Though Montsho 'Kgokgonono' Bautu's debut borankana album Lokgalela failed to grab the attention of many music followers, it was good enough to catch the ear of renowned producer Eric Ramogobya who offered him a place at his Ramco stable after its release.

He has since shifted his attention to venturing into another territory, which has not been fully-exploited. Culture enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that the Kanye-born musician has now ventured into Dikoma music. The good news is that while he attempts to turn this 'century-old' type of music, Kgokgonono has tried not to make it too modern lest it loses its original taste.

Ironically, the musician had his doubts about going commercial with this genre until after his performance at Botswana Television (Btv's) Mokaragana talent show last month.

But he is not completely new to Dikoma, the track Kgankgathi in his debut album was clear testimony to this.Apparently, it was one of the favourite songs in the album and perhaps Bautu's decision to take that route was primarily influenced by its success. "Since that show I have been inundated with calls from fans who have expressed their desire to see me focus only on that path. To be honest, I recorded the songs just because I love that type of music but I was sceptical at the way fans would respond. I mean these days, people are more and more into the high tempo type of music and Dikoma by its nature is a laid back type of music.

I just felt they might just dismiss it right away, but I have been surprised by the response," he said.Bautu says he grew up in a family that treasures cultural values and that before he did his album, he got a chance to get some tips from the elders."

I like rich Setswana language and sitting around elderly people offers you that rare opportunity to hear of those proverbs and when one composes a song it all comes flooding to mind.

But you have to be a big fan of the Setswana language otherwise, you will be bored. I have realised that unlike borankana, dikoma has not been fully-exploited. You could find one or two songs like the one I did in Lokgalela," he said.It was apparent that Ramogobya being a big fan of traditional music, would encourage the musician to follow that path."Eric (Ramogobya)is a pioneer in many ways and I wanted to be a pioneer in recording a fully-fledge dikoma album and there was no better person to do it," Kgokgonono said.

His album is due out later next month and according to him they are going all out not only to promote the album but this "new" genre-contemporary dikoma.