Teacher sings Percy Sledge�s song in Setswana
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Wednesday May 17, 2017 10:47
Trevor Mabua who is also a teacher at Gaborone West Junior Secondary told Showbiz that he was Percy Sledge’s biggest fan. He said he decided to release a Tswana version of Percy Slege’s song as he found its message important and wanted to share it with the nation. That song is amongst the seven songs on his new album titled Abuti.
“This song is a developed version of Take Time To Know Her. It talks about a man who meets a girl on Facebook and marries her defying warnings by his elders. Therefore this song encourages men to know their partners before they marry them to reduce divorce rates or rushing into marriage that might end up being sour,” he said.
Mabua added that the title track had already amassed a lot of airplay on local radio stations. He said the album includes a polka song that has had people dancing non-stop at jazz pubs. The album has tracks such as Abuti, Polka, Oa Ntshwantsha, Motho Oa Mmona, Leba Kwano, Nna Fela and Tsaya Nako.
Abuti is a song that is raising awareness about suicide, which is common among men. Mabua said when he wrote the song, he wanted to urge his fellow men to speak out whenever they had problems to avoid killing themselves. He said communication was an important tool to solve whatever problems one faces.
His polka song is a high tempo song that talks about the rise of polka music in the country while Oa Ntshwantsha is a celebration song that can be sang at games. Motho Oa Mmona is a song dedicated to the national football team Zebras.
On the other hand, Leba Kwano is a lament by a man who has no achievements to show despite having worked for too many years. In his song Nna Fela, Mabua talks about himself.
The album was recorded at Hall of Fame studios, with all the songs, except Tsaya Nako, composed by Mabua.
Mabua said he had previously shared stage with some of the popular local artists such as Lister Boleseng, Banjo Mosele, Sereetsi and The Natives together with Fresh Less.
“This album can be found at Streethorn at Molapo Crossing and Botswana Craft,” he said.