Sereetsi and the Natives on Saturday hosted a live DVD recording session boasting some of the band’s old and new songs.
The session held at Maitisong was titled ‘Officially Native’ and it was held under an African theme with African food being served at the venue.
Four of the band members make up another band called WDP that was the opening act at the live recording before the main concert began. The group dished out some tracks from its album that offers jazz renditions of some local hit songs such as Dramaboi’s ‘sala le nna’ that had the crowd cheering and dancing as they played the song.
WDP consists of two electric guitar players, a bass guitarist and the group’s leader Leroy Nyoni on the drums.
Sereetsi was recently in Switzerland where he had a string of performances in different Swiss cities and towns. To show his commitment to his work, Sereetsi only arrived in the country two days before the concert but went directly into making preparations for the event.
“I would like to dedicate the Headlines, Deadlines and Bylines song to journalists who work tirelessly to give us news on a daily basis,” Sereetsi said about the first song they played that is from their four-string confessions album.
He said he is committed to writing meaningful songs as he took time to tell his audience the message behind each song and what inspired him to write those songs.
Sereetsi also played another dedication song ‘Pasi Panyolo’ which he says is his way to honour the town that he was born and raised, Francistown. He says he makes it a point that in each of his albums he always has a Kalanga song even though he is not proficient in the language.
Sereetsi said the Natives in the name speak to the fact that their music is steeped in Tswana traditions of storytelling, Botswana rhythms and language. Sereetsi & the Natives have been performing internationally since 2015 and have won four music awards.
“The live DVD recording concert was an absolute success as we had a full house and the crowd response was awesome,” Sereetsi said in an interview with Showtime. He says Sereetsi & The Natives have been very well received and that the live recording is testament of that.
The crowd was diverse even though most of them were couples who had come out on date night infused with the jazz offerings by Sereetsi & the Natives.
Some in the audience commented on the quality of the sound, saying it was impressive as it gave them a close-up experience of the instruments and the singing.
