Nigerian funny man Bright ‘Basket Mouth’ Okpocha is coming to town for the Gaborone International Music and Culture (GIMC) week.
Leap Frog managing director, Thapelo ‘Fish’ Pabalinga, made the announcement at a press briefing this morning in Gaborone.
Basket Mouth will feature in a comedy show hosted by Botswana’s own legend Michael ‘Dignash’ Morapedi at Molapo Piazza on September 4, 2015.
Emerging comedians Olefile ‘Mawee’ Mokgware and Rekunde will also feature at the event.
Pabalinga said that with over two million followers on Twitter and Facebook, the Nigerian is a suitable candidate for the high profile event scheduled for September.
“He has a huge following and for us it was important to have influential people like him,” Pabalinga said.
Basket Mouth whose first stand up comedy performance was budded a disaster after he was allegedly booed off stage, is one of the biggest acts to come out of Nigeria. He has ‘cracked ribs’ in big cities like London and Manchester.
The GIMC starts on the second day of September and closes with a jazz show at Botswanacraft Marketing on the sixth. It takes off at the same venue with a poetry night that will see TJ Dema top the line up. Other poets are Mandisa Mabuthoe, Delerecal, Lesego Nchunga, Morongwa Mosetlhi and Gomolemo Motsamai.
On the second day (September 3) choirs will battle it out at Maitisong. They include the popular KTM Choir, Maikano, Trinity (UCCSA) and Mochudi Circuit Choir (Dutch Reformed Church).
Perhaps the biggest day of the GIMC comes on September 5 where a host of international and local music stars will be performing. The music festival takes place at the National Stadium where South African pop group Mafikizolo leads the line up that includes fellow musicians Khuli Chana, Gareth Cliff and KO. Zimbabwean musician, Jah Prayzah, Botswana’s smooth rapper, Zeus, and cultural music group, Culture Spears are some of the acts billed to grace the event.
Other locals are T.H.A.B.O., Sasa Klaas, Chrispin the Drummer, Dollar Mac, MMP Family, Mapetla, A.T.I., Eskimos, Lecco, Lizibo, Scar, Mafitlhakgosi, Tumza and DJ Amstel.
The music and culture week will end with a jazz festival at Botswanacraft headlined by South African crooner, Ringo Madlingos. Countryman Kyle Shepherd will also perform at the show. Emerging local jazz starlets Sethunya Maele and Mpho Sebina complete the lineup for the show.
