Matsosangwao release album

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Correspondent | Tuesday July 8, 2008 00:00

 

While most two, three or four-person groups broke into pieces with the release of first albums, Matsosangwao believe it was necessary to have such a huge pool of singers and dancers so they can sustain themselves.

Matsosangwao are not only doing music but are also involved in performing arts. For the last three years they have been staging plays and performing live music shows at various lodges in Kasane, thus promoting local culture as their name states.

Members of the group say from the onset they wanted to promote culture and make money later. 'Initially we just wanted to showcase our talents, while at same time promoting local culture.

We stayed in Kasane performing for tourists and getting something from the lodges in return. But it was not that much, only enough to get us going because we never really started this for money,' the group's co-founder, Phemelo 'Chix' Makgasane, told Showbiz.

Their efforts did not go unnoticed, as the Department of Culture and Youth sent them on a trip to Mumbai in India for a cultural exchange event last year. It was then that the youngsters realised how far their talents could profit them.

'I remember performing live in Mumbai in October last year, and, apparently, we could not reach our audience properly because the venue was so big and we then booked into a studio there and recorded two songs and shot a DVD. So upon our return we decided to record an album,' Makgasane said.

Moruti ka Lefitshwana has been out for weeks now and 10 members of the group have been forced to temporarily relocate to Gaborone to promote it. Already, it is starting to find its feat amongst the many releases in the market, but the owners of the work and their manager, Chilly Montsho-Segona are not sitting on their laurels yet.

'There is a lot of work still to be done. They have established themselves in Kasane and it is good, but people this side of the country have only started hearing about them.

That means we do not promote the album but the group itself,' he said.Makgasane chipped in saying: 'Since coming to Gaborone three weeks ago, I have learnt that competition in this industry can get very tense and one could sink with a single misstep.

We need to pull out all the stops to ensure that people know more about us because there are a lot more groups who are vying for the same spot in the market.'Another member of the group, Raymond Manasseh, said that their colleagues who were left in Kasane are keeping 'the fires burning' while the rest are trying to introduce the group to a bigger audience.'We are based in Kasane and we have loyal customers there in the form of lodge owners, some of them have contracts with us to perform regularly.

We do not want to start something new and throw away the old one, the very thing that we set out to achieve - promoting our culture to foreigners,' he said.

While questions are hanging over whether the group can go far, especially with its 'population,' Montsho Segona believes the youngsters have the potential to become even greater stars than the likes of Culture Spears, and Shumba Ratshega.

'Matsosangwao has had an impact in the like of Culture Spears and Shumba directly on indirectly. Two members of Shumba's group are from this group while some members have featured in Culture Spears videos,' Montsho Segona said: 'I want to take them higher than where I have put Shumba, and that I can achieve because in every project that I work on, I learn new things and improve on the last performance.'