Franco overcomes grief to produce new album

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Wednesday February 2, 2011 00:00

 

Though this Gabane-based musician has acknowledged the downward spiral of the genre in Botswana, he is determined to spearhead its revival. He believes that as a top performer in the field he has a duty to fight against the extinction of rhumba.

'It is too early to throw in the towel. Rhumba has just slowed down, but should not be allowed to die. There are various reasons for the decline, one being the fact that local radio stations are no longer playing rhumba and this deprives the music of the much needed exposure to consumers and potential new followers,' Franco said.  According to the former Africa Sounds backing vocalist and dancer, his new album, called Sephiri Se Dule, will prove to those who have already started to write the genre's obituary that there is still a long way to go before rhumba disappears into oblivion.

Once again Franco's song-writing skills come to the fore in the title track, as he seeks to join the 'fight against corruption and nepotism in the country'.

The songs accuse some top politicians of using their positions to get some 'freebies' in various sectors of the economy and often forgetting that they were voted into office by the people. Coupled with its fine instrumentation, this track would be a winner it were not for the 'rough patches' rhumba has been going through.

Sephiri Se Dule and another song entitled Madume Dumelang are the two songs that I believe will market this album well and make it possible for many people to appreciate the strength of rhumba music,' Franco said.

Although he blames radio DJs for denying rhumba or kwasa-kwasa airplay, the musician has acknowledged that substandard work by some in industry had badly compromised the genre and made fans lose interest in it.  He noted that during Anastacia Maruapula's time as presenter of RB 2's Global Spin on Sundays, local rhumba music used to get good exposure but since her departure the programme mainly focuses on international musicians.

'Whenever they play a local CD it would be kwaito-kwasa, which is why it has continued dominating while original kwasa-kwasa is slowly fading away. But it is up to us as musicians to stand up and produce good work and prove those who are denying our music air play that nothing will stop us now,' he said.

Although it would appear to some people that Franco himself has experienced a slump in his career, the musician has declared that he has recoded better sales with his most recent releases than the likes of Robala Nnana and Isa.