Mmegi

Disco queen ‘Ponka’ swayed by Amapiano beat

Ponka
Ponka

Disco singer, Lebang Baipidi, popularly known as Ponka, has rebranded and changed her music genre to venture into Amapiano.

Famed as the queen of disco, the singer says she found it fit to completely rebrand and venture into a different music genre. Following that, she changed her stage name to Baveligoh BW and dropped a new Amapiano single titled, Communication. Although she is now doing Amapiano, she told Arts&Culture in an interview that disco music will remain part of her as she has done it for 15 years. She explained that the decision to divert to Amapiano did not come easy. She said the decision was necessitated by a lack of bookings, due to the negative connotations about disco music. “The other reason is that nowadays (many) people listen to Amapiano music. I decided to go for it because I believe it can give me slots. This transition also challenges my talent. It will determine if I have what it takes to grow in the music industry and I know I will make it. We are in a new generation and things are changing. We have to make music that young people can relate to,” she said.

However, she said she would never leave releasing disco music because if she does, her fans would get hurt. Furthermore, she explained that she is aware that people would get confused but she believes that with enough marketing they would get used to her new brand and be able to differentiate between Ponka the queen of disco and Baveligoh BW the Amapiano artist. She further said after dropping Communication, she plans to follow it up with another song. Communication was released on March 1, 2025. The song talks about love and she mixed Setswana, English and Ndebele languages so that it can go international. It was recorded at the KK Music Productions and was produced by Kuseri Kumakili.

Editor's Comment
Depression is real; let's take care of our mental health

It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...

Have a Story? Send Us a tip
arrow up