Blantyre...

Blantyre...what a pretty name...

Always thought "Blantyre" would make a nice name for someone. Or for a home, "Welcome to House Blantyre." Anyway, I digress.

Its been a while since we saw a literal piece on the blog and my best friend encouraged me to "dig into these emotions" so I'm digging in.

My band and I traveled to Blantyre, Malawi at the beginning of October for the Blantyre Arts Festival. I found out later that it was meant to have begun with a carnival, but we missed that part. The trip down was CRAZY! We went by road because we thought we were heroes. Going in was much better than coming back but it was long and hot and by the time we got to the border all our juice from the Food Lovers Market was tea. :(

The first day there was like a reverse culture shock to be honest. But there is something serene about the quaint little town of Blantyre and the people were so friendly. We were picked up by the organisers of the fest and taken to the cultural center where everything was taking place. Met a kind old journalist who told us stories about old Zambian musicians like The Mulemena Boys and left us in awe of the legacy we had gone to represent. It felt like pressure.

A few hours, a horrid lunch and a thunderstorm later, the guys and Mwila went to watch the first performances. I couldn't handle it. So I stayed in bed whatsapping my bestie about random things till he forced me to sleep. The mosquitoes made it quite the adventure though so for the two nights we were there I slept with my headsets on.

On Saturday we woke up late, walked to the little mall to buy airtime and jelly babies and then went to the center for our first attempt at a sound check. Didn't work out, so we went back to eat and then attempted it again a couple hours later. The food was different to say the least. By the time it was 5pm we were all bathed and suited up and had a lil vocal rehearsal in the room which you can see on instagram if you follow @lalozie :)

The thatched circle where the stage was was filled up with people and lil kids sitting in the front row, all smiling and excited and singing along. When we got there the lights went out but when they came back on, a pretty German lady called Selina was on stage singing pretty interesting covers of popular songs by John Legend and Alicia Keys amongst others. When she was done, a really cool dance troupe had us cheering for four minutes before it was our turn to go on.

We did. The boys as usual starting things off with an amazing intro. Then it was my turn to sing. And boy did I sing my socks off. I still feel proud just thinking about it. We swayed and danced and had our little dance routines and the crowd went crazy! Best performance ever really! Only because the room was filled with so much love.

Highlights of the night were our acapella rendition of Bob Marley's "Waiting In Vain" which saw everyone in the band singing and my first attempt at scatting which went pretty well and also our show closer, "Nikakuona (When I See You)" which got us yells for an encore and had me in tears as the audience sang along and waved their hands in the chorus. Amazing moments that I would love to experience again.

Two encores and a stage rush later we were on our way to our rooms, feeling happy and blessed and humbled and motivated to keep doing bigger and better things.

I'm already looking forward to next year and all the opportunities it brings.

The band is called Black Note and is available for bookings by calling +260965221996. We will be Live at Alliance Francaise on the 2nd of November from 7pm. Don't miss it!!!  

#TitaniumSolid

#Kilimanjaro

Miss Mahogany.