The Golden Voice records for posterity
Mpho Tlale | Thursday November 14, 2013 15:13
Albert who trades by the stage name Casper The Golden Voice is the music industry’s new-kid-on-the-block and has everyone wanting a piece of him.
The mbaqanga sensation whose inspiration includes the Soul Brothers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Pure Gold states that he is on a mission to preserve culture through music. Although described as mbaqanga he says he prefers to call his genre of music cultural fusion because it embraces four elements that are the South African Maskandi, Zimbabwean Ndazula the Kalanga Hosanna and Borankana.
The 22-year-old Siviya born artist says that his cultural fusion extends to the languages he uses in his songs that are Shona, Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu since he can speak the languages.
He adds, “The languages are able to capture the uniqueness of what I want to communicate. I can speak a handful of them including English but I cannot glorify that I speak English or use it to sing”. He says that the best he can do is to use a language that is African that he has some sort of connection to.
The Golden Voice says that he couldn’t sing in Setswana because he feared that he could not be able to express himself eloquently like the likes of Gong Master and Ditiro who are big names when it comes to traditional music. He adds that at the same time choosing what music genre to pursue is not easy. He says he wanted something that would be able to represent him and what he stands for. However it is through analysing the music scene in Botswana that helped him decide that he did not want to be a Kwaito, Hip Hop or Gospel artist though he asserts that Gospel is close to his heart. His childhood experiences in traditional and Hosanna dancing as well as playing the drums are what also contributed to his decision-making.
Albert says that music should appreciate and not depreciate with time and hopes his will do the former. He expresses that renowned Batswana artists that include Ratsie Sethako and Stika Sola have left a legacy through their music that still continues to enjoy airplay and recognition years on. His aim is to tell stories that he was told when growing up through music.
Released May this year, Albert says that his album Uphondo Lwam is a six-track offering. He explains that the cover track Uphondo Lwam is a cultural song that he got from a story that his grandfather told him.
The story is about a sacred horn that was a family heirloom handed down to the men but got lost in the battlefield.
He added that oral traditions can be turned into music so that the stories continue on and do not fade away as story-telling is not thriving like it used to back in the days. Albert adds that his music teaches, transforms and preserves culture.