The build begins!

Lauren and Laura are sitting in the deserted Umunthu Theatre - on stage, surrounded by laptops, paper, mobile phones, radios... and a couple of bottles of Carlsberg Stout (our latest discovery in the beer tour of Malawi). This is our office now. Earlier today we waved goodbye to Mr Harry, Nick, Helena and Marian as they drove off in a massive beast of a truck filled with wood and the most epic bamboo poles we have ever seen (Lauren and Laura unloaded them from a van late last night, managing not to impale themselves or lose any eyes).

We got a full-colour advert for the festival designed today so we can hit the two big Malawian newspapers (The Nation and The Daily Times) on Friday and next Tuesday with a countdown (7 days to go... 3 days to go...!). Everyone loves the ideas we've had for extra activities - today we were told that the best place to get a decent rope for tug of war would be the Malawian military who have a tug of war team!

Lauren and Laura and really doing it Malawian style with the work patterns now - we get into the office at about 7.15am every day! So - it's proabably bedtime for us soon. Rock 'n' roll.

Laura, Lauren (and the absent others) xx

--

Lake of Stars International Music Festival
http://www.lakeofstars.co.uk/
proud to be supporting the Microloan Foundation
http://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/

The build begins!

Lauren and Laura are sitting in the deserted Umunthu Theatre - on stage, surrounded by laptops, paper, mobile phones, radios... and a couple of bottles of Carlsberg Stout (our latest discovery in the beer tour of Malawi). This is our office now. Earlier today we waved goodbye to Mr Harry, Nick, Helena and Marian as they drove off in a massive beast of a truck filled with wood and the most epic bamboo poles we have ever seen (Lauren and Laura unloaded them from a van late last night, managing not to impale themselves or lose any eyes).

We got a full-colour advert for the festival designed today so we can hit the two big Malawian newspapers (The Nation and The Daily Times) on Friday and next Tuesday with a countdown (7 days to go... 3 days to go...!). Everyone loves the ideas we've had for extra activities - today we were told that the best place to get a decent rope for tug of war would be the Malawian military who have a tug of war team!

Lauren and Laura and really doing it Malawian style with the work patterns now - we get into the office at about 7.15am every day! So - it's proabably bedtime for us soon. Rock 'n' roll.

Laura, Lauren (and the absent others) xx

--

Lake of Stars International Music Festival
http://www.lakeofstars.co.uk/
proud to be supporting the Microloan Foundation
http://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/

Getting crunchy..

The Lake of Stars promotions tour of the south of Malawi has concluded. Ticket sales have rocketed and we expect the next 2 days to see a flurry of activity as the September ticket offer is about to end. Remember that if you are buying a ticket in Malawi, you have to buy and pay for it by Tuesday 30 September. On Wednesday the price of the 3-day ticket will go up…

Now we are back in Lilongwe – we will be based here or in Senga Bay until the festival. Yesterday we went to the market in Lilongwe with Marian - a new member of the team who is looking after all the beautiful visual elements on site along with our very own…Nicholas Baskerville. There are loads of brilliant local materials we are planning to use to transform the place into an amazing playground for you all.

We are also cooking up schemes for a series of morning workshops and activities. Nothing is confirmed as yet, but we are thinking; jam sessions, dance workshops, tugs of war, drinking games and even trips offsite to visit villages in the surrounding area. Watch this space for more details.

Today things have been getting crunchy – we've been in the office since 7am and are cracking on with final preparations and picking up materials to build the stages.

2 weeks to go!

Can't wait to dance under the stars with you all.

Love Laura, Lauren, Nick and Helena. xx

Getting crunchy..

The Lake of Stars promotions tour of the south of Malawi has concluded. Ticket sales have rocketed and we expect the next 2 days to see a flurry of activity as the September ticket offer is about to end. Remember that if you are buying a ticket in Malawi, you have to buy and pay for it by Tuesday 30 September. On Wednesday the price of the 3-day ticket will go up…

Now we are back in Lilongwe – we will be based here or in Senga Bay until the festival. Yesterday we went to the market in Lilongwe with Marian - a new member of the team who is looking after all the beautiful visual elements on site along with our very own…Nicholas Baskerville. There are loads of brilliant local materials we are planning to use to transform the place into an amazing playground for you all.

