DJ Fondo's Fire Face Vol. 1 hits the shelves

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Thursday December 9, 2010 00:00

 

Tebogo Tshesebe, popularly known as DJ Fondo Fire's debut house album has finally hit the shelves.  Listening to it from a distance, one cannot believe such a banging house album could come out of Botswana.  But Fire Face Vol. 1 is a locally produced house album that will definitely set the festive season ablaze.

The album kicks off with a track called Roses Man.  It is arguably the most exquisitely produced track on the album and immediately draws attention to the rest of the songs.  Kenny Mckenzo's name will surely be amongst some of the mentioned top producers of this year.  He has really worked hard on the beat of this track.  Kay-Zee provides the vocals and they fit in well with the heavy bass-lines of the track.  The next track is probably going to be popular among the baTswapong.  Tswapong Hills is the song dedicated to the Tswapong tribe and features Mckenzo, who also produced the song.  The song was popular among revellers at Grand West nightclub in Gaborone West even before the whole album hit the streets.

DJ Slate and Professor Oats who make their contribution in the album with their production.  Conscription, produced by DJ Slate, gives the album another dimension while Professor Oats' produced track, Yo Hommie featuring Alexis is not really a bad song. 

Mckenzo then returns with Juice, which will definitely be amongst the popular tracks in the album. DJ Fondo also showed his production skills when he combined with DJ Slate for the song, Going Funk.  There are other tracks as well, which deserve special mention, including Moon Dance, Ancestral Heartbeat and Tsosa Badimo.

The album was recorded at House University.  It was mixed by DJ Fondo at the same studio and mastered by Colin Fransch at Clockworx Studios.  Both DJ Fondo and Steve Rahman, who owns popular nightclubs including Satchmos, are the executive producers.  DJ Fondo told Showbiz the reception is so far impressive. 

'Right now I want to make sure that the album gets the promotion it deserves.  I am not even thinking about how much money I want from the album at the moment,' he said.  He has distributed the album to all radio stations as well as other media for the album to reach the masses. 

'I will give each and every DJ a copy regardless of whether I know them,' he said.  Tomorrow (Friday), he will be promoting the album at Zoom Nightclub in Maruapula.  He already has some tours lined up during the festive season.

He said they are still working on plans to travel to Mafikeng and if things go according well, he will play there on December 23.  He will then return to the country and hit the road straight away to Serowe where he will entertain revellers on December 24 and 25. 

He will then attend and play at the All Kasi Family Fun Day in Lobatse on December 31.  'I should have covered almost the entire country by April next year,' he said.

Just like many other artists, DJ Fondo sees many divisions in the entertainment industry, but urges that they do not regard themselves as competitors but as entertainers who should support one another.