Chorale music composers rubbing hands

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Thursday January 28, 2010 00:00

 

Composers would be submitting song entries in tonic solfa notation in setswana, not more than 120 bars. However  a leading chorale music composer, Luka Disho yesterday refused to comment on the latest development saying, ' I reserve my comment', as Showbiz sought the views of some of the leading chorale composers.

Disho, currently the choir  conductor  at the country's famous choir, KTM,  is  also famous for his compositions, Seretse Khama and Botswana , as well as for re-arranging a folklore song, Chiwele. He said he didn't want to say whether he would enter the fray or not at this stage.

The Department of Arts and Culture, which runs the annual  Heritage Month events, has started inviting local composers to submit one chorale composition for the 2010 President's Day competitions under the chorale section, with the winning competition bagging P10, 000. The deadline for submissions is February 28.

This year the composers have been given some guidelines, the theme for their compositions  will be  in Setswana: Go sega tema ya bokgeleke jwa bodiragatsi, botaki le tsa ngwao go ya ngwageng wa 2016.

Last year, the Department says  they did not have ample time to run the competition properly. Lazarus Gadiinewe of Moshupa, went on to win  with his song. However, the Mosupa-based teacher says he will be back yet again to try his luck.

'I  will be participating yet again. I have no complaints about the deadline we have been given. Last year I wrote  the winning song in just three hours.'  Gadiinewe has a rich history in chorale compositions, having composed for the likes of Debswana, University of Botswana, Botswana Life,  while a couple of his compositions have also been used by the Botswana Teachers Union(BTU) in their annual schools chorale competitions.

'In fact two of my compositions will be used by the BTU, they won. They are Pina thoo! ! and Mokete wa Eisteddfod', narrated the confident looking composer, whose song, Duma Africa, was also used in BTU competitions in 2002, while other compositions have been used by the universities of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in the past.

Lekgotla Dingalo, a chorale director at Maikano Seranaders in Gaborone, is also hoping to try his luck. Dingalo is the founder of the Gaborone West community chorale based at Maikano CJSS.

He also assisted the Department of Culture to draft the guidelines for this year's chorale competitions. ' I cannot rule out the possibility of me trying my luck. I usually do song arrangement at church and for my choir, but the incentives are there, I see these incentives encouraging many composers to try their luck. Puso Phetwe, known for compositions such as Modimo wa mashomoshomo, by Tebby Setumo and Maikano Serenaders has also welcomed the initiative by the Department of  Arts and Culture. 

Phetwe who says he has  composed over 200 songs since 1995 added: ' I will definitely enter the competition. I see it as a welcome development. For a long time  we had not had something like this to stimulate interest among chorale music composers. It will help expose song composition talent, and inspire more young people to develop interest in song writing and composition, because it has financial rewards,'Phetwe observed.

It is hoped that the competition by the Department of  Culture would  also help create awareness about the country's chorale talent which among others include Gomolemo Motswaledi,  the co-founder of  KTM choir,  Andy Batshogile, Reggie Kopi and several others.