Low turnout for 2010 Heritage awards worries BOMU

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Wednesday May 12, 2010 00:00

The Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) officials, who are facilitating the music category, say they have observed a 40 percent drop in participants' interest this year so far.

However, the facilitators have reported soaring interest in the traditional music category across the country.

In Maun, where regular winner Chris Manto 7 has already booked himself a place in the finals, the turnout was so poor with only kwasa-kwasa related genre making it in the back track and live band sections. Only two acts competed in the traditional music category.

BOMU secretary general Seabelo Modibe says they will be conducting regional finals in Kang this weekend, but already the level of participation there has dropped by 50 percent, while over 100 artists had shown interest.

The BOMU official opines that lack of interest may be due to the newly introduced 30-day window period.  'In the past, registration for participation was open. Some artists could even register for participation in the last minute, but of course, we understand that also had its own bad side as it created logistical problems for the organisers in terms of planning,' Modibe added.

Meanwhile, the comedy and poetry facilitators   have also told Showbiz that their numbers have declined this year. The comedy section, still in its infancy in Botswana, has also been dealt a blow as two of Maun performers Morularula.com, and Jacob Tshweneyagae, who thrilled the comedy lovers last year, will not be participating this year.

Bobo Letsatsi, aka Ribcracker, a comedian in charge of facilitating the poetry and comedy sections, says they are planning to bring in four comedians from South Africa to perform at the finals 'so locals can learn how it is done'. He is worried that comedy is taking off at a snail's pace in the country.

The facilitators have already conducted regional finals in Hukuntsi, Maun and Palapye.

In the drama category, facilitators, Reetsananag Association of community drama groups have observed a drop in the level of participation in the two regions where they have already conducted the finals.  In Maun, for instance while 27 performers had registered, only 18 turned up. In Palapye, 20 of the original 51 registered performers eventually took part.  The facilitators say they will be conducting the Gaborone finals on the weekend of May 22, before concluding in Kang early next month.

Speaking for Ngwao Loshalaba, the facilitators of the traditional music category, Tsogo Bonang however reported soaring interest among Batswana in the competition. In Shakawe, he said 44 groups took part compared to 16 last year. Selebi-Phikwe also recorded 41 groups, more than 100 percent rise from last year, while Francistown and Maun also doubled their figures, according to the facilitator.

Bonang said they also had a window period for registration but they used, among others, Radio Botswana (RB) to relay information to interested parties.

The facilitators of the traditional music instruments category were not readily available for comment at the time of going to press.