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 It was not just victory for the hosts, but the turn out emphasised the growing popularity of local music. The performers were Dithakga, an offshoot of the once popular Mokorwana cultural troupe and the legendary Machesa, who made history two years ago when they won a Kora award. Culture Spears, a new cultural music group currently taking the country by storm also performed their hit tracks “Selonyana” and “Mmadikokwana”. They have shot to stardom in a little space of time, with a huge boost by the television programme, Mokaragana, which featured their musical performance a few months ago. Since then, their album has gone on to be one of the most sought after. Dithakga, who were the last group to perform at the cultural night, had revellers eating out of their hands. It seems their recently released first album under Lobone Creations, will do well, if the reception from the crowd is anything to go by.
Although Machesa have not released a new album since their last hit project Sango, the revellers could not ignore their presence as they literally shook the house with their displays. Both cultural troupes appear to master Phathisi, the Kweneng style of traditional music. The revellers watched in amazement as male dancers from both groups out-staged each other with variants of the style. Dithakga group is blessed to have a talented San dance coach in Xibidi Sekere, who has taught the dancers a couple of San dance moves that continue to mesmerise cultural music lovers. Perhaps worth noting is the group’s song about wildlife conservation. The song “Dibatana” urges people to desist from illegal hunting of wild animals as the practice is cruel and threatens the continued existence of wildlife.
They are threatening to de-throne Mokorwana, a group they made popular with their dance and singing before they broke away some five months back to form the new group. Interestingly, they perform “Tshweu”, one of the hit tracks in the Mokorwana album.
Jazz diva Punah Gabasiane wowed the crowd with an incredible performance of her newly released Tswana jazz tunes. She lived up to expectations as she performed with a capable live band to give music lovers their money’s worth. Satchmo’s jazz café’s managing director, Steve Raman said the cultural night, which was free of charge, achieved its objective of entertaining the Gaborone community by giving them a blend of music they can readily identify with. “The fact that so many people turned up for the cultural night during the week is testimony that Batswana love their music and that cultural music as well as local jazz have come of age,” Raman said. However, he could not say whether he would continue to host similar shows in the future. “People get bored easily, you should not give them too much of it. At Satchmo’s ,we believe in giving people variety of entertainment, even our dishes are so diverse you can enjoy them continuously. We used to have just jazz DJ’s on Wednesdays, then we added the open Mic session, whereby aspiring singers just come and show the audience what they can do.
“We brought our patrons this type of entertainment and will keep on ensuring that our patrons remain satisfied with our music service,” Raman said.
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