranging from Afropop, folk and reggae to beat boxers and the best international DJs, the festival has something for everyone. Over the past few years Andy Cato, Felix B of Basement Jaxx, DJ Yoda, Mikey from Bugz in the Attic, Annie Mac, Rodney P and Skitz, Ben Westbeech, The Petebox and Joe Driscoll have rubbed shoulders and jammed with some of the best and most exciting African and global artists around, from Wambali and Lucius Banda to the Black Missionaries and Blue Skies, Goldfish and Wapifa and Joseph Tembo.

This year’s Lake of Stars festival is going to be the biggest yet, hosting a line up of international artists from Malawi, the UK, South Africa, Kenya and the USA, all who will bring their own unique flair to the shores of Lake Malawi. The festival opened in 2004 and since then has gone from strength to strength and is now considered one of the top choices in international music events. Guests for 2008 include Mercury award nominated Seth Lakeman and Mary Anne Hobbs from BBC Radio 1.

Will Jameson, the festival’s founder, says, “It’s been an incredible adventure so far and one that has challenged at every turn. Everyone involved works incredibly hard and it’s all of this effort which has created the Lake of Stars.”

“The idea has always been about uniting cultures, bring people together through music and to highlight Malawi, a country that not many people had really heard of a few years ago. It’s such an inspiring and beautiful place, and the people there are some of the friendliest you can hope to meet. I am really proud of what’s been achieved so far, and for Malawi Lake of Stars has become a part of the cultural calendar; people travel from all around this amazing country to go to the festival.”

For many incredibly talented Malawian and African musicians, the festival gives them the chance to express themselves on an international stage and get recognition for their awe inspiring live performances. Malawi is rich in musicians and music is an integral part of its culture. From sonorous live bands, mesmerising solo artists and raucous collectives taking over the main stage, a variety of DJs play a mixture of reggae to house, breaks to hip hop, jazz to disc, keeping the eclectic mix from ever standing still over three days and nights by the shimmering Lake Malawi. The festival should be in the diary of every music lover and person looking for a bit of adventure.

It also helps raise money for Malawian charity organisations and into the economy, creating an estimated £100,000 last year alone. Lake of Stars is creating another important platform for the globalisation of music and integration of culture, as well as giving festival lovers from the UK the chance to escape the dull and dismal weather and head to one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

All proceeds made from the festival in 2007 went directly to UNICEF. With 2008’s event on the horizon, Lake of Stars welcomes the world to join in as the festival aims to achieve a greater international dimension.

For more information, please check  www.lakeofstars.co.uk or contact   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

DIVERSE COLOURS 2008 is a unique art exhibition bringing outstanding contemporary works by artists originating from Africa and the Caribbean to London.

ReConnect Africa previews the forthcoming exhibition and speaks to Kwame Akuffo about the inspiration behind the show.

 A unique art exhibition that celebrates the diversity of the African and Caribbean cultural experiences opens in London this month. Bringing together stunning paintings and prints by contemporary artists including Glen Turner, Nicola Welcome, Robert Aryeetey, Kamala and Kweku Opoku, the exhibition will showcase works which, say the exhibitors, are naturally diverse yet grounded by the common historical legacies, ethnicities and tropical landscapes of Africa and the Caribbean.

DIVERSE COLOURS 2008 is the first collaboration between AFRIKart, run by Ghanaian Kwame Akuffo and Hibiscus, established by Kamini Corriette who grew up in Guyana. The art collectors are now aiming at bringing together regular exhibitions by outstanding artists from Africa, UK and Caribbean.

African and Caribbean societies are populated by a microcosm of the world’s population and cultures: Black African, Indian, Middle Eastern, Portuguese Northern European and Chinese. This heady concoction of peoples and cultures throws up an amazing brew of languages, cultures, belief systems and symbols of life which co-exist with a mix of schism, drama and dynamism but which remain intrinsically well-balanced.

It is this balance that inspired AFRIKart and Hibiscus to come together to showcase works from these areas; works which are naturally diverse but yet linked by a common thread of culture and experience.

Diverse Colours 2008 celebrates the different arts which have emerged from the divergent experiences of these societies, accentuating the positive outcomes of these experiences.

ReConnect Africa caught up with Kwame Akuffo to find out more about DIVERSE COLOURS and to learn about what inspired him and Hibisicus’s founder Kamini (Kay) Corriette to put on this exhibition.

“My art odyssey was set off by a painting I saw hanging in the reception area of Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, Ghana in the late 1990’s by the Ghanaian artist, Larry Otoo,” said Akuffo. “This was the day when the light was switched on in my mind about the great beauty of contemporary African art.”

“I created AFRIKart Gallerie a few years ago as a vehicle to promote outstanding contemporary art by artists of African origin. This was fuelled by the realisation that little space is provided for such art in the UK. Any interest is smothered by the preponderance of traditional arts and crafts – sculpture, woodworks prints etc. To a large extent, everything else is ghettoised and there are not many places to show good and great art of African and Caribbean origin”.

A meeting with Corriette shaped the idea for the exhibition, he added. “Kay Corriette came from a similar perspective and was quite keen to promote great contemporary art of West Indian origin and started by putting together a small collection. Going to the AFRIKart exhibition (Inspirations and Confluence) in September 2007 in London rekindled the desire to do something about her passion for such work and making these available to be seen and to be bought.”

