Lake of Stars

Last weekend my friends and I went to the event of the year - Lake of Stars. LOS is an international music festival started by some guy in the UK to raise awareness of Malawian culture and improve tourism. The festival originally rotated locations around Lake Malawi, but now occurs annually in Mangochi (Nkopola to be exact) on the beach. There were 3 stages, all along the water's edge. It was a beautiful location, though incredibly hot during the day. Thankfully the group I went with chose to stay at a hotel rather than camp (I appreciate air conditioning...). There were bands from all over - South Africa, Malawi, and the UK. Some of note were Freshlyground and Malawi's own Lucius Banda. I would recommend checking out Freshlyground - great band from SA, featured in that Waka Waka song from the World Cup. My housemate Sonali's band, Thatch Roof Carousel, played as well. They were great! LOS definitely lived up to the hype and was loads of fun, I think I saw almost everyone I know there. Here are some pics!

Thatch Roof Carousel

Lucius!

A view of the lake and festival site