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Botswana: Sound of Hope Concert Fails the Test
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
3 December 2007
Posted to the web 3 December 2007
By Chippa Legodimo
The Sound of Hope charity concert held at the National Stadium on December 1 was a total flop despite the fact that it was supposed to feature one of South Africa's kwaito giants, Mandoza.
The organisers had said they were planning to make it an annual event but after the first disappointment, they might struggle to find sponsors for the next edition.
Although one can never be sure of things in the tricky world of entertainment, the show could have produced better results if the organisers had cast their net wide to include almost all music genres. It was an oversight on the part of the organisers not to include Borankana artistes in the line-up, as the genre is currently dominant with a lot of rising stars.
Organised by Roger Madison of Stage Zone and the Nosey Road band, the event was full of rock music, a less popular genre in Botswana. Almost all recoding rock musicians got the nod to entertain the crowds.
Though it looked like a good decision not to allow alcohol into the venue the move might have cost them a lot as some people complained and some left to go to other spots where they could find alcohol.
Perhaps in anticipation of a big crowd, a big screen with a projector was erected near the stage but no one was there to utilise it. The sound system and the stage were also magnificent. Madison and fellow organisers did their assignment in that department.
None of those who performed disappointed the small crowd that had turned up for the show anyway, putting spirited performances, perhaps hoping that the noise would attract more revellers from afar.
A night of heavy metal as they call it, from Metal Horizon to Stane, veterans Nosey Road to the up-coming Skinflint, the performances were inspiring. Nosey Road took the few who turned up on a trip down the memory lane with such oldies like 'Young and Free'.
The Sbrana brothers and their band proved that indeed there is no substitute for experience. Ivo and Ray were on their element, holding their guitars on different positions as the small crowd cheered. Sometimes playing it behind the head as if they were performing some magic.
Jeff Matheatau surfaced at the show after a long absence and despite performing in front of a relatively small crowd, the kwasa kwasa star and his band were in an uncompromising mood.
They only lost it when they played that vulgar song which apparently was composed to address the problem of rape in Botswana.
In the song, Matheatau does not only shout openly about rape but he also warns the perpetrators of the crime that he will ask President Festus Mogae to help him with a budizzo, to "cut them".
The track is part of the musicians' new album, which he said would be released soon. But it was not just about the explicit lyrics, the singing was also not typical of Matheatau staff and he needs to refine all its aspects before throwing it into the market.
Self-styled kwaito king Mapetla gave his best but surprisingly the fans looked less interested.
Or did it have something to do with the fact that he gave them his church grooves, O lemene mene from the new album and Jordan from the previous one.
But as usual, the king was stylish, coming up on stage with his Madoda, P-Mag and Skazo clad in all white. However, the highlight of their performance was when Skazo dished out his Ditshipi tsa Ka. Just as its instrumental started in the background, the fans just went into a frenzy as if to say their moment had arrived.
Gaborone North legislator Keletso Rakhudu who was supposed to give a speech had his moment on the limelight playing a guitar much to the fans' amazement. When he asked for the sound engineer to connect the instrument for him, many thought he was just joking.
But he insisted, "This is not time for speeches. I want to play the guitar and entertain these people". An indeed he showed his other side, that if he did not win the election, he could have gone into music.
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The festival was supposed to have kicked off at 4:00pm but only started after 7:00 pm and finished at 2:00 am on Sunday despite the long list of performers.
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| Copyright © 2007 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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