Ko Setlhareng long died before the cold fall

Spira Tlhankane | Monday February 24, 2025 13:36

When social media alerted me that the tree that used to stand as a serene symbol of local music had fallen, I walked to the place just in front of the Botswana Book Centre to see it for myself. As I saw Ko Setlhareng.Com’s fallen tree blocking the mall’s pedestrian-only walkway, I remembered how spine-tingling sounds of local music used to come from underneath there. The view as people walked past by did not just give me a beautiful playback but showed me that nothing is ever really immortal. The tree had stood the test of time but a heavy pouring rain in mid-February finally drowned its longevity.

For a tree that used to shade CDs and cassettes in the scorching sun, this wonder of nature paradoxically died alone in the cold rain. Before its corpse reached the lowest temperature, it was dismantled into parts with a jig saw. What is left of Ko Setlhareng.Com is saw dust, leaves, and a trunk still held by roots. This is a tree that provided a musical refuge when cassettes used to sell like fat cakes at the beginning of the current millennia. Before its demise and during its prime, the tree’s roots had spread and somehow weeded out the piracy of the music underworld. Some people on social media said the tree needs to be planted back and that alone goes on to show the meaning they have bestowed on it over the years. It also showed the significance it played in our lives because it brought people together. Despite the tree finally falling this week, it is safe to say the platform was, however, long dead. It was killed by the digital streaming platforms and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic a few years ago.



Ko Setlhareng.Com’s demise was always written in the stars and the moment Musica Clicks Group announced that it would close its doors in Botswana mid 2021 Ko Setlhareng.Com was always bound to follow suit. It officially closed shop not long after because it had failed to keep up with the rise of digital streaming and online entertainment. In an interview with this publication then, Ko Setlhareng.Com music merchant, Eric Lebanna, said the business survived all those years because of record labels. He said at the time the business was pushed by key players in the music industry like the Ramogobya brothers, namesake Eric and Tex through their record labels Eric Ramco Records and Kalakuta Records respectively. Lebanna said when CDs arrived in the market, they pushed their business because people were always excited to try out new technology. “Back then, people loved to buy CDs. A person would come straight from the nightclub to buy music they heard ko maitisong,” he recalled then.

Lebanna said another thing that made Ko Setlhare.Com unique is that their specialty was the classics and the oldies, which were rare to find even on digital platforms. Although Ko Setlhareng.Com did not exist during the popularity of vinyl records, the place was a reminder for some people who are still nostalgic about the good old days when music lovers winded tapes by hand and turned them over at the end of each side. It was a reminder of the era of the Omega radio powered by either the black/white PM10 battery or red/white Eveready batteries. Ko Setlhareng.Com took one to the period of the Sony Walkman, when selling cassette tapes was a real money-making business in the music industry. The time when one’s car came equipped with a tape deck with a cassette loaded. Ko Setlhareng.Com is long gone and so is the tree that provided a physical memorial. People have a meaningful way to honour the lives of those they have lost. Now that a giant has fallen, perhaps that pedestrian walkway should have some sort of monument to remember Ko Setlhareng.Com, a profound crescendo that has abruptly ended.