We are also cooking up schemes for a series of morning workshops and activities. Nothing is confirmed as yet, but we are thinking; jam sessions, dance workshops, tugs of war, drinking games and even trips offsite to visit villages in the surrounding area. Watch this space for more details.

Today things have been getting crunchy – we've been in the office since 7am and are cracking on with final preparations and picking up materials to build the stages.

2 weeks to go!

Can't wait to dance under the stars with you all.

Love Laura, Lauren, Nick and Helena. xx

African Divas Vol. 1

With the kids back in school and monopolizing the computer, and me swamped under a ton of overtime, I just haven't been able to give this blog the attention it deserves. As usual, I have several posts in progress, which I'm putting the finishing touches on, but I haven't wrapped things up yet.

Still, I want to put something up, so here goes:

You're probably familiar with Matt Temple's blog Matsuli Music. Last year, shortly before I started Likembe, I compiled an installment in his great "African Serenades" series. It was Volume 47 in two parts, subtitled African Divas 1 and African Divas 2, a selection of great female vocalists from across the continent.

I'm really proud of the work I did on this collection, but it was only online for a week or two on Matsuli Music. So I'm bringing it back into the light of day here. Here's the tracklist for Volume One:

1. E Beh Kiyah Kooney – Princess Fatu Gayflor (Liberia)
2. Haya – Khadja Nin (Burundi)
3. Ndare – Cécile Kayirebwa (Rwanda)
4. Du Balai – Angèle Assélé (Gabon)
5. Kalkidan – Hamelmal Abate (Ethiopia)
6. Ezi Gbo Dim - Nelly Uchendu (Nigeria)
7. Odo (Love) – Sunsum Band featuring Becky B (Ghana)
8. Dikom Lam La Moto – Charlotte Mbango (Cameroun)
9. Kuteleza Si Kwanguka – Lady Isa (Kenya)
10. Vis à Vis – Monique Seka (Côte d’Ivoire)
11. Femme Commerçante – M’pongo Love (Congo-Kinshasa)
12. Fe, Fe, Fe – Tina Dakoury (Côte d’Ivoire)
13. Koumba – Tshala Muana (Congo-Kinshasa)
14. Fote – Djanka Diabate (Guinea)

There are a few tracks you will recognize if you've been following Likembe for a while, but most may be new to you. In a departure from my usual practice, I'm posting this as a zipped file (108 MB) rather than as individual tracks, as it was meant to be listened to as a unit. An inlay card has been included as a Word file if you want to make your own CD. Volume 2 will follow shortly:

African Divas Vol. 1

African Divas Vol. 2

As promised, here is African Divas Vol. 2, originally posted last year as African Serenades Vol. 47b at Matsuli Music.

I apologize for the brevity of this post. Perhaps in the future when I have more time I will update it to include background information about these wonderful singers:

1. Abidjan Adja - Antoinette Konan (Côte d'Ivoire)
2. Barika Barika - Djeneba Seck (Mali)
3. Meta Meta - Martha Ashagari (Ethiopia)
4. Ami - Bebe Manga (Cameroun)
5. Ekwe - Onyeka Onwenu (Nigeria)
6. Medim Me Yom - Tity Edima (Cameroun)
7. La Paille et la Poutre - Nimon Toki Lala (Togo)
8. Mundeke - Afrigo Band featuring Rachael Magoola (Uganda)
9. Takko Wade - Kiné Lam (Senegal)
10. Keffa - Abonesh Adnew (Ethiopia)
11. Nyu Madin - Marthe Zambo (Cameroun)
12. Don't Let Me Go - Hindirah (Côte d'Ivoire)
13. Pare Chocs - Vonga Aye (Congo)
14. Dieleul-Dieuleul - Aby Ngana Diop (Senegal)

African Divas Vol. 2

Cape Maclear

Day 12 in Malawi and we are all getting settled into the Malawian life style. We headed to the Gecko Lounge this morning and the place is nothing short of breathtaking. Its in Cape Maclear and the lake around this area is amazingly clear. The sun set is something to see and Simon the manager is happy to help. The latest news is there will be pre-party events before and after the festival at the Gecko and its definitely worth a trip if you get the chance. We've been selling more tickets and the buzz is ever increasing. On our way through we had to make a detour to Mangochi and it looked like something from a spaghetti western movie, at every turn we we're half expecting a man looking like Clint Eastwood to appear gun cocked and ready to shoot. But whilst we were letting our imaginations run wild, actually the only threatening encounter was with a cockroach we named Gringo. Altogether, Mangochi is pretty quiet and there is not much to do!

