Lake of Stars

"Lake of Stars" is a nickname for Lake Malawi, possibly because of the way that the night lights of the fishermen look like stars on the dark lake in the evening. Lake of Stars is also the name of a huge music festival on the lake that draws tourists (mostly from Britain) to Malawi for 3 days of African and British pop. Local expats, like us, and wealthier Malawians also love the festival.

So, last weekend, Jon, Veronica, our friend Pally, and I rented a "family chalet" at a beautiful lakeside B&B about 25km from the festival to enjoy a little relaxation on the beach by day and some music at the festival by night. We took a gorgeous drive down the escarpment from Lilongwe and arrived at the beach ready to do....absolutely nothing. This we excelled at! We drank coffee, swung in the hammocks, napped, and enjoyed the monkeys playing in the trees above our bungalow. [The same monkeys were far less enjoyable at night as they dropped mango seeds on our tin roof, waking us all up (repeatedly) with a start.] Still, we did manage to get off our duffs for a few minutes each day to kayak down the cove, snorkel with the colorful cichlids, and take a (nausea-inducing) boat ride to watch the sunset over the Senga Bay Hills.

Aside from the beach, we also managed to enjoy some of the music (and some of us, Jon, enjoyed the music more than others). On Friday night, we caught both Oliver Mtukudzi (a music legend from Zimbabwe) and Tanashe (also from Zim). Amazing music, great vibe, the requisite fire dancers, and a really diverse group of people made the few obnoxious, uber-drunk people less annoying. It was also pretty interesting to see the conservative dress requirements of daily life in Malawi disappear -- replaced by the appearance of far more cleavage and thigh than you would ever (ever) see around town. Even our Malawians friends noted that the attire most frequently seen at the festival was usually reserved for prostitutes! So, either 1) it was a pretty open environment for people to be themselves; or 2) there was a whole lot of business going on later in the evening; or 3) a mix of the 1 & 2. I vote #3.

Saturday's music was slightly less inspiring: the gospel reggae and long delays dampened my enthusiasm . In my defense, I was awake at 5am (and would be the next morning too). Jon loved the Noisettes, and protested when the 3 of us made him leave just as the crowd was warming up at midnight. Next year, we'll camp at the site so that the pre-midnight and post-midnight crews can both have their way. That will be win-win-win!

UPDATE (By Jon): I just wanted to say one more thing about the Noisettes to those of you who will appreciate this reference (Sasha, basically). Although I only got to see a couple songs of their set, it was shaping up to be legitimate rock spectacle akin to seeing Janelle Monae do her best crazy James Brown impersonation at Bumbershoot. There were caped unitards, shiny suits, back-up singers wearing fringe with coordinated dance moves, and catchy pop hooks. I hated to leave.