Live music in Lesotho

Historical overview

In its crudest form, the Lesotho music scene was dominated by village choirs with the most common music being monyanyako. Many famous musicians in Lesotho attribute their music prowess to the harsh and unregulated choral music industry. Choirs would visit neighbouring villages on a rotational basis and the visiting choir would collect door takings. The music was popular from the 1970s until its popularity dwindled in the early 2000s.

The founding fathers of famo music in Lesotho – Apollo Ntabanyane, Tamoshete and Phakane – also played a role in igniting the Lesotho live music scene. However, their performances were almost always undermined by poor logistics: despite being the most popular musician in Lesotho in the early 1990s, Phakane would hire a simple plastic tent with revelers paying at the entrance. In addition, the sound quality was always poor. Despite all these challenges, famo artists continued holding concerts even though the attendance was often poor.

At the height of apartheid in South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, Lesotho was a safe haven for famous South African artists to host live concerts. The likes of Steve Kekana, Johnny Mokgadi and many other South African musicians were frequent visitors to Lesotho and played alongside local artists who included the legendary Sankomota. Thousands of Basotho would attend these concerts to listen to the latest hits. In the early 1990s, however, the Lesotho live music scene took a heavy knock when the apartheid regime was dismantled and many South African musicians, who were initially restricted to hold concerts in their own country, all of sudden had a locally conducive environment to perform in.

Popular music festivals and events

In the early 2000s, the Lesotho music scene slowly regained its former glory when Tuku Talana Promotions organised a jazz concert that saw the likes of Oliver Mtukudzi, Letta Mbulu, Tshepo Tshola and Caiphus Semenya mesmerise thousands of fans at Setsoto Stadium in Maseru. The concert was the precursor of a similar music festival that followed – Lesotho Tourism Festival. Founded in 2004, the festival is now the premier jazz event in the country and attracts artists and festivalgoers from all over the world. The concert is held at the Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village, which is located less than 20km from the capital Maseru. Morija Cultural Festival is another premier event that completely changed the Lesotho live music scene with its inaugural event in 1999. However, the festival was last held in 2015. In 2016 it coincided with Lesotho’s 50thindependence celebrations and was put on hold with the government, as the main sponsor, citing financial constraints as the reason for the festival’s cancellation.

Vodacom Summa Feva is another popular music festival in Lesotho and has been held in Maseru since 2007. The festival has been growing in popularity with each passing year. Last year, the line-up included AKA, Major League, Heavy-K, A-Reece, Emtee, Tshepzadj, Juvy, Boxfr3sh, AfroDJ, L-Tore, Mapanaki as well as Vodacom Superstars DJ Thizozo, Reezy Ray, Eunice and the Step Up dance crew. Other popular hot spots of Lesotho’s fast-growing hip hop scene – known as Sotho hop – and R&B are Ba.One, Club 4Fordy, Victoria Hotel, Cuban Link and Maseru Club, which host live events on a weekly basis. All the venues are within a 10km radius from the Maseru CBD. Rappers like Mega Hertz have become overnight superstars due to the vibrant live music culture that has taken roots in recent years. There are other new babies on the block – Maseru Easter Festival and RTC Summer Festival, which are held in Maseru and Teyateyaneng (40km from the capital) respectively.

Monyanyako choral music has also made a remarkable recovery in recent years and the annual three-day Litsoanya Music Competition by Lesotho Television has catapulted the music to greater heights. Established choral music groups such as JP Choristers, Mohapeloa Singers, Serumula Performing Arts Academy and Maseru City Choral have successfully blended some of their songs with famo music. The attendance at choral music concerts has also seen a resurgence in recent years. Apart from monyanyako music, there is also a growing market for live gospel music with the two signature gospel music festivals being the Lesotho Summer Gospel Festival and Worship Explosion.

Despite being the most popular genre in Lesotho, famo concerts are rare due to the violent nature of most of the songs, especially famo from Mafeteng District, which is regarded as the principal area of the genre. The police has been known to disrupt such concerts because they often result in gunfights and fatalities. Popular famo artists such as Mahlanya, the de facto leader of the Seakhi group, has held no live concerts in Lesotho in the last three years despite being the best-selling and most influential artist across all genres in Lesotho.

Promotion and ticketing system

Promotion of music in Lesotho varies. There are number well-known promoters such as Afromedia Tehillah Africa, Made2Rock Events Management, Tsana-Talana Promotions and KOL Productions. In addition, individual musicians advertise and promote their own music events via Facebook, radio advertisements and street posters.

With regard to the ticketing system for well-established festivals, Computicket is the most common outlet used to sell tickets. In addition, some promoters print a limited number of tickets that are distributed to a selection of outlets where people can purchase them. Buying a ticket at the door is also another common practice at music events in Lesotho.

In the run-up to the 2016 festive season, concerned citizens voiced their displeasure at organisers for hiring foreign events management and security companies over local service providers.

References:

http://sundayexprss.co.ls/police-stop-summa-feva-bash/

http://lestimes.com/all-set-for-vodacom-summa-feva/

http://lestimes.com/letofe-caps-2016-on-a-high/

http://lestimes.com/summer-gospel-festival-beckons/

www.morija.co.ls