If any of you happen to bump into us on our travels around Malawi we have tickets on offer, we're not hard to miss!!! Also, if any of you are wondering about accommodation and transport, we will post information up on the site soon.

Over and out,

Love Laura, Lauren, Helena and Nick xx

The Gecko Lounge, Malawi. www.geckolounge.net

Cape Maclear

Day 12 in Malawi and we are all getting settled into the Malawian life style. We headed to the Gecko Lounge this morning and the place is nothing short of breathtaking. Its in Cape Maclear and the lake around this area is amazingly clear. The sun set is something to see and Simon the manager is happy to help. The latest news is there will be pre-party events before and after the festival at the Gecko and its definitely worth a trip if you get the chance. We've been selling more tickets and the buzz is ever increasing. On our way through we had to make a detour to Mangochi and it looked like something from a spaghetti western movie, at every turn we we're half expecting a man looking like Clint Eastwood to appear gun cocked and ready to shoot. But whilst we were letting our imaginations run wild, actually the only threatening encounter was with a cockroach we named Gringo. Altogether, Mangochi is pretty quiet and there is not much to do!

If any of you happen to bump into us on our travels around Malawi we have tickets on offer, we're not hard to miss!!! Also, if any of you are wondering about accommodation and transport, we will post information up on the site soon.

Over and out,

Love Laura, Lauren, Helena and Nick xx

The Gecko Lounge, Malawi. www.geckolounge.net

Speading the word

Ahhh - we are nursing our hangovers sitting on a terrace in Sunbird Ku Chawe Inn on the Zomba Plateau, surrounded by trees and the sounds of the forest. The view is totally stunning and the sun is just starting to burst back through the cloud. The past 2 days have seen us hitting the nightlife in Blantyre and Zomba so we can spread the good word of the Lake of Stars festival to the party people. In Blantyre we hit the Blue Elephant, Twiga Lounge, The Blue Diamond and Chezntemba We are plastering posters and leaving flyers everywhere we go. We have met some brilliant people - two incredible body popping breakdancers who are part of a 5-strong dance troupe called Earthquake. They are planning on heading to the festival... Last night we managed to find a place to go and dance in Zomba, which had seemed on the quiet side when we arrived. Helena met someone from the army who is coming to LOS with his whole squadron! Nick has sadly managed to lose all his possessions on these nighttime excursions (we blame the 7% Carlsberg Elephant beers), but spirits are still very high.

Love Laura, Lauren, Helena and Nick xx

Lake of Stars International Music Festival
http://www.lakeofstars.org

proud to be supporting the Microloan Foundation
http://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/

Speading the word

Ahhh - we are nursing our hangovers sitting on a terrace in Sunbird Ku Chawe Inn on the Zomba Plateau, surrounded by trees and the sounds of the forest. The view is totally stunning and the sun is just starting to burst back through the cloud. The past 2 days have seen us hitting the nightlife in Blantyre and Zomba so we can spread the good word of the Lake of Stars festival to the party people. In Blantyre we hit the Blue Elephant, Twiga Lounge, The Blue Diamond and Chezntemba We are plastering posters and leaving flyers everywhere we go. We have met some brilliant people - two incredible body popping breakdancers who are part of a 5-strong dance troupe called Earthquake. They are planning on heading to the festival... Last night we managed to find a place to go and dance in Zomba, which had seemed on the quiet side when we arrived. Helena met someone from the army who is coming to LOS with his whole squadron! Nick has sadly managed to lose all his possessions on these nighttime excursions (we blame the 7% Carlsberg Elephant beers), but spirits are still very high.

Love Laura, Lauren, Helena and Nick xx

Lake of Stars International Music Festival
http://www.lakeofstars.org

proud to be supporting the Microloan Foundation
http://www.microloanfoundation.org.uk/

Watch this space

Hello everyone, just thought a Lake of Stars update was in order.

