No sleep till Lake Malawi

Our critic joined musicians on a 2,500-mile trip across Africa by bus to the Lake of Stars festival. This is his story
For the past four years, the shores of Lake Malawi have hosted the Lake of Stars festival, a celebration of African and Western music. Last October, the organisers decided to preface it by sending a select band of musicians on a 4,000km (2,500mile) road trip from Johannesburg to the festival site near Chintheche, and invited The Knowledge along. As details are announced for Lake of Stars 2008, here are some highlights of a sleepless trip.

DAY 1: HEATHROW

Joe Driscoll attaches a protective sock to the end of his didgeridoo for the flight to South Africa. This will be the farthest the beatboxing one-man-band has been from his native Syracuse, New York. Trey Reames, his genial giant of a manager, remembers their first meeting: “Kid, I told him [adopts gravelly mentor tone], you got charisma!”

DAY 2: JOHANNESBURG

We were expecting blazing heat, but it’s pouring with rain. Full of dank concrete, Jo’burg looks like the title sequence from The Office. We join up with the rest of the party, which includes Pete Son, aka the Petebox, a former UK champion beatboxer whose mohican belies the sweetest of natures. With Joe and Pete, we have two beatboxers on the trip – could a battle be on the cards? “Nah, man,” Driscoll grins. “I’m the Ringo Starr of beatboxing.” Both are booked to perform at Arts Alive, a festival designed to tempt visitors into Johannesburg’s crime-ridden city centre. “Jo’burg’s got a terrible reputation, most of it well deserved,” admits the organiser Kevin Stuart. “But it’s also got an incredible creative edge.”

DAY 3: JOHANNESBURG

Thulane, our driver, gives us a tour of his native Soweto, whose fortunes are rising, judging by the stadium being built for the 2010 World Cup. Zulu warriors in full battle dress greet us outside Nelson Mandela’s former house, but Pete is more interested in jamming with a local rapper, who goes by the charming name of Torture Punishment. We approach the evening’s Arts Alive festival with gun-crime horror stories ringing in our ears. But the scariest weapon on display is the huge, phallic kora being plucked by the Guinean superstar Mory Kanté, who performs an ecstatic rendition of his million-selling Yeke Yeke. Elsewhere, thecharismatic local hero Zuluboy mixes hip-hop with jazz and the maskande guitar style, and Driscoll charms the crowd with his rabble-rousing brand of reggae, hip-hop and blue-eyed soul.

DAY 4: JOHANNESBURG

It’s a day-long drive to the Mozambique capital of Maputo, so we board our safari bus at a spirit-sapping 6am. Nobody has been to bed. But a still-bouncy Reames holds court as we descend from the veldt through lush green valleys towards the border, leading us in an Almost Famous-style singalong to Finlay Quaye. Fourteen years after a civil war that killed more than a million, Maputo still looks down-at-heel, all rusty tenement blocks and glowering security guards. But the Latin influence on the former Portuguese colony is palpable: some if its clubs have been described as “several pieces of clothing short of an orgy”. The atmosphere is less incendiary at Coconuts, the Club Tropicana-style venue where Joe and Pete are booked to play tonight. Our resident MC Kimba Mutanda – half Malawian, half Danish, currently residing in Guildford – urges the crowd to “move your body like an African!” But this apathetic lot seem keener on slumping like octogenarians. Things improve when Mabulu, one of Mozambique’s most successful musical exports, take to the stage. They mix the local guitar-led Marrabenta music with mellifluous vocals in four languages – five when Driscoll performs an English verse he has written to their song about Aids in Africa.

DAY 5: MAPUTO

To a backstreet studio, where Driscoll and his saxophonist, James “Hollywood” Moore, are due to record their parts to the Mabulu track. Moses the sound engineer falls off his chair when Pete adds some drum’n’ bass of his own. It’s safe to assume that beatboxing hasn’t reached Mozambique yet.

DAY 6: MAPUTO

A glance out of the hotel window reveals Maputo to be under several feet of water. It looks like a cross between Venice and Ilford.

Thankfully, it’s not on the scale of the floods that hit Mozambique in 2000 and we’re soon on our way. We stop off at Helene, a tiny village of straw huts roasting under the afternoon sun, to visit Venáncio Mbande, a maestro of the chopi timbila. The dignified sexagenarian has been playing and making the xylophone-like instrument from mwenje (sneezewood) trees for more than half a century, and played the Royal Albert Hall in 1992. On its own, the timbila sounds like a malfunctioning Teas-made, but several played together have an eerie beauty, as Mbande demonstrates with his two sons and grandson. Driscoll spoils the vibe slightly by offering to buy one. Later, in the Indian Ocean fishing village of Vilankolo, the New Yorker hefts his guitar and does his best impression of a human iPod, showing Rainman-like recall of the melodies and lyrics to everything from the Eagles’ Take it Easy to Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.

