27 Apr 2014

It is not every day that one gets to witness greatness at play, but when one does get the opportunity to be front row and square faced with such talent, one gets to rightly appreciate and applaud it.

Talent is such a beautiful thing and one cannot be faulted for being envious.

Clad in a blue evening dress that hugged her to the letter, a gold and brown beaded neck piece with a glass crystal brown cocktail ring courtesy of Boitshoko Kebakile of House of Divinity, Tebogo Gaetsewe, known on stage as Debbie with a T showed her class at Mantlwaneng theatre in Westwood, marking the beginning of the four day Maitisong festival.

Debbie with a T, is a Motswana vocalist and actor who studied Dramatic Arts at Tshwane University of Technology, and last week she showed she can hold her own as she collaborated with The Metrophones, one of Gaborone’s finest bands.

With her vocal range and stage personality, Debbie with a T gave the audience a rare and mind boggling experience with her unique taste in various genres including new contemporary well-known classics as well as original songs by local songwriters.

Doing a redention of Sandi Thom’s “I wish I was a punk rocker (with flowers in my hair)” Debbie with a T showed great class and tact in executing the well-known hit track.

“Oh, I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair.

In ‘77 and ‘69, revolution was in the air
I was born too late to a world that doesn’t care
Oh, I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair..,” she sang.

With the audience firmly riding her every lyric and gesture, “Debbie with a T” was already on her way to owning the audience and having them respond to every little thing she did on stage.

She then sang a song titled “Broken Heart” and told the audience it was written by her friend Sethunya.

The song basically told a story of a lady who questions how men get over relationships way faster than women.

“How are you able to get over us,” she sang, adding “I want to hope that someone breaks your heart too, but I would not wish this on anyone.”

“Debbie with a T” is such a talented artiste. She became familiar with the local theatre scene in 2007, playing the lead in Stuart White’s musical Bye Bye Birdie and she has since performed on several occasions in Gaborone, including The President’s

Concert in 2007, Exodus Live Poetry in 2008 and in 2013 she was one of the main guest performers at Mandisa Mabuthoe’s “To Get Free” event at Botswana Craft.

With her mother among the audience, she performed as if to thank her mother for nurturing such a talented soul, pulling out all the stops to impress her and she was indeed impressed.

Recently Botswana has been experiencing an extraordinary feat in terms of talent being nurtured here, and “Debbie with a T” is no exception.

She seems to be in a league of her own and the only place she seems to be heading is up. She has a way with words and the stage is her little playground, and fun surely resides there.

She connects with her audience in a way no other artiste does in Botswana and success for her in the artistry world is guaranteed, God willing. ENDS