Familiar faces dominate traditional song contest

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Thursday July 22, 2010 00:00

Mathathane group, Rethekeng, famous for their use of the flute, once again bagged the Sebirwa song and dance title they won last year, while Gaborone multi-cultural group, Mogwana, excelled in the Hosana song and dance category for the third time running. Satau group, Nandavwe Seperu Group, also retained their title.

Perhaps all eyes were on the new entry, the Diware healing dance from the Okavango, Kasane and surrounding areas. The organisers indeed opened the evening with the unstapled Diware dance as Kurupekomane dancers from Etsha 13 took to the stage. It was a group made up of mainly elderly women, led by men with long wooden drums tied around their waits.

The medicine man, his assistant and the patient were the most colourful characters in the group, while the rest wore ordinary traditional dress. The highlight of the dance is the healing ritual, and the presence of a small medicine pot ran across all the four groups that presented on the night.

Yet the presentation seemed to differ with every new group that took to the stage. The youthful looking Mbalakalungu Igoma group, for instance, had their song and dance dominated by their medicine man right from the start. The Mbalakulungu's medicine man also differed with the earlier one in that he also used his hips as well as the common shoulder play that characterises this style of dance.

Mpalakalungu also used two women dancers to join the medicine man in the hip-swaying dance, which was made to look even more interesting by the use of Okavango reeds in the place of the traditional dancing skirts made from animal skins. This group also used the phala.

Shakawe group, Mushamba wa Kari, walked away with the title here.Kang traditional dance group, Inalegolo, meanwhile were the undisputed winners in the Tsutsube dance where they dramatised the Basarwa dance style with exciting details on stage. Tsutsube is never complete without a dramatic storyline.

The Kang group chose to deviate from the usual healing dance, and instead went for a joyful dance that celebrates the fruits of the land.

The much acclaimed Tse Tilodi of Kasane finished second in the Phathisi dance style won by Molepolole's Dipela tsa ga Kobokwe.  However, there was no Kweneng repeat in the setapa dance, won by Phikwe Cultural group.  They were followed by Matsosangwao traditional dance troupe. The judges were unanimous that it was one of the hotly contested dance styles, along with Tsutsube.