Kgalagadi Soul to perform at Maitisong
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday March 14, 2017 15:44
In their two days stay in the country, Kgalagadi Soul will host a workshop on April 3, 2017, and stage a performance the next day at Maitisong Festival 2017 Official Opening Show. This will be part of their SADC tour, which will kick start on March 30, 2017 in Pretoria.
The trio has acquired a wealth of experience wowing their fans all over the world on big and small stages. Kgalagadi Soul will present a rich repertoire drawn from the trio’s individual projects using one international band comprising musicians from Congo (Nseka Bienvenu - guitar), South Africa (Bokang Kupi - keyboards), Zimbabwe (Leroy Nyoni - drums) as well as the USA (Terry Lewis - saxophone), which makes the tour a strong collaborative affair.
During an interview with Showbiz, Tomeletso Sereetsi said an ANT Funding Grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) supported Kgalagadi Soul Tour 2017.
Sereetsi expressed his excitement over the tour saying that it would not only give them exposure to the international market but will also be beneficial to the country. He said it would give them a chance to learn from other artists and sell our country to the international market through music.
Mumba Yachi is a folk musician born in Mokambo, a border town with the DRC Congo. He developed interest in music at a tender age while listening to his mother singing in a church choir and his father playing his various records of African musicians.
He has been active on the music scene since 2009 and has released four albums; I am Lenshina (May 2015), Mongu Rice (2013), Mokambo (2012) and Inspire Me (2010). Yachi has won several awards in the Zambian music scene. He is also a UN Ambassador for Gender Equality. Sereetsi has just won four awards out five nominations at the BOMU Awards 2016.
He is considered a pioneer on the cultural landscape in Botswana. His 83-page guitar instructional book/CD on the local folk guitar tradition entitled The Solo Four String Guitar of Botswana is a groundbreaking first.
He continues to present workshops on the folk guitar tradition in Botswana and internationally. His book has been assessed and approved for use in schools by Botswana’s education ministry.
Only over a year after the release of his debut album, Four String Confessions, the act has already shared stages with established names like Jonathan Butler, Oliver Mtukudzi, Caiphus Semenya, Jaziel Brothers, Letta Mbulu and McCoy Mrubata. Sereetsi is the first Botswana act to embark on a month-long tour of South African (2016).
Born in Krugersdorp and bred between Boons and Mafikeng, Austebza is a vibrant, energetic, incredible musician. She started her music career after her parents could not afford to pay her university fees, but she has always been involved in music throughout her middle and high school.
She then went to join the music department at the Mmabana Cultural Centre in Mafikeng, where she learned how to play the acoustic guitar.
Austebza has just landed the musical directorship of Feather Awards 2016. She has also worked with various artists such as HHP, Gang of Instrumentals, Maxhoba, Wanda Baloyi, Swazi Dlamini, and KB Motsilenyane. While working with these top musicians, Austebza managed to travel Nigeria, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, USA, Germany, Namibia, and Jamaica.
The performance would be held at Maitisong Theatre at 7pm and entrance fee will cost P200.
Other tour dates include:
March 30 - Pretoria - African Chef March 31 - Pretoria - Bentley’s Country Lodge
April 03 - Gaborone - Maitisong Festival – Workshop
April 04 – Gaborone – Maitisong Festival (Performance)
April 13– Kuruman – Kgalagadi Jazz Festival – Workshops
April 15– Kuruman – Kgalagadi Jazz Festival – Performance
May 02 – Johannesburg – Wits School of Arts – Workshops
May 03 - Pretoria - Tshwane School of Music - Workshops
May17 – Durban – UKZN Jazz Centre – Performance & workshops.
Sereetsi said other tour dates would be communicated in due course.