Patricia Maganu
28 July 2008
Francistown — "We are trying to represent Francistown and do what has never been done in Francistown as far as productions goes." These are the words of Thabang 'Brown' Michael an upcoming producer in Francistown. He owns Botsa Majita Productions together with his two youthful business partners, Itayi Majaji and Brian Mabutho.
The three say that Francistown has never had a prominent producer or studio and they are going to change the situation. Michael and Majaji are the producers while Mabutho is the spokesperson for the studio. The facility is located at Michael's house in Francistown.
Majaji says that at first they operated a mobile studio. "It was only until last year that we decided to expand our vision as music entrepreneurs," he said. Majaji from Zimbabwe said that they have always been inspired by their cultural diversities. "The whole idea was to bring together our minds and become the biggest studio in the country," he added.
He explained that their focus will soon extend beyond recording albums. "We aspire to do jingles, promotions and advertisements; anything to do with digital audio. We have also Botsa Majita clothing label that will be launched soon," he said.
Mabutho said their main aim is to help Francistown musicians and save them from seeking production and promotion services in Gaborone or outside the country. "We want to have artists who originate from Francistown recording from here and from our studio. That is what we are working on now," he stated. Currently, they are producing their own artist 'Lazy Boy'. They are about to release a Botsa Majita compilation. Michael said that at the moment they are working hard on both projects.
"Lazyboy's album will be out by the festive season and the compilation will also be out very soon," he said. He added that the Botsa Majita compilation boasts the in-put of critically acclaimed names like Buckshot, Apollo Diablo, Nomadic, Eureka and many other Francistown artists.
"We are trying to do this as soon as possible because it is a way of introducing ourselves and new image to the public. We only started using the name Botsa Majita this year and we need ways to get it out there and this is just one of them," he said. He told Showtime that on the compilation they will have a video introducing their clothing label with the artists who are featured.
Michael said that he got his skills by hanging around producers, but Majaji studied music production in Zimbabwe. Michael plays musical instruments. Majaji said the challenge they face now is that studio spares and hardware are not cheap.
"Music is fast and evolving and using the latest software. We have to keep up with the latest to produce quality work and that does not come cheap," he said. The young producers say they are financing the project from their own pockets.
"We want to do it on our own first without trying to source funds. We have been doing it and with what we make, we just have to be responsible to manage," says Mabutho. The three say they know that in a couple of years, their studio will be one of the most talked about in the country.
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