The country’s artist Esau Mwamwaya, who stars with renowned group The Very Best, has described their performance at the Glastonbury Festival in England over the weekend as another historical moment.
Mwamwaya said as usual he used the platform to showcase his talent but also fly Malawi’s flag at the festival which featured several artists.
Despite being popular outside, Mwamwaya and The Very Best are still not yet well known in Malawi despite holding performances in the country including at the Lake of Stars Festival.
Several Malawians have commended Mwamwaya and The Very Best team for their classic performance at the Glastonbury Festival.
The Very Bes t is a group made up of Malawi’s Mwamwaya and Swedish DJ Johan Hugo, who are the original members.
“I’ve never been so happy at a festival like I was at Glastonbury. My experience was just beyond imagination. I can do it every year. I can say it here that this festival is going to be my life time experience. It was so great,” said the singer yesterday.
Mwamwaya, who has had stints performing with Masaka Band and late Evison Matafale before he found his way to star with The Very Best said having performed at the Glastonbury Festival, they will also be performing in several other festivals.
He revealed that they will be performing at Xoyo in London on July 5 before dating British Summer Time Hyde Park on July 8 where they will be supporting a British rock band – Mumford and Sons.
On July 9 the group will perform at Pettafiesta before invading Latitude Festival in the UK on July 16.
Asked as to whether they will perform at this year’s Lake of Stars being held at Chintheche Inn in Nkhata Bay from September 30 to October 2, Mwamwaya said he does not know about Lake of Stars yet.
“At the moment as a group we don’t know anything about Lake of Stars yet. I wish we had played though,” said Mwamwaya.
He also said that they have performances at two festivals in Austria, one in Switzerland, two festivals in Latvia and one in Paris, France.
To promote Malawi and its culture, Mwamwaya, has made sure that The Very Best takes time to perform songs done in the local language and true to that the group performs in Chichewa and English.
The Very Best’s music has been described as an Afro- Western mix of dance, hip-hop, pop, and the traditional music of Malawi.
The group produced their first full-length album, Warm Heart of Africa, released digitally in August 2009 and released physically in October 2009 by Green Owl and Moshi Moshi.
The album features collaborations with Ezra Koenig and M.I.A. and the title track from the album, Warm Heart of Africa, won the World Beat Song award at the 9th Annual Independent Music Awards.
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