We have been spending the last couple of days at the festival site, walking around, soaking it all in, dreaming and scheming and we're proud to say this is going to be the best festival yet!

As you all probably know this year the site has moved and its F**KING brilliant. You will be amazed when you get here. We don't want to give too much away but the main stage is stunning! Imagine a huge rock face that catches the sun-set light and a stage built around it! We'll say no more! Facilities are great and of course the lake is still as beautiful as ever!

If you are coming into Malawi then we recommend staying at Mabuya Camp in Lilongwe if you need a place to stay before traveling down to the festival site, the staff are great and the atmosphere is ace!

On another note... The buzz about the festival is spreading quickly, this year has seen word spread far and wide across Africa! We have recently heard news of one man on a mission to get to the Lake of Stars by bicycle, coming all the way from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and we're not talking a mountain bike here! A proper old skool African bicycle, Lets wish his luck and if anyone meets him at the site buy him a beer and point him out to us.

Watch out for this space, we will write more soon.

Lots of Love from Malawi,

Laura, Lauren, Helena and Nick

Watch this space

Hello everyone, just thought a Lake of Stars update was in order.

We have been spending the last couple of days at the festival site, walking around, soaking it all in, dreaming and scheming and we're proud to say this is going to be the best festival yet!

As you all probably know this year the site has moved and its F**KING brilliant. You will be amazed when you get here. We don't want to give too much away but the main stage is stunning! Imagine a huge rock face that catches the sun-set light and a stage built around it! We'll say no more! Facilities are great and of course the lake is still as beautiful as ever!

If you are coming into Malawi then we recommend staying at Mabuya Camp in Lilongwe if you need a place to stay before traveling down to the festival site, the staff are great and the atmosphere is ace!

On another note... The buzz about the festival is spreading quickly, this year has seen word spread far and wide across Africa! We have recently heard news of one man on a mission to get to the Lake of Stars by bicycle, coming all the way from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and we're not talking a mountain bike here! A proper old skool African bicycle, Lets wish his luck and if anyone meets him at the site buy him a beer and point him out to us.

Watch out for this space, we will write more soon.

Lots of Love from Malawi,

Laura, Lauren, Helena and Nick

Pre-festival send off party

new site..

New website is up to coincide with the ad going out in the Guardian Guide this saturday. Thanks to Nik at Mocha, Doug at Mercy Design and Dan of no fixed abode. Its a start and would be good to hear from you all on how we could improve and what you would like to see. Anyone interested in setting us up a LastFM profile? Check it out on the new URl http://www.lakeofstars.org/ . Bugs and suggestions to tom@lakeofstars.org.

Pre-festival send off party

new site..

New website is up to coincide with the ad going out in the Guardian Guide this saturday. Thanks to Nik at Mocha, Doug at Mercy Design and Dan of no fixed abode. Its a start and would be good to hear from you all on how we could improve and what you would like to see. Anyone interested in setting us up a LastFM profile? Check it out on the new URl http://www.lakeofstars.org/ . Bugs and suggestions to tom@lakeofstars.org.

Nick, Lauren, Helena and Laura in Malawi

Our four UK volunteers have all now arrived in Malawi to work with our Malawi team on preparation for the festival. They will be keeping us updated on developments on this blog...

Nick, Lauren, Helena and Laura in Malawi

Our four UK volunteers have all now arrived in Malawi to work with our Malawi team on preparation for the festival. They will be keeping us updated on developments on this blog...

Bestival

Sorry about the delay in posting this but I’ve only just properly recovered from the glorious mud pit that was Bestival! Despite the worst storm the Isle of Wight has seen in 100 years it was a great event – amazing people and brilliant music. Lake of Stars hosted the Sunday evening at the Hidden Disco tent and rocked it. The Beat Monkeys went on after Roni Size followed by Dom Chung and the Petebox. Despite some technical issues they all smashed it – especially Dom, who rammed the place out from start to finish. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported us!

