19 Apr 2016

Thapong Visual Arts Centre was a hive of activity on Saturday as the creative arts industry hosted market day courtesy of Maitisong Festival 2016.

The market day through an exhibition of handmade neckpieces, earrings, bracelets, paintings, mirrors, clay pots, weaved baskets and music instruments such as marimba and setinkane confirmed the existence of creativity locally and the need for it to be reawakened.

As BOPA reporter went around different stalls, those who exhibited were able to tell their stories and journey in the creative industry as well as appreciate the opportunity presented by Maitisong Festival.

The Mahalapye -born lad, Zachariah Mhaladi makes musical instruments such as segaba, marimba, setinkane, cultural attire and also coaches people on how to play the instruments.

He said his interest in marimba started during his youth days at the Roman Catholic Church in Mahalapye but attending school in Zimbabwe gave him the opportunity to learn about the instrument extensively.

Zachariah further said he had also been roped in by different private schools around the country to teach students how to play some of the traditional musical instruments he makes.

“I usually run workshops of up to a week on marimba but it also depends on how fast someone can grasp the technique,” he said. Zachariah’s company Mozeco’s Music Instruments Manufacture has employed three people who assist him in his workshop.

He also shared the challenges he faced in his trade among them fly by night traders. He said these were the people who did not even know how to make these instruments yet they posed as if they were the ones making them.

“Sometimes I go for close to six months without business and that means we go hungry,” he said. On being quizzed on how much he charged for marimba, he said a set of four  which was base, soprano, tenor and baritone, went for P20 000 and a set of six went for P28 000.

BOPA also spoke to Onkemetse Daisy Bailelwang who hails from Middlepits and runs Rockey’s Beading Busket. She makes earrings, neckpieces, bracelets with beads and cloth. Daisy said it would have been wise if the market day was held month end when people had money to spend.

With Maitisong Festival on its 29th year, Batswana were encouraged to support the talent the country boasted of and appreciate it. ENDS