Chippa Legodimo
29 September 2008
opinion
Sebabatsane's debut album Ke phaphaletse did little to put them on the local entertainment map. In the few live shows they performed last year, they showed much potential, but then again those who wanted to follow their music further were left with mixed feelings - their stage act did not reflect the recorded material.
After just a few hundreds of their copies were sold, the group decided to suspend distribution, mainly because the few on the market were gathering dust on the shelves.
However, the youngsters did not despair. In fact, they took time to listen to their CD and see where the problem was and they concluded that its engineering was not up to standard, especially the mastering, which is why very few people bought the copies.
From there, it was back to the studio - to do it again and the end result is a much-improved version with a slightly different name, Ke phaphaletse-Ba Njele. Its sound is clearer and the lead vocalist Boitumelo 'Mokoupere' Lucas, was in his element, showing a lot of maturity.
Lucas explained to Showtime that he and fellow band members strongly felt their album failed because of some technical errors, hence they decided not to do another one, but just to re-record the same songs and add a few new ones.
"This is the resurrection of Sebabatsane. We have been down but not out, our souls were just lingering, but we managed to sit down and identify our problem. I was adamant, however, all this time that we were good singers. But I doubted the sound in our product after it came out, perhaps we should have just stopped it from distribution straight away. But the new album was recorded with that in mind and we as vocalists go the chance to improve on our voices," he said.
Though there is not much difference from the female voices, Lucas comes along with more authority and tenacity reminiscent of Shumba Ratshega.
In fact, their voices sound very similar and from a distance one would be forgiven to think that Ratshega has thrown another one for his fans.
"I started singing with him (Ratshega) during our time with the Sefophe arts groups, but there is no way I am going to try to imitate him because I want to have my own identity," Lucas said.
Though it was a flop, many found it difficult to ignore the introductory track Tshabang Sebabatsane and once again kicks off the 'new' album, but the group's followers are likely to enjoy it more this time around.
Whether the second recording of their album will help them up the popularity stakes, or if it will be able to bring them more Pula, still remains to be seen. But the youngsters are more determined to make a mark this time around.
Perhaps the addition of the number Ngwanyana to the new recording is what gives the album a different feel. A dikhwaere song telling a story of a man who lost the love of his life and is trying every trick to get his lovely woman back with him while at the same time regretting ever meeting her. This guy is in a real state of confusion.
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