'Mother of Disco' births Corona tune
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday June 12, 2020 12:08
In the wake of the pandemic, Gloria Thakadu who goes by stage-name Maglo in the local music circles, has released a new single titled Corona.
The song tells how the pandemic affected the music industry. It goes on to tell how the cancellation of major events such as shows changed many artists, producers and other entertainment community’s lives.
“As artists we fully dependent on shows for survival. They help us feed our families. After our shows were cancelled due to coronavirus, our lives changed drastically. Even though our lives were not glim and glam, the epidemic made things worse for us.
Most of us were booked for different shows and we were looking forward to making some earnings through the shows. After the announcement of cancellation and lockdown, things went south. Many of us cannot afford to put food on the table,” she explained.
The new single was written by her and produced at Cabino Music Production. She worked with her manager Johnny Seitiso, Desmond Molaodi (artist) and her dancers to make the single a success. The ‘Mother of Disco’ as many of his fans call her, started her music career back in 1998 as a dancer. With the realisation that she could express herself through music, the family woman who is a mother and wife decided to release her own songs. She explained that she got her inspiration from the likes of Mercy Phakedi, a former South African disco queen whose music still enjoys airwaves and our own Maxy Khoisan.
She started her music career as an Afro Kwasa and House Kwasa singer until she found comfort in disco music that she does to date. In 2010, Maglo says she released her first album Tsamaya (Afro Kwasa) through Bullet Music Production and Blackmampatile (house kwasa) in 2013. In 2019 she released her first disco Loving You in conjuction with Patrick Motlaopi Mangasa and she later dropped another single titled Monna Tia the same year in December.
However, she explained that Monna Tia was traditional music released by Bretz Seakgosing Production and later Foromane by Cabido Music Productions. Maglo said that she writes her music, which is based on her real life experience, things she sees happening around her. She added that she markets her work on different platforms such as social media, radio interviews, newspapers and magazines, promotions to mention a few.
She also said since she released Foromane, she got many bookings after having positive feedback from her fans. She added that CD sales were satisfactory and encouraged her to give her fans quality sound with good presentation. She added that she strived for positive messages to encourage and heal troubled souls in her music career.
However, she explained that just like other artists she faced some challenges that include lack of funds to push project and build an established brand. She added that COVID-19 affected her progress. She also said distribution of the project to reach the whole country was yet another challenge. She advised upcoming artists to work hard and produce quality products that can attract fans. Her CDs are sold at Setlhareng.com in Main Mall and Gaborone Bus rank. She also sells her CDs.