Sereetsi and The Natives to release an album next year
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday December 15, 2016 13:59
The band has left a permanent mark in the hearts of their fans both locally and internationally. Tomeletso Sereetsi is the band’s lead guitarist as well as the lead singer. He is also the songwriter, arranger and producer.
The crew is known for their songs like Thaa Kokome and Robete and they will be recording another album next year. Sereetsi told Showbiz that he will start recording new songs next year after having released their Four Strings Confessions album two years ago.
“I am constantly writing new songs. We often spice up our sets with new materials and I will start recording new songs sometime next year,” he said.
However, he pointed out that there was no need to rush into anything because the Four Strings Confession album is a still relatively new and winning new natives (fans) by the day.
“Our debut album, Four Strings Confessions has been a resounding runaway success. It is still selling really well almost a year and half after its release. We have headlined almost all of the biggest festivals in our genre like Hamptons, GIMC, President’s Concert and others. We have toured South Africa, a first for a Botswana act,” he said.
Sereetsi added that they did 10 gigs in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Mafikeng. He also stated that they had been booked for Planeta World Music festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and gigged in Stockholm. He boasted that they have been booked for two years in succession at South Africa’s international jazz festival, Mahika Mahikeng.
He also said they featured at Kgalagadi Jazz festival in South Africa. Sereetsi and The Natives have also done the Cultural Calabash Festival and presented a workshop on The Four String Guitar at an international music conference in Durban.
“I have taught Tswana culture artistic expressions at schools in Gothenburg. I have collaborated on stage with Oliver Mtukudzi and Jonathan Butler. Our work has brought us interest across borders and we are working on deepening international collaborations. We have been busy at home, thanks to a healthy corporate and festival gig schedule,” he said.
However, just like other artists the band has come across some challenges. Sereetsi said CD distributions were a big challenge countrywide. He also stated that it was also difficult to tour the country because one had to travel long distances to play for a handful of audience.
“The other challenge is that Gaborone hosts almost each and every event that musicians are afforded opportunity to play. We would really appreciate support to tour our own country. It has also been quite a huge challenge trying to break into foreign markets. However we are still working on it,” he noted.
Furthermore, Sereetsi and The Natives will be headlining a gig in Palapye on New Year’s Eve at the Cresta Botsalo Hotel. The event will start at 7.30pm till 4am the next day. “Featured artists are to Wagamang of Don’t Khakele Hoo song and Otlogetswe Makasu of the hit Cecilia (ka bala seven a ntse a bala one),” he noted.