Hotstix Still Hot But Not Relevant

Dumisani Ncube | Monday August 28, 2017 16:30

The jazz maestro staged a musical performance last Friday at Botswanacraft with a classic, which was more of a musical journey. Despite the musical act, he was irrelevant by performing covers that most people were not familiar with, even though the performance was up to par. Clad in an all-black attire and Xhosa traditional head ring, the musician started off his performance on calm note serenading slow jams such as Ke Na Le Modisa, which had people singing along as the song touched their hearts.

Before he could turn up the tempo, he performed cover tracks such as Angola to mention but a few, which most people were not familiar with.

He raised the tempo as he performed songs from his yesteryear albums, which had revellers going ecstatic reminding them of the good old days. Songs such as Burn Out and Jive Soweto were the only hits most people were familiar with in his two hour set. While performing, Hotstix pulled some energetic and wild dance moves.

It is not a Hotstix performance when there is no saxophone, as a tradition the musician came with his set of wind instruments such as the saxophone and flute.

In between performances, he shared his previous experience in Botswana 50 years ago when he came for a performance with a band and he was surprised to see the hall they were destined to perform mixed with black and white people something which was not used to during the apartheid era in his home country. While at it, he also congratulated Isaac Makwala for his lone man race.

This was Hotstix’s debut performance at the Mascom Live Sessions, which has seen a number of music legends such as Hugh Masekela, Salif Keita and Oliver Mtukudzi staging performances. Prior to Hotstix’s performance, local young musician ATI took the stage as he performed tracks from his latest album Envelope Suck, Khiring Khiring Khorong Khorong and Poelo morago, which are people’s favourites. ATI also took the revellers on a music journey as he performed songs from his previous album and mixtapes.

Performing with a band brought out the wild ATI in the open, as he was more of a rock star especially with his creatively torn jersey that he was wearing.