Ufulu Festival is an annual celebration Flood Church uses art to commemorate Independence Day. But this year, organisers have announced that they have postponed the event to a later date due to the death of the vice-president Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others in a military plane crash on June 10. Our Arts Editor EDITH GONDWE caught with one of the organisers Pastor Dali Mizaya. Excerpts.
Q
: Tell us about the Ufulu Festival and what it represents?
A
: Ufulu Festival is our yearly Independence Day celebration, whereas Flood Church we celebrate the independence of Malawi as well as freedom we find in Jesus. We bring young people together to celebrate freedom, art and culture, while giving them the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus.
Q
: You recently announced a postponement of the festival. Is there room to still have it this year? Or will it take place next year?
A
: The shift was announced because of the untimely death of the Vice-President of the Republic of Malawi Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others, including the former first lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri in a plane crash in Mzimba. As the country is mourning for 21 days, we wanted to respect this. We also have people in our church community who were directly affected by this tragedy. However, this is our 10th year doing Ufulu Festival, so, as organisers, we will announce a new date soon.
Q
: If you shift dates, how will you ensure that it does not clash with other existing festivals in the new dates?
A
: We have already identified a date, we have done our research on other events, and notified artists we had booked who assured us that they are available on the new dates, so we are hoping that everything will go as planned and there won’t be any major complications and clashes with other events.
Q
: What are your concluding remarks?
A
: We are excited to celebrate 10 years of the Ufulu Festival. So, we want to encourage everyone to come. It is a free festival happening at Grand Business Park in Lilongwe this year. We will have the likes of Eli Njuchi, Theresa Phondo and Gwamba amongst some of our headliners and Joy Nathu will be returning as a host.
