Mokwepa release DVD video

PATRICIA MAGANU
Staff Writer | Thursday June 3, 2010 00:00

 

The group is owned by 30-year-old Johannes Keaitse, who is also known as Mokwepa.

Mokwepa told Showbiz that poverty drove them into forming the group and he has never regretted the move. 'I formed the group when I lost my job and I had to turn to my talent of singing and dancing for a living and it has since paid off though music in this country is not a well paying job,' he said.

Mokwepa says that the shooting of the DVD was not without its challenges.

'We could have released the DVD way back but we encountered problems because someone took the money, saying they would help us shoot the video only to disappear,' he said.  He said that he did not despair and later managed to source help from Francistown based producer Chase, on contract.

He said that they started shooting the video last December but managed to finish early last month and now the DVD is in stores.

Mokwepa said that the music videos were shot in Shashe Mooke Village because they needed a certain background on their videos.

'We wanted a Setswana background and we have a dancer from Shashe Village who knew the area. Even Chase resides in Shashe so that was the ideal place for us to shoot the videos,' he said. In their main song Kgogomodumo that talks about issues of HIV and AIDS, they used a computer-generated graphic of a dinosaur rummaging through a village.

In all the songs the dancers are surrounded by the traditional surroundings of sand, rocks, greenery and ploughing fields.

However, Mokwepa complained about the cost of making the DVD against the cost that the DVD can be sold to the suppliers.

'Usually we sell our music DVDs or CDs to Asian traders so they can sell them in their shops but they always want to buy at ridiculously low prices. They want to buy our DVD for something like P20 or P30 but at the end of the day sell them for anything from P60 to P80,' he said.

He said that has affected DVDs and CDs sales because they sell them cheaply their while other people make more than 100 percent profit from them.

He said that they do not even know if there is any law protecting them against unfair trading practices.

'Our projects' success depends entirely on us from beginning to end. All they do is give you a hologram and they are done with you,' he said. Kgogomodumo DVD will be launched later in Francistown, Gaborone, Selebi-Phikwe/Mmadinare and other places next month.  Mokwepa is one of the groups that Francistown City Council (FCC) has taken an interest in as part of their initiative to empower the youth.

Mokwepa was one of the groups that entertained Belgian delegates from the City of Genk which has been Francistown's twin city since 2004.