DAY 7: VILANKOLO

Disaster! After a run-in with a rogue beer can on the beach, Driscoll is nursing a cut on one of his chord-playing fingers. With the festival three days away, it’s touch-and-go whether he will be fit to play. His usual ebullience is lacking, even after a visit to a local church, where he sings with a choir of harmonising kiddies. It’s left to Pete to wow the crowd of locals and tourists who have assembled at our campsite. The way that they holler, it is as if they’ve never heard a lad from Nottingham create drums, synths – even Pink Panthertrumpets – with his mouth, then use a recording pedal to layer them over each other. It’s extraordinary, like a one-man ghetto orchestra. This kid’s got charisma, too.

DAY 8: VILANKOLO

Garland and Gerrard, our high-energy South African guides, order us from our tents with sergeant-major barks and we set off through an apocalyptic landscape of red earth, termite hills, twisted trees and forest fires. Mutanda attempts to elevate flagging spirits: “Joe Driscoll’s cut his finger and may not be able to play guitar. But Hollywood Moore’s in the house, so everything should turn out fine.” The saxophonist, who is swiftly acquiring cult status, smiles from under his greying moustache.

DAY 9: CHAMOI

Heat blasts through the open windows and kids chorus “Hello!” as we crawl north. “I must have waved to two hundred people today,” grins Reames. In preparation for Malawi, Mutanda teaches us phrases in Chewa, its most widely spoken language. “How are you?” is “ Muli bwanji?” and “thank you” is “ zicomo.” Driscoll asks what the Chewa is for: “I’m hung like a squirrel but I’m really passionate.” The finger is healing, evidently.

DAY 10: CHINTHECHE

We turn a corner and get our first glimpse of Lake Malawi, a 680km-long (422mile) inland sea that was dubbed “the lake of stars” by David Livingstone. The festival site is breathtaking, with the two stages only yards away from a palm-fringed white beach and the turquoise lake stretching as far as the eye can see. Playing over the coming weekend are the cream of Malawian artists and British dance acts, including Annie Mac and Ben Westbeech. “ Muli bwanji!” booms Driscoll as he takes the stage several hours later, handily ingratiating himself with the smattering of Malawians in the crowd. The finger holds up admirably during the gig, and on into the early hours as he jams by a beach bonfire with Elias Kadwala, a 19-year-old local guitar prodigy. “This is where the real magic happens,” Driscoll grins, as the lights of fishing boats glint under the orange moon.

DAY 11: LAKE OF STARS FESTIVAL

As the Makambale Brothers band sit under a palm tree beating out harmonies on instruments made out of oil cans and leather suitcases, locals flock on to the site to join the Western backpackers and NGO workers. Pearson Malisau, 22, raised the £20 entrance fee by selling homemade bracelets and postcards: “They charge a lot, but I love the mixture of people, black and white,” he says. That was key, insists Will Jameson, who set up the festival after falling in love with Malawi during his gap year. “We didn’t just want to rock up with loads of Western DJs and have a big rave. We wanted it to be a collaboration with local people.” One of these is Lucius Banda, an ursine crooner who takes to the stage with a troupe of dancers clad in satin military uniforms. It’s like Barry White fronting the Village People – in a good way. One of Malawi’s biggest stars, Banda is going to be a tough act to follow but Petebox not only keeps the Africans interested but brings the house down, concluding his set with a rapturously received cover of Basement Jaxx’s Where’s Your Head At? “That guy has talent!” beams Malisau.

DAY 12

A refreshed-looking Malawian gentleman balancing a pint of beer on his head passes by offering sips from his carton of Chibuku Shake Shake – the local firewater, after which Jameson named his Liverpool club night. It tastes like sour milk and sawdust. Pete, now something of a celebrity, tutors a posse of young acolytes at an impromptu beatboxing workshop. The Beatlife Drummers march down the beach to entertain the locals who can’t afford tickets. And after sunset, the very British drum’n’bass of Rodney P and Skitz has a posse of twinkle-toed local lads kicking up clouds of dust. Jameson is chuffed. With 1,200 paying customers, £100,000 contributed to the local economy and more than £4,000 raised for Unicef, the festival is bigger than it’s ever been, and even more ambitious plans are already afoot for 2008. “ Zicomo!” yells the DJ as the last record grinds to a halt. “Africa’s time is coming!”

