12 Nov 2015

With Joss Stone set to light up Botswanacraft courtesy of Mascom Live Sessions next week alongside Botswana’s very own Abigail Isa and The Contrabanditz, Batswana have been asked to be open minded when it comes to giving artistes they may have not heard of before a chance.

Speaking at a press briefing, managing director of Botswanacraft Oliver Groth has said that Joss Stone is a world class act who has won among other things, a Grammy.

Born Joscelyn Eve Stoker on 11 April 1987, she is better known by her stage name Joss Stone. She is an English soul singer, songwriter and actress with six studio albums to her name. According to her website, she is already working on her seventh studio album.

“Most people may ask us why Joss Stone? To be honest, she and her team approached us about performing here in Botswana. She found us through searching live music through the web as she likes performing live throughout the world. We thought, “why not? We cannot pass up such an amazing opportunity to host one of the biggest soul singers of her time,” said Groth.

“Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist. Her second album, the similarly multi-platinum Mind, Body & Soul, topped the UK Albums Chart for one week and spawned the top ten hit You Had Me, Stone's most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date,” reads part of her bio on her website.

Groth indicated that the Mascom Live Sessions came about after he got together with Robin Chivadze and decided to do something about the fact that there were not enough live music shows in Botswana.

“We started off in 2010. It was not known as Mascom Live Sessions then. In that year, we did four shows featuring Lira, Jimmy Dludlu and Ringo did two,” he said.

He added that the shows then were self-financed. Mascom Wireless then came on board. He indicated that the agreement then was to host 10 shows a year. They have however only managed to host seven shows a year in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

“In 2014, we hosted only five shows after we realised that it was not working as it involved a lot of work to organise and host quality live music shows, and again, most Batswana hardly ever go out in winter,” said Groth.

He said that they will only host five shows this year. For his part, Chivadze said although they have a lot of limitations, they are still committed to delivering a quality product.

“Quality is very important. Making money comes a distant second,” he said.

Groth said limiting the number of tickets they sell for shows to avoid congestion speaks to the huge premium they place on delivering a quality product.  Ends