01 May 2014

Everyone in music circles knows that the path to glory is not an easy one.

It takes talent, years of hard work, determination and more than a little bit of luck.

Real Kwasa Melody duo, Omphemetse Mpaanane and Kebatshepile Machangane can attest to that. 

Born and raised in the poverty stricken small settlement of Phuduhudu in Kgalagadi, the two gentlemen did not allow their impoverished upbringing derail their intentions of using their God-given talent to put food on the table.

Nevertheless the road to fame and fortune was not without its setbacks.

Growing up in a rural community the only expectation is that when you don’t excel in school the only available option is to go to the cattlepost.

Omphemetse endured an unstable childhood when he grew up in a single parent family at Kgope near Lentsweletau.

Being raised by a step father he fell to the trap of peer pressure and had to sacrifice his school grades.

When he moved to Phuduhudu for his junior certificate, Omphemetse seemed to have already made up his mind to scale musical heights.  Even in childhood, he showed signs of being passionate about music.

At a tender age, he would go around singing songs of reputable musicians, but adding his own spin on them.

He was especially enamored with the local kwasa kwasa music of Nata Capricorn, Sakaye Kings, Les Afrika Sounds amongst others. He soon became adept at writing his own songs.

Omphemetse immediately joined the school choral music and that was the launching pad of his music career.

At the school, he reunited with his childhood friend Kebatshepile and the two hit the ground running.

Kebatshepile also had a musical background as he enjoyed dancing during his formative years at junior school.

He became Matsha Senior School band best dancer. As fate would have it, he remained unemployed and had to face financial difficulties until he met a certain Alfred Mosimanegape of Les Afrika Sounds fame who identified his talent in dancing at one of the President’s Day competitions in Kgalagadi.

He was recruited to be one of the lead dancers for the rhumba guru whom Kebatshepile describes as ‘the main inspiration of all kwasa kwasa musicians and those to come in future.’

After years of trial and error, the duo put together Lechono, an album many viewed as a reflection of the two young men’s financial difficulties in the past.

Like many other artistes they resorted to social commentary in their maiden album and one unique feature about their efforts is that they managed to blend authentic Congolese rhythm and raw Sekgalagadi gimmicks.

Quickly reminds one of Setswana rhumba proponents the late Keokopile Badumetse of Kups and Bwasa Stars fame who never shied away from using a heavy tinge of Setswapong accent in his songs.

The six track album is likely to draw attention especially the highly charged title track lechono, 5D’s, Koketso, Madume and Lingala inspired track six dubbed Biloko.  ENDS