Portuguese muso Luisa Sobral to add spice Maitisong line-up
Staff Writer | Friday April 10, 2015 18:00
The public, during the week of festivities, will be spoiled for choice as there will be a variety of shows from poetry, drama, dance, and music just to mention a few. Sobral will perform at Thapong Visual Arts Centre on April 23. The free live entertainment will start at 7:00 pm following the Theatre and Poetry Triple Bill, which begins at 5:30 pm.
Theatre lovers will be spoiled with performances, which will include Ketswakae by Marang Molosiwa, The Incident by Tefo Paya and Zanele Tumelo. The show will also feature poetry by Thato Ntshabele.
Sobral is one of the biggest talents in Portuguese music. She released her debut album in 2011, and was nominated for two Golden Globes in the Newcomer and Best Individual Performer categories.
Towards the end of 2011, she kicked off a promising international career by performing at the International Jazz Festival in Barcelona, at the Cartagena Jazz Festival and at the Sala Galileo Galilei, in Madrid.
In 2012, she appeared at the Union Chapel in London, as support for Ute Lemper. She returned in November to support Melody Gardot at the Barbican Centre, as part of the London Jazz Festival. This show led to her going on tour with Melody Gardot, during which she performed in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg.
She was invited to perform two songs on the iconic British programme Later with... Jools Holand, a truly impressive feat. She was also invited to compose a tune for ZON’s 2012 Christmas campaign. She composed and sings the theme tune to the children’s series O Bairro do Panda on the Panda channel and one of her songs, A Minha Estrela was selected by the fadista Ana Moura for inclusion on her acclaimed album Desfado, which came out in late 2012.
This Portuguese artist’s second album came out at the beginning of 2013. There’s a Flower in My Bedroom shot straight up the charts and into the hearts of the public, who handed Luísa Sobral yet another gold record for her collection. On a national tour to promote the new album, the singer performed right across the country, at sold-out venues and to smitten audiences. Meanwhile, Luísa Sobral´s international star continued to rise with concerts at major venues and events in Spain, France, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, China and EUA.
In 2014, Luísa edits her last album, Lu-Pu-i-Pi-Sa-Pa.
“This is an album that features some of my childhood episodes, some experienced by me, others by my friends or children from my school. The play yard, lunch time, the school door, the futebol field where we used to play ‘mata’ and some other memories that stuck with me,” explains Luísa regarding Lu-Pu-i-Pi-Sa-Pa adding that: “I wish this was and album that families could listen to together.”
The festival will feature different music genres and dances on different dates and venues, with performances from Tshenolo Batshogile and Friends, Inyaya by Mophato Dance Theatre, Stream Jazz, Youth Hip-Hop Culture, Zeus, Dasha Kelly, Black Raw Streetz, Ndingo Johwa, Bhudaza, and the Metrophones.
The festival will also feature theatre performances by Plartonic Explorers, Ga Ga Ja Pharing, Ikakanyeng Theatre, Mandy Promotions, The Company, and Ba Ga Manaana amongst others.
Poets expected to thrill poetry lovers on different dates include Berry Heart, Dasha Kelly, TJ Dema, Bundu Lama, and Aether among others.
Other activities expected to take place during the festival include workshops for poets, performers, and writers by Dasha Kelly and TJ Dema, and Maru-a-Pula School Music Room, Dasha poetry workshop in Ramotswa, music workshop at Dream Centre (Block 10), and Dasha Kelly workshop with PETLO Literary Artists at the University of Botswana.
This year, the Maitisong Festival is offering art and entertainment lovers a variety of competitively-priced ticket packages to suit every budget.
In addition to the many free events that will take place over the festival period, ticket prices for individual events range from P30 to P250.
Members of the public can buy bundles, which are priced as follows; All Access package, which caters for every event in the Festival programme goes for P1,000, and includes priority seating, t-shirt and baseball cap. Maitisong package goes for P500, which covers Maitisong events only, and Mantlwaneng package (Mantlwaneng events only) goes for P225.
Ticket bundles are available from Maitisong only. Tickets for individual shows are available from Maitisong, Webticket, Riverwalk and Spar outlets.