From making music to making space
Laone Choeunyane | Monday September 28, 2026 06:00
A creative, hip-hop artist, communications practitioner and one of the brains behind The Perfect Noise Sessions, Mathole has spent much of his journey exploring what happens when people are given room to express themselves, discover one another and feel that they belong.
That understanding began early. His older brother Karabo introduced him to marimba and hip-hop, leading to his involvement in the marimba band at Thornhill Primary School. At Maru-a-Pula School, he got involved in Verbal Emancipation, a student talent showcase featuring rap, poetry, singing, drama and dance.
Looking back, Tiimaney sees those experiences as an early lesson in the importance of platforms. Talent, he says, needs somewhere to be expressed, developed and seen.
His own music journey gained new momentum after watching Mpho Sebina perform live in 2016. The experience changed how he viewed being an artist, shifting his attention from simply making songs to understanding the relationship between an artist, an audience and the wider experience of performance.
That thinking would eventually lead to Perfect Noise.
Established in 2018, Perfect Noise was partly inspired by Sunday Candy, events organised by Tiimaney’s friend Mino. What attracted him was not simply the performances but the environment around them; a place where people could discover new artists, meet others and feel part of something.
When Mino left for Zambia to pursue his studies, he encouraged Tiimaney to start something of his own. Perfect Noise became an education in the practical realities of the creative industry, from venues and ticketing to sound, lighting, promotion and production.
For six years, Zest served as the platform's home. Tiimaney credits the Williams family’s support with providing the consistency needed to build an identity around the events. Since then, Perfect Noise has moved through venues including Social, Gaborone Yacht Club, AtNine Eatery, Court Five and Cresta, reinforcing one of his central beliefs: the platform is not the venue.
Over time, Perfect Noise has become less about simply presenting shows and more about nurturing artists. For Tiimaney, development can happen through the opportunity to perform before a larger audience, experiment with new material, work with other musicians or simply gain the confidence to continue.
The community surrounding the platform has its own identity too. Known as the Noisemakerz, these audiences are not viewed as passive spectators but as participants who return, discover artists, bring friends and help sustain the culture around Perfect Noise.
It is this understanding of creative spaces that now informs Tiimaney’s next chapter.
After discovering the Creatives4Peace Youth Online Innovation Challenge through Music In Africa, he began thinking more deliberately about the relationship amongst creativity, social cohesion and peacebuilding. The result is Peace Makes Perfect Noise, an evolution of the work he has already been doing through the platform.
Selected as one of 15 finalists from more than 730 applications across 44 African countries, Tiimaney is now preparing to travel to Cameroon for the Creatives4Peace Forum. He sees the opportunity not simply as recognition, but as a chance to learn from other African creatives and bring practical knowledge and new relationships back home.
His ambition extends beyond Botswana. Tiimaney envisions Perfect Noise developing a genuinely Pan-African outlook built on exchange; artists collaborating, audiences discovering different cultures and creative communities across the continent connecting with one another.
After eight years, perhaps the clearest lesson Tiimaney has taken from Perfect Noise is that community cannot be manufactured. It has to be built through consistency, opportunity, listening and belonging.
And that may be the thread connecting his journey from the marimbas at Thornhill to Perfect Noise and now Peace Makes Perfect Noise: someone once created a space for him. Now, he wants to create spaces for others.