This year’s festival is on October 10-12 (www.lakeofstars.co.uk). There is a fundraising event at Fabric, Charterhouse Street, London (www.fabriclondon.com), on Feb 7

Malawi to forge China ties in setback for Taiwan

Malawi will announce the establishment of diplomatic ties with China this month but will retain economic links with Taiwan, a Malawian foreign ministry official said on Friday.

"A delegation ... was in mainland China last week to discuss bilateral relations with Malawi and the announcement will be made anytime this month," the official told Reuters.

China, which is importing minerals and oil from around the world to feed its booming economy, is the world's third-largest investor in Africa. In the first 10 months of this year alone, China's total trade with Africa leaped by just over 30 percent as Chinese companies signed up contracts from Congo to Niger.

Local media reported on Friday that the Malawian government had cancelled a planned meeting with Taiwanese officials, raising speculation that Malawi might end 41 years of diplomatic relations with the island nation in favour of mainland China.

Malawi's leading daily, The Nation, said Taiwanese Foreign Affairs Minister James Huang had been due to meet Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika this week.

Taiwan said last month it had sent officials to Malawi to save diplomatic relations amid reports that arch-rival China was aggressively courting the southern African nation.

The Malawian foreign ministry official did not comment on the future of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but said Malawi would like to maintain its economic ties. Malawi, whose economy is growing rapidly buoyed by the agricultural sector, has never had diplomatic relations with economic powerhouse China before.

Many Western officials have criticised Beijing's multi-billion-dollar aid, trade and investment overtures in Africa, saying its no-strings approach sidesteps necessary safeguards to maintain transparency and avoid corruption.

African leaders brushed those concerns aside at an Africa-European Union summit last month, saying they were mature enough able to deal with China and defend their own economic interests.

China, which has seen self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, wants to isolate the island internationally and pressure it into unification by making diplomatic allies switch ties to Beijing.

Taiwan's allies, which the island leadership sees as key to its legitimacy against China, have dwindled to 24, mostly small countries in poor regions, compared to China's 170.

Taiwan FM cancels mission to Malawi: official

Taiwan's Foreign Minister James Huang was forced to cancel his mission to Malawi at the 11th hour following inability of President Bingu wa Mutharika to receive him, officials said.

"Mutharika is on holiday and cannot meet the Taiwanese envoy," Malawian foreign affairs secretary Ben Mbewe told reporters in Lilongwe, the administrative capital, late Thursday.

"We were informed too late when the programme for the president (Mutharika) who is on leave had already been made," Mbewe said.

Mutharika has been busy fulfilling local engagements.

Huang left Taipei late Wednesday amid reports that rival China is seeking to attract the southern African nation as a diplomatic ally with hefty financial aid.

Huang was flying to Malawi "to make his best efforts to cement the 41-year Taiwan-Malawi relations," said Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh.

Eliot Chiang, an official at the Taiwanese embassy in Lilongwe, was quoted by local media as confirming the cancellation of Huang's mission, saying Taiwan did not want to disturb Mutharika's holiday.

Mutharika often pledges his support for Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations and other world bodies and Malawi is one of the dozen or so countries which recognise Taipei instead of Beijing as the capital of China.

Beijing still regards Tawain as part of its territory awaiting reunification, despite their split in 1949 after a civil war, and has repeatedly blocked Tapei's controversial bid to apply for UN membership.

Africa is one of the main diplomatic battlegrounds for the cross-strait rivals, which have accused each other of luring allies away with "chequebook diplomacy."

Only 24 countries now recognise Taipei instead of Beijing.

Malawi to deploy 50 police officers to Darfur

Malawi is to deploy about 50 police officers to Sudan's Darfur as part of its contribution to the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission, the country's police chief said on Friday.

"In our efforts on capacity building, 50 police officers are ready for deployment to Darfur in Sudan," Oliver Kumbambe, inspector general of the Malawi police, said in a statement.

The southern African nation, which has 6 500 police officers, has not given details on exactly when it would deploy the police force.

This will be Malawi's largest police contingent on a peacekeeping mission. Twenty-seven Malawi police officers are currently in Liberia and two are in Kosovo. Malawi last year pledged to send 800 troops to Darfur to serve in the peacekeeping force.

Pupils’ festive gifts will help change young lives in Malawi

YOUNGSTERS in Africa will soon be sporting super new back-packs kindly bought and filled with goodies by pupils at an East Kilbride school.

They will also be enjoying a nutritious meal every day, thanks to the same pupils.

For the children at St Leonard’s Primary School organised a whole series of fund-raisers for the Scottish International Relief charity after hearing about how hard life was for children in Malawi.

