Lifestyle

Modubathankga’s folklore poetry reciting birthed by love for culture

Modubathankga Modubathankga
Modubathankga

“I grew up at the lands learning about the Setswana life. Growing up, I used to ask so many questions since I was always curious about what is happening around me. I also used to watch local drama and poetry competitions hosted by Water Affairs at the time. As time went by, I fell in love with traditional poetry and that was when I started learning poetry,” he said. He also explained that in 2012 during his cousin’s wedding, he wrote and recited a poet praising him. At the time, he said one of his lecturers spotted him doing his magic and asked him to join a poetry competition. He said in 2016 he joined the ABSOPA tertiary school competition and scooped position four at national level.

“In 2017 my community started asking me to take part in the President’s Day Competition. That was when I started loving it more. I got position four. That did not demoralise me and I continued doing traditional poetry as a profession from then to date. I even decided to write an artist profile that I submitted to different offices so that I could be hired for different occasions,” he said. Being persistent and believing in himself rewarded Modubathankga with some poetry jobs. Since he was so confident in himself and believed in his talent, the young man said when he went to the Botswana Defence Force to drop off his profile, he greeted them with a beautiful poet and, therefore, struck a deal to perform at their 11th Awards in 2018.

That was just the beginning as in 2019, he was hired to praise the country’s fifth President Mokgweetsi Masisi during his inauguration. Those moments opened doors for the young man. However, like other artists, he was hard hit by COVID-19 as gigs started being few. He recalled an incident when he was once hired to perform at an event and got paid P1, 000 cash. He said he did not know what to do with the money. He added that even his village people started hiring people from outside and therefore leaving local poets to suffer. He also explained that local poets also faced lack of sponsors. He added that lack of sponsors also made it hard for him to attend the Remote Village Arts Festival in South Africa back in 2023 where he believed he could have gotten exposure in the international market.

He added that this influenced his decision to move to Mahikeng the same year where he got a warm welcome, recognition and gigs than he did here at home. He said he worked on big events in South Africa such as The Remote Village Arts Festival as an assistant coordinator at Tholo Ikitse Cultural festival in South Africa. So far, he said he has over 1, 000 poems that he has not yet published because there was no book market in Botswana.