Don B speaks out on anti-alcohol CD bias

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Thursday February 18, 2010 00:00

 

Speaking to Mmegi Showbiz in an interview, Botshelo, whose stage name is 'Don B', said he and the other 'renowned musicians' were left out of the recent recording of the 12-track music album, stating that the selection of the artists was unfair.

The CD recording was launched by the Ministry of Health and it is loaded with anti-alcohol campaign songs. It features popular artists like Shanti Lo, popular for his Afro-Jazz tunes, Stompie, a kwaito-kwasa artist and a traditional music performer Kaizer, while seven others are unknown artists. These are: Memory, Bapsta, Lazyboy, Luz, BK, Zinos, and Endy.

According to Botshelo, the government should have shown some recognition for 'seasoned' artists like renowned kwasa-kwasa musician Frank Lesokwane, aka Franco and jazz maestro, Soccer Moruakgomo.

'These artists are renowned for their music that sends strong positive messages to the people. Their music is a crowd-puller and it appeals to both the young and the old, as compared to upcoming artists used in the recording of the album,' he charged.

In the meantime, the MoH has indicated that the anti-alcohol music would only be played on the two government radio channels of RB1 and RB2, in an effort to spread President Ian Khama's anti-alcohol message.

It was also noted that the CD would not be distributed countrywide because the ministry is not in the business of music.

The latest CD recording comes at a time when the government owned  The Daily News is running anti-alcohol campaigns on a daily basis, while other anti-alcohol adverts are also running on Botswana Television (Btv). The Ministry of Health paid for the recording of the album last year.

The CD launch will be followed by nationwide road shows from February 24 to March 3. Since taking over as the state President Khama has vowed to take stringent measures against reckless alcohol consumption.

He has since introduced a 30 percent alcohol levy that was effected towards the end of 2008, resulting in poor sales by the country's only clear beer brewers, Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL).  President Khama has also reduced operating hours of bars, bottle stores and clubs by about six hours. The levy has raised over P100 million for the government since its inception.