They took a great interest in that country after learning lots about it from the primary 4/5 teacher, Mrs Victoria Tyler, who had spent much of her summer holidays there.

Mrs Tyler told the East Kilbride youngsters that, despite the many difficulties caused by poverty and the lack of basic resources in schools in Malawi, the boys and girls are very enthusiastic about the opportunity to gain an education.

Ties with Malawi are shaky: MOFA

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) A Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
official indicated Friday Malawi's last-minute cancellation
of a visit by Taiwan's Mi nister of Foreign Affairs
James Huang to the African nation could signal bilateral ties are
shaky.
Calling the situation "unusual," MOFA acting spokeswoman Phoebe
Yeh admitted that Taiwan-Malawi relations are at a "sensitive,
delicate" stage.
The situation calls for extra attention from Taiwan,
although the African ally has repeatedly stressed its relations with
Taiwan has remained unchanged, Yeh said.
Huang left Taiwan Wednesday and was originally scheduled to
arrive in the Malawian capital of Lilongwe Thursday afternoon for a
visit aimed at cementing bilateral ties, amid reports that the
African ally may switch allegiance from Taipei to Beijing.
However, the Malawian government only notified Taiwan after
Huang's departure that it is not a convenient time for Huang to visit
the country now because Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has
not returned to work from the New Year holiday and that Malawian
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joyce Banda has left the capital to deal
with some unexpected matter, MOFA officials said.
Banda, however, reassured Huang, who reached her by
telephone, that Taiwan-Malawi relations remain unchanged, and Banda
asked for Taiwan's understanding, MOFA officials said.
Also, Banda said the Malawian government will invite Huang to
visit the country after the holiday is over, according to the
officials.
China has been vying with Taiwan for diplomatic recognition
from Taiwan's allies in recent years, using its growing
international political and economic might. Several countries have
switched recognition from Taiwan to China in the past couple of
years, with Taiwan's remaining allies numbering only 24 currently.
As a result of the apparent snub by Malawi, Huang flew
directly to Swaziland, which was supposed
to be the second leg of his trip. Swaziland is another one of
Taiwan's allies in Africa.
According to spokeswoman Yeh, Huang has met with Swaziland Prime
Minister Themba Dlamini and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Moses Mathendele Dlamini and is scheduled to discuss with the
Swaziland government details concerning the establishment of a
bilateral cooperation protocol.
Huang will also inspect Taiwan's technical corps in Swaziland
before departing the African nation to return to Taiwan during the
weekend, she said.

Malawi Officials Shun Taiwan Official

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan's ties with its ally Malawi were shaky Friday after the African country snubbed the island's top diplomat in an aborted visit to the African nation aimed at persuading it to resist diplomatic wooing by China.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister James Huang left for Malawi on Wednesday after two senior Malawian government ministers visited Taipei's rival, Beijing, in what Taiwan feared was a prelude to the establishment of formal ties between Malawi and China.

But Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday that Huang had to scrap the trip to Malawi after its government said senior officials there would not be available to meet him.

"After (Huang) took off, Malawi informed us that President Bingu wa Mutharika was still on holiday and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joyce Banda left the capital due to an unforeseen incident," the ministry said in a statement.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. The two sides have since been engaged in an all-out contest to win the diplomatic allegiance of nations around the world.

In recent years, China's rising political and economic clout has helped it persuade more countries to recognize Beijing and not Taipei, reducing the number of Taiwan's allies to only 24 — most of them small and impoverished nations in Latin America, Africa and the South Pacific.

By contrast, China is now recognized by more than 170 countries.

Acting Taiwanese foreign ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said Taiwan was closely monitoring ties with Malawi. She acknowledged "it was not normal" that Malawian officials canceled meetings with Huang.

The ministry said Banda reassured Huang by phone, however, that "mutual ties remain unchanged."

Huang was visiting Swaziland, another of Taiwan's African allies, on Friday.

Taiwan's diplomatic ties with Malawi looking shaky

Taipei - Taiwan's diplomatic ties with Malawi looked very unstable on Friday as Taipei confirmed that the African nation has refused to receive a visit by Taiwan's foreign minister who flew to Malawi to try to rescue ties. Foreign Minister James Huang left Wednesday and was scheduled to arrive in Malawi Thursday afternoon to consolidate ties as Malawi is mulling recognizing China.

But when Huang contacted Malawi's Foreign Minister Joyce Hilda Banda on his way to Malawi, he was told that President Bingu wa Mutharika was on a vacation and Banda would be out of the country when Huang arrived.

