The Return Of The Music Queen

By Gasebalwe Seretse
Staff writer | Monday August 13, 2007 00:00

However, at the listening session of her most recent album 'Cherikwa' at Gaborone Hotel last Wednesday, Olebile 'Maxy' Sedumedi did the noble thing and declared that she was not out there to compete with the up and coming contemporary traditional music artistes. The 'Queen of the Sands' told scores of her fans, who braved the wintry cold to support her, that 'Ga nkake ka tlhakatlhakana le bana ke ntse ke ba ruta'- (I cannot compete with those that I am busy mentoring).

Among the guests were fellow artistes Bafana 'Phempheretlhe' Pheto, Shima Monageng, Nono Seile, Astley Gops, Steve Kuhlman, Frank 'Franco' Lesokwane, Odirle 'Vee' Sento and Kearoma from Ex-Cut-Edge. Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) executive secretary Comma Serema also graced the event.

One of the founding fathers of contemporary traditional music, the almost forgotten Steve Khulman, gave a touching speech that during his hey-day, Batswana did not appreciate their kind of music. Khulman said that he, Shima Monageng and the late Duncan Senyatso paved the way for the younger generation.

The artiste who is said to be having a throat problem tried to sing the song that launched his career, 'Bagammangwato Ba Ga Mabiletsa' but it was clear that the voice that used to send fans into a frenzy is gone.

Just before Maxy took to the stage, Botswana Music Union (BOMU) president Phempheretlhe Pheto thanked the media, more especially GBC-TV, for supporting local artistes by playing their music on a daily basis and challenged Botswana Television (Btv) to follow suit.

'GBC looks at the interests of artists and it must be applauded for that,' said the straight-talking Pheto.

Pheto lambasted pirates saying that they were landing local artistes in dire financial straits by stealing their works. He gave an example of a pirate in Serowe, who seems to be working in cahoots with some corrupt officers because despite being reported by musicians, he is never arrested for his piracy. Chinese businessmen were not spared the tongue-lashing from the gospel artiste who said they (Chinese traders) were ruining their (artistes') careers.

When Maxy took to the stage, she attacked some stable-owners for cheating musicians out of their royalties. The equally straight-talking artiste lamented that she had been ripped off by stable-owners and producers she had worked with and that was why she did her latest project without being yoked to anyone. Interestingly, one of Maxy's former bosses, Vee, was present and instead of denying the claims, he told Maxy's fans that being robbed by stable owners was a learning curve in the life of an artiste.

'Ha o sena go jewa o tla o betilwe ke pelo o be o ntsha bomo,' the pint-sized artiste said amid laughter.

Maxy went on to challenge her critics, saying that she had the staying power in the music world because her voice was a gift from her ancestors and her God.

'Cherikwa' contains six tracks namely 'Cherikwa', 'Maburu', 'Jwala jo', 'Rammata', 'Talamana' and 'O Ya Lela'.

'Cherikwa' is one of the tracks to look out for in the album, the title track tells the story of potential lovers who are wooing each other. One line goes like: 'Ba re nna ga ke bonwe ke lehetwa, ga ke bonwe ke phoko tsa mono - (They gossip about me, saying I am a useless spinster who will never get married.'

There are three folksongs in the album namely 'Jwala jo', 'Rrammata' and 'Talamana'. 'Jwala jo' and 'Rrammata' are the most popular of the three and the artist says that she learnt 'Talamana' from her keepers during her confinement after giving birth. The song, like most traditional songs, has sexually explicit lyrics.

In the songs 'Maburu' and 'O Ya Lela', the artiste laments the way her former producers and stable-bosses robbed her.

While it is too early to say anything conclusive, the album promises to be one of Maxy's best offerings.

Lone Kochane of Gaborone swore that he was going to support the artiste.
'This is a good album and I cannot afford to miss it,' he said.