Mzuzu overdosed with Entertainment

The Biblical lesson of Joseph who interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh, which anticipated seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine made Pharaoh recognize Joseph's God-given ability, resulting into his promotion to become the chief administrator of Egypt.

It sounds far-fetched to compare it with what happened in Mzuzu two weeks ago.

Now the folly of lack of collaboration reared its ugly head again in Mzuzu. Unlike the biblical story where food was reserved in Mzuzu even in full knowledge that there is entertainment starvation all the time, decided to have it all.

You can see from the Bible story that it only needed banging heads to agree when to do what.

Organisers of Night of the Giants as well as Kukaya Urban Music Festival should have agreed long before hand, to plan on how to spread the events through the stretch of time in order to serve the Mzuzu people best.

Unless the activities were more of a pissing contest against the organisers to see whose ego would be massaged best.

Imagine Black Missionaries, Anthony Makondetsa, Lucius Banda and the Zembani Band, Moda Fumulani, Khozie Masimbe and Yanjanani Chumbu, among others on one stage and a stone throw away having Patience Namadingo, Gwamba, including 42 musicians and six DJs performing on the other side.

Yes, I have heard both camps expressing satisfaction which might also just be a face saver. On several fronts I have heard people saying that in Malawi nothing advances because there is absence of the word cooperation in the way we operate.

If it is a business of similar nature there is always going to be the feeling of competition other than the spirit of complementarity. The Mzuzu scenario presents this case best.

If, the organisers had collaborated on just on aspect of timing for example, the victory either would have registered would have been more than what they are both celebrating now.

Swagg Entertainment chief executive officer Francis Mkandawire said the clash wouldn’t affect patronage for either of the shows because their target market is different, so it works as a good combination for the city of Mzuzu. It will be a day to remember.

But then when you hear Squirrels Park managing director Keliophas Tobius expressing surprise that the festival had been shifted to Mzuzu Stadium when organisers “were aware that there was another event to take place close by, then you realise something is terribly wrong here”.

I agree with his observation that the music industry needs to be approached with one spirit and that there is no need for competition because we are all serving the same interest and that is to provide entertainment to Malawians.

Considering that The Night of the Giants was being held for the third time since Squirrels Park opened doors in 2016, it is common sense that the inaugural Kukaya Urban Music Festival should have been accorded its deserved status by allowing it to flourish without being deterred by other such activities. For me, this is a very brilliant event for the region but it should not have started from a point of competition.

And considering that the urban festival had a theme Make the Talent, the Business to entrench the spirit of entrepreneurship in the young artists this should have been the opportunity to let the artists realise that entrepreneurship works well with collaborations and partnerships.

One thing that is very clear is that the biggest loser is the northern region patronage. They really needed to be treated in the same way the people of Egypt were treated when it was all clear that more days of starvation waited them and therefore, they had to keep some food for a rainy day.

I will let the organisers with my last word, borrowed of course, but very relevant: ‘Music is a Mission but not a Competition’.