Malawi is expected to host one of the big names in African music in Nigerian Kizz Daniel. The Buga star is set to perform in Malawi courtesy of Epic Lounge at an event scheduled for August 27 at Lilongwe Golf Club. Ahead of his anticipated performance in Malawi, the Nigerian star courted controversy in Tanzania over some disagreements due to problems which arose due to travel challenges. The Malawian promoters, however, say they have not been fazed by the development. Our Staff Reporter BRIAN ITAI caught up with Epic Lounge director Yollam Kawanga. Excerpts:

Kawanga: The experience was very good for us as organisers

Q

: How are the preparations for the concert progressing?

A

: Preparations are progressing so well, everything is being implemented according to our plan of execution. We made sure that Kizz Daniel should be paid in full on time two months ago for him to come fully prepared and give Malawians the best show like that of Uganda. We have embarked on back-to-back marketing from January and this far I can confidently say that the marketing drive has been successful as evidenced by traffic in tickets sales in all our respective outlets, online and through Mo626.

Another crucial and essential aspect that has to be taken into consideration during the preparation for a huge show like this one is “Artist’s Technical Rider” which is simply defined as an addendum to a talent contract, which sets forth the specific technical requirements for a performing artist. Therefore, we requested for it from Kizz Daniel’s management on time for our sound engineers to be set accordingly.

Q

: What does it take to organise an event that huge?

A

: We have in place a well-crafted plan of execution, a well-coordinated organising team that can deliver, capacity and above all God’s hand.

Q

: Did the developments in Tanzania about Kizz Daniel threaten what you want to get out of the show here in Malawi?

A

: Not at all. There were unforeseeable circumstances in Tanzania, which were clarified and accepted by both parties, notably the promoter and Kizz’s management. But allow me not to comment much on what happened in Tanzania since it was corrected and they had a make-up show the following Friday before he left for Rwanda where he had an impressive performance without any issue. Before heading to Tanzania, Kizz Daniel also gave Ugandans an amazing show which up to now is being considered as Uganda’s best show of the year. Therefore, Malawians should expect the best concert ever from the “Stage Beast AKA Vado”Tickets are being sold like hot cakes and I’m sure they will be sold out before Friday.

Q

: How did you get over that hiccup?

A

: To us it wasn’t a hiccup, but a learning curve. It compelled us to put all prerequisites like technical rider in place and reschedule Kizz Daniel’s arrival in Malawi, which will be a day before, to refrain from unforeseeable circumstances like flight delays.

Q

: What do such events mean for the improvement of the local music industry?

A

: Such huge event has a positive impact on improvement of the local music industry. It offers a great platform for exposure to our local artists, they showcase their talent globally since concerts of Kizz Daniel’s calibre are beamed on international media platforms. Secondly, our local artists can learn couple of things through both interaction with Kizz Daniel and his management as well as his actual performance. Lastly, 18 artists, including the DJs, are part of this concert, meaning that not only artists are benefitting from the concert, but also band members for each artist are also benefitting financially.

Q

: What do you make of the corporate support that has been rendered towards this event?

A

: We are really thankful to National Bank of Malawi plc and Yellow Card Ltd for coming on board. They have really given Epic Lifestyle Concert a great push. Malawians will have a memorable top-notch concert experience. On another note, these corporates are business oriented, they have internal KPIs to achieve like brand visibility and digital platforms activations/sign-ups. Epic Lifestyle, as a promoter, in striving to achieve a win-win situation, we try our level best to have target KPIs alignment meeting with our corporate sponsors prior to both pre-events and actual event. Thus our execution plan is set and implemented with strategic intent of achieving our corporate sponsors’ KPIs through team work. We are always happy to see our corporate sponsors happy, that’s our ethos.n

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