From music to sports, dance to fashion, and film to cultural talks and food, this year’s UMP international festival presents a unique celebration with diverse range of activities on the exquisite beaches of Cape Maclear in Mangochi District.
The festival, which started Friday up to Monday October, has been designed to give people a complete picture of Malawi from all dimensions.
The organisers, Chitoliro Productions, said in an interview that the festival seeks to celebrate Malawian arts and culture.
“We are leaving no stone unturned because our strategic goal is to celebrate Malawian culture and arts in full, not in bits and pieces.
“This is the reason why we have a blend of exciting activities such as music, fashion, arts, sports, conference, Miss UMP, adventure, philanthropy and Cape Mac Film festival. It’s the revolution kind of festival,” Ken Limamwe, director of Chitoliro Productionz.
According to the festival’s programme, activities at the Cape Maclear Beach with a thought-provoking roundtable discussions on cultural and creative industries at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre.
The conference drew together experts from the country’s cultural and creative industries to bang heads on issues of sustainable economic growth, innovation and creativity, entrepreneurship, tourism promotion and community development.
Basically, the conference explored on a number of opportunities for growth such as the growing international demand for the African cultural products for sustainable production, and creative industries as drivers of job creation, sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction.
“It is high time we engage in these conversations to ensure that the cultural and creative industries contribute towards strategic Sustainable Development Goals,” said Limamwe.
In terms of live music performances, the 2024 UMP festival features artists such as Magixx, Onesimus, Sir Trill, Phyzix, Deep London, Fada Moti, Nsima, Theresa Phondo and Dr. Ethel Kamwendo.
One of unique features about this festival is that it will have on-site recording studio that will be manned by Tapps Productions and made available to creatives to work on projects.
Among others, the beach studio has been incorporated to produce high-quality music content, including collaborations, which will be shared with other international platforms.
For a long time, Malawian artists have been struggling to utilise festivals to work with visiting artists due to lack of expertise and equipment in such events.
But this will be a thing of the past as this year’s UMP festival has Tapps Bandawe and his Tapps Productions to bridge the gap.
Meanwhile, Malawian artists who have been yearning for international collaborations and exposure have been urged to utilise this opportunity.
One of the country’s Hip Hop artists Phyzix AKA Mountain Goat said he is set to deliver an incredible live set at the UMP festival.