"Banda said it was inconvenient for Malawi to receive Huang at that time, and said he would invite Huang to visit Malawi at a later date," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said.

Regarding Malawi's having agreed to Huang's visit and then refusing to receive him, Yeh said: "This is usual."

Because of the change, Huang went to Swaziland, another of Taiwan's 24 diplomatic allies.

He has met with Swaziland Prime Minister Themba Dlamini and Foreign Minister Moses Mathendele Dlamini. Huang is scheduled was to sign a 10-year cooperation pact with Swaziland later Friday, Yeh said.

Huang visited Malawi in December to cement ties. But on December 24, Malawi sent two ministers to Beijing to sign a memorandum of understanding to pave the way for launching diplomatic ties, prompting Huang to make the second visit in a month.

Malawian press said President Mutharika had approved recognizing China in view of Beijing's growing political and economic power.

To open ties with China, Malawi must first cut ties with Taiwan because China requires Beijing's allies to accept its "one-China" policy.

Taiwan has said it treasured its 41-year-old relationship with Malawi, but China has offered a 6-billion-US-dollar check to Malawi and Taipei does not want to compete with China in dollar diplomacy.

Malawi is one of the 24 mostly-small nations that recognize Taiwan. Some 170 countries recognize China and regard Taiwan as China's breakaway province.

MOFA head in Malawi to save strained ties

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang has already arrived in Malawi to discuss new cooperation projects in which Taiwan could assist, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, amid concerns for Taiwan-Malawi 41-year-old bilateral diplomatic ties.

Huang is accompanied by several diplomatic officials, including Chang Yun-ping, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) African affairs department, MOFA acting spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said during a regular news briefing.

Malawi ministers headed for Beijing on Christmas Eve to initiate a formal relationship with China, which last week pledged US$6 billion in development aid for a waterway linking Malawi's Shire River with Mozambique's sea ports.

"We hope to have new interactions [with Malawi authorities]," said Yeh, who noted that Taiwan could not compete in "dollar diplomacy" with China.

A news report in the Nyasa Times Jan. 2 quoted Ben Mbewe, secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as saying that "it is not a crime" to talk to another member of the U.N.

"The Taiwanese are becoming too jittery too early," Mbewe also told Associated Press.

"We need to talk face-to-face," said Yeh.

In other related news, an official from Non-governmental Organization (NGO) Affairs Committee under the MOFA said that morning that the foreign ministry would put eco-diplomacy and non-governmental organization affairs at the top of its 2008 agenda.

The official cited an 11-member delegation in Saint Lucia -- Taiwan's newest diplomatic ally in the Caribbean -- for developing the island's eco-tourism and bird-watching infrastructures.

"The mission helped Saint Lucia establish its own Eco Tourism routes," said Chiang Kuo-chiang, deputy head of the committee.

He added that the MOFA has recently set up a bilingual Chinese-English Web site to help local NGOs applying for subsidies from the ministry and contacting with their foreign counterparts.

Chiang noted that Web site allow users to follow up their applications online, which might further help the MOFA keep track of the already 36,000 NGOs that have been established in Taiwan.

Taiwan foreign minister cancels trip to Malawi

Taipei - Mystery surrounded a trip by Taiwan's foreign minister to Malawi on a mission to try to rescue diplomatic ties between the two countries when he cancelled the visit to the African country, reports said early Friday in Taipei.

The Central News Agency (CNA), in a dispatch from Malawi, said Foreign Minister James Huang - who was due to arrive there earlier Thursday - had cancelled the visit for unknown reasons.

Taiwan's ambassador to Malawi, Chuang Hsun-kai told CNA that the trip had been cancelled and he did not know where Huang was.

Huang and his aides left Taipei on Wednesday evening to make a last-ditch effort to prevent Malawi from switching recognition from Taiwan to China.

It was to have been Huang's second trip to Malawi within a month. Between the two trips, Malawi had sent two ministers to Beijing to sign a memorandum of understanding to pave the way for launching diplomatic ties.

Malawian press said President Bingu wa Mutharika had approved recognizing China in view of Beijing's growing political and economic power.

To open ties with China, Malawi must first cut ties with Taiwan because China requires Beijing's allies to accept the 'one-China' policy.

On Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Foebe Yeh confirmed that Huang had flown to Malawi.

She said Taiwan treasured its 41-year-old relationship with Malawi, but China has offered a six billion US dollar check to Malawi and Taiwan does not want to compete with China in dollar diplomacy.

Malawi is one of the 24 mostly-small nations that recognize Taiwan. Some 170 countries recognize China and regard Taiwan as China's breakaway province.