Bestival

Sorry about the delay in posting this but I’ve only just properly recovered from the glorious mud pit that was Bestival! Despite the worst storm the Isle of Wight has seen in 100 years it was a great event – amazing people and brilliant music. Lake of Stars hosted the Sunday evening at the Hidden Disco tent and rocked it. The Beat Monkeys went on after Roni Size followed by Dom Chung and the Petebox. Despite some technical issues they all smashed it – especially Dom, who rammed the place out from start to finish. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported us!

Mahmoud Ahmed Live in Addis Ababa, 1992

As part of this blog's ongoing effort to bring to light obscure and hard-to-find recordings from Ethiopia, I present a 1992 cassette, Mahmoud Ahmed Live in Addis Ababa (Ambassel Music Shop).

This recording is interesting in light of the fall of the brutal regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam on May 19 the previous year. Suddenly the riches of contemporary Ethiopian music became far more available to the outside world. Live, along with a number of other cassettes, was licensed to an Ethiopian entrepreneur in Washington, DC, who was able to use mass-market technology to duplicate it. These cassettes were therefore of somewhat better quality than the haphazardly-copied Ethiopian editions (the cassette inlay cards were printed in Ethiopia).

Live is marred somewhat by the use of synthesizer and drum machine, but it offers an interesting look at one of the masters of the Ethiopian groove on his home ground. Of course, I have no idea if the lyrics reflect the tumultuous changes occurring in Ethiopia at the time.

A member of the minority Gouarague ethnic group, Mahmoud Ahmed was born on May 8, 1941, and rose from very humble origins as a shoeshine boy to become the best-known Ethiopian musician internationally, thanks mainly to his ground-breaking record Erè Mèla Mèla (1975), which has been reissued several times in the last 20 years.

The cassette lists twelve songs, but three, "Enmane Nebru," "Yuy Heregitu" and "Naye Danune Tesau," are missing. As usual, I've transliterated the song titles utilizing the Geez syllabary. As there are undoubtedly errors, I'm making the original inlay card available to anyone with a knowledge of Amharic (I suspect some of these songs are in other languages as well). Your input is gratefully solicited!

Mahmoud Ahmed - Alaweqeueleoeme

Mahmoud Ahmed - Menafeqy Gwadaoe

Mahmoud Ahmed - Enedyte Yerlale

Mahmoud Ahmed - Mela Tesxoe

Mahmoud Ahmed - Elemaze Mene Oeda Newe

Mahmoud Ahmed - Tezeta

Mahmoud Ahmed - Enegeday Nu

Mahmoud Ahmed - Enedagna

Mahmoud Ahmed - Imisemamaoe Axahuoe





And if you'd like to hear some more Mahmoud Ahmed at the top of his form, I've zipped and uploaded recordings of two concerts he did in Amsterdam a few years ago. These were originally posted at Matt Yanchyshyn's wonderful blog Benn Loxo du Taccu and are made available with his permission. Download them here (warning: this is a 141 megabyte file) . I may decide to take these down in a couple of weeks, so get 'em while they're hot! Here's the setlist:

1. Atawruijn
2. Endet Nesh
3. Wey Fikir
4. Belomi Benna
5. Libesh Kabashini
6. Ney Denun Teseshi
7. Ere Mela Mela
8. Buna
9. Ashkaru
10. Yaselame
11. Eshet
12. Sab Sab Argign
13. Hulum Bager Naw

Booked my flight yesterday, can't wait! Thanks to all those who are helping us out this year, we couldn't do it without you.   Fran (Lake of Stars) Lake of Stars Festival Artist Liaison www.lakeofstars.co.uk

Booked my flight yesterday, can't wait! Thanks to all those who are helping us out this year, we couldn't do it without you.   Fran (Lake of Stars) Lake of Stars Festival Artist Liaison www.lakeofstars.co.uk

test

test test, lake of stars is on the way!!
http://www.lakeofstars.org/

The Festival films:

http://www.mtvsoundtrip.co.uk/en/shows/7/1/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlwtX9qU70

The Road Trip film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFlt_dwxtwc

http://www.chibuku.com/

test

test test, lake of stars is on the way!!
http://www.lakeofstars.org/

The Festival films:

http://www.mtvsoundtrip.co.uk/en/shows/7/1/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlwtX9qU70

The Road Trip film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFlt_dwxtwc

http://www.chibuku.com/