The night the dead tree sang again

Local artists Vee Mampeezy and Eskimos took to the stage and their music travelled across the Main Mall like a ghost returning to an old home. Since the lifeless trunk of the tree was removed from the mall’s pedestrian-only walkway last year, there has never been a plaque or monument to show that the serene symbol of local music had fallen.

There is no sign pointing to the place where music lovers once gathered under the acacia tree to buy the latest cassette or CD. That was the time when records sold like fat cakes and a new release could send people hurrying into town with money clenched in their pockets. On the night of Vee Mampeezy and Eskimos’ performance there was nothing to tell the younger generation that, somewhere within the same street, a tree had once become synonymous with Botswana's music industry.