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About

Lake of Stars is an award winning festival that takes place in the warm heart of Africa on the palm fringed shores of the continent’s third largest lake: Lake Malawi. The event promotes Malawian music and tourism, raises funds for charity and provides travellers and Malawians alike with the opportunity to enjoy incredible live music in an exotic and beautiful location.

With a diverse music policy ranging from Afropop, reggae and folk to beatboxers and the best international DJs, the festival has something for everyone.

The festival was borne from a desire to raise money for a developing economy, help promote Malawi as a tourist destination and expose Malawian artists to international crowds. Set on the shimmering, palm-fringed shores of Lake Malawi International and African artists gather for a musical, social and cultural exchange unlike anything you will have seen before. For many the festival is the focal point of travelling around this beautiful country, forming part of an itinerary spanning what Malawi has to offer. You can travel direct to Malawi or make your own way across Africa to the festival.

Lake of Stars takes inspiration from events like Live Aid, WOMAD and Glastonbury . The difference is that LOS uses music-tourism to generate revenue and exposure for Malawi . Proceeds from the festival are then also donated to charitable projects in the festival site area. This way as the festival expands so too does its positive sphere of influence.

The Malawi government has recognised the part that tourism can play in the country’s economy. ‘….we have analysed the economy and looked at where there is the largest potential [for development] and we believe that tourism will play a vital role.’ (the President, quoted in Forbes Report). ‘The development of the tourism industry as a major foreign exchange earner is one of the Malawi government’s key objectives.’ (SADC report) ‘More recently, tourism has been identified by the Government as possessing the potential to assist in economic and social development in the country, particularly through employment creation and in the generation of much needed foreign exchange.’ (Strategic Tourism Development Plan: UNDP/WTO)

Will Jameson - Lake of Stars Festival Founder & Director

Will Jameson first visited Malawi in 1998 when he worked in Dwangwa as a volunteer with the Wildlife Society for 6 months. During that time he travelled to Zimbabwe , Zambia and Mozambique . On returning to England Will took with him a souvenir – an empty carton of ‘Chibuku Shake Shake’ beer. Half way through university at Liverpool John Moores he decided to start a clubnight with friends Damo Jones, Charlene McDaid and Rich McGinnis. They named the night after the Malawian beer and went on to win Best UK Club in the Mixmag Awards in 2004.

It was in this same year that Will launched the first Lake of Stars Festival headlined by Chibuku favourite, Groove Armada’s Andy Cato . The festival attracted dozens of people from the UK and hundreds attended from all over Malawi and southern Africa . It won the Malawi Tourism Award in its first year and is now one of the highlights of the international festival calendar. Will was named as one of the Observer and Courvoisier Future 500 for his pioneering work with the festival and charities in Malawi .