It was Corriette’s suggestion that AFRIKart and Hibiscus should work together to bring artworks from artists from African and Caribbean origin and to mount an exhibition to celebrate Black History month in October 2008. Discussions ensued with the Gallery at Willesden Library and, as Akuffo says, “the result is this exhibition - earlier than expected - but nevertheless an opportunity to do something.”

Kwame Akuffo is clear about the role art has in celebrating and connecting with culture.

“Art is a celebration of culture in all its forms. Imagine, for a moment, our nations without plays, crafts, paintings, dancers or musicians. What would we have known about the Benin Civilisation without its bronzes? What is Ashanti culture without the drums, kente and pageantry?”

“Think about how we would record our stories without the thousands of artists past and present,” he adds. “It would be a bleak vista — devoid of the colour, life and excitement that our artists bring to our nations and cultures. It is not just about expressing who we are, it is also about what we are - our arts and crafts are vital to our social well-being.

“New expressions of talent have marked each new development in our history. As we grow as people, our art grows with us; sometimes at a slow pace, at other times at an explosive pace. As the world has become smaller, we all learn from each other.

“Our multicultural backgrounds have brought a new flavour to our arts — melding and creating truly original voices. Materials and techniques have become commonplace, yet art from our subcontinents still maintain uniqueness. Whilst it is possible to identify art from, say, Nigeria or Ghana or the West Indies, it is also possible to identify the Tropical or such tropical origins of such art.

“Art provides an insight into our cultures; it provides meaning to our lives. It enables us to make observations about the past and present and lets us dream in visible forms. Art, in a nutshell, celebrates our cultures and civilisations from its basic forms to its most sophisticated levels. It keeps our imaginations active; it encourages us to express ourselves, it helps develop our self-esteem and pride, it teaches our children not only our stories but how they can become part of the story, and it creates a sense of community. Art is about yesterday, today, tomorrow and about the future.”

DIVERSE COLOURS 2008 features works by Abushariaa, an outstanding Sudanese artist based in Nairobi; Robert Aryeetey, one of Ghana’s foremost painters, whose work was presented to the Queen on her last visit to Ghana; Bruce Chidovori, a talented Zimbabwe artist, who is largely self-taught and who is now working as a full time painter; Kamala, who pioneered one of the UK’s first graffiti community arts companies and is involved in several community arts projects and Kweku Opoku, a well-known graphic artist and designer. The show also features work by Nicola Welcome, originally from Guyana, and Kweku Kissiedu, a fine contemporary artist who works in watercolours and acrylics.

The exhibition, which takes place at The Gallery in Willesden Green, at the heart of London’s Caribbean and African communities, will be ‘a month-long celebration’ of the experiences of the two communities. Those lucky enough to invest in the art on display will also be supporting a good cause as the exhibitors plan to make a donation to Akropong School for the Blind, a school for the disabled in Ghana, from the proceeds of sales made at the end of the exhibition.

In the state of Judea in southern Africa, violence, poverty and sectarianism are endemic. The neighbouring Alliance has invaded to restore ‘peace’ at gunpoint. Bloody street battles accompany the neighbouring dictatorship’s incursion into its weaker satellite. Promises of a transition to open democratic rule are accompanied by summary executions and brutal massacres.

So begins ‘Son of Man’, an extraordinary and powerful film that has already garnered rave reviews from film critics around the world. Set in contemporary Africa, ‘Son of Man’ re-tells the story of the Gospels, while revealing a tale of power, corruption, sacrifice and betrayal that draws parallels with many of today’s political realities.

‘Son of Man’ is the story of Jesus, told in episodes from the New Testament, and set in present-day Africa. In the film, as the civil war reaches a new level, a divine child is born to a lowly couple. As he grows and witnesses the inhumanity of the world he lives in, his angelic guardians offer him an escape to the heavens. He refuses. This is his world and he must try to save it from the work of evil men and from the darkness working through them. As an adult, he travels to the

capital, gathering followers from the armed factions of rebels that crisscross the land. He demands that his followers give up their guns and confront their corrupt rulers with a vision of non-violent protest and solidarity. Inevitably, he attracts the attention of the Judean tribal leaders who have struck a power-sharing deal with the aloof Governor Pilate. The Son of Man must be brought down and destroyed.

Although the movie has relatively little spoken dialogue, the soundtrack features rousing and emotional South African music. Its cast includes trained opera singer Pauline Malefane, who plays Mary and Andile Kosi, who plays the adult Jesus. The movie was directed by Mark Dornford-May and based on an improvisational collaboration of the Dimpho Di Kopane Theater Company, a theatre and film company of around 30 actors and singers.

‘Son of Man’ has been launched in the UK by Spier Distribution – a new arm of South African feature film company Spier Films. Taking a different approach by “challenging the vertical integration of film distribution”, Spier has adopted a flat structure, building its reputation within the film market by focusing on the potential of new technology while rallying support of potential viewers.

This new method of distribution involves working the grass roots and reaching out to its audience directly, hence surpassing film executives that, the company says, “leave so many independent voices suppressed”.

Initially screened within the South African High Commission in November 2007, Spier Distribution previewed the film again in the Warwick Arts Centre to potential partners. Described by the Telegraph as ‘a vivid, thrilling, visually awe-inspiring piece of cinema”, the roll-out of this extraordinary film is set to coincide with the remembrance of Christ's Passion at Easter and will be available for screenings at a number of venues across the UK and Ireland. For further information about ‘Son of Man’: www.sonofmanmovie.com