President�s Day Ensemble Display Poor Harmonisation
Spira Tlhankane | Monday July 10, 2017 15:09
The Street Exhibition was held at the Independence Avenue in Gaborone over the weekend under the theme, ‘Creative industries: A Vehicle for Sustainable Development’.
Even though a kwasa kwasa artist from Maun called Goddy made a good start to remind people why he won the competition twice, everything took a swift turn when the ensemble took to the centre stage.
The first performers were previous winners of the traditional instruments mainly segaba but the talented artists could not display their level best because of the poor sound production at their disposal. A random poet also came on stage, but the audience could not hear because he did not have the microphone. From drama to choral, everything followed another and it was a non- sequential performance.
Punah Gabasiane came on stage briefly followed DJ King of Gosiame with his trademark song. There was also a fashion show displaying African print garments and Bang! Gae’s Chrome with the performance of No track ya Summer.
Four strings guitar maestro Solly Sebotso’s Pidipidi’s short performance was introduced through drama and it was the only good thing that came out of the entire ensemble attempt.
The ensemble may have failed to show people the road of the competition from 2008, but it does not mean the competitions have not unearthed talent in the past eight years.
The organisers themselves offered very little of making the Street Exhibition exceptional, perhaps the only intriguing part of the event was the display of the stalls on the street. From paintings to traditional pottery as well as textiles, the stalls managed to capture the visual arts as they currently are.
This year’s President’s Day, competitions will continue this week until the awards ceremony on July 18.