02 May 2016

The BOT50 golden bash music festivals kickstarted on a high note on Saturday and saw the young and the old gathering at Lobatse Sports Complex to celebrate 50 years of independence.

From the early mornings of April 30, people flocked to the sports complex as they did not want to be left behind but to rather be part of the golden jubilee celebrations especially celebrating the growth of the art industry in the country.

The stage, the lighting and the sound showed  that indeed this was the best music festival to ever be staged in the history of Botswana music and as such befitting the celebration of this magnitude.

The festival tagged ‘ BOT50 pop up youth bash’ left a mark in the history of Botswana music circle and made it a day never to be forgotten by music lovers.

With a line up of close to 45 artistes, the music festival left revelers out of choice but just too happy to have had an opportunity to be part of history as it was made in Lobatse.

More importantly that the music festival did not require any entrance fee, but rather required one to be dressed up in Botswana colours as part of branding the country, saw music lovers thronging the Lobatse Sports complex and painting it blue, black and white.

Artiste after artiste exchanged the stage to dish out their best hits, from Eskimos, Charma Gal, P- Mag, Skazzo, Zo Harvey, Ban T, Khenzo  to Vee, MMP Family, took it all out to also celebtrate in style.

Traditional artistes were not left behind as Gongmaster, Ditiro,  Bana  ba Ntogwa, Mafitlhakgosi and Chilenje the Ngwao show cased their talent.

The highlight of all the performances was when two youthful cabinet ministers got to the decks to show their newly found talent to the delight of the audience that had filled up the sports complex.

The duo did not disappoint but went all out to do what they do best on the other lighter side of their daily duties as Cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament.

The Assistant Minister of Investment,  Trade and Industry Sadique Kebonang took the show to its pick when he took to the decks and mesmerised the audience with his mix of songs.

Clad in a blue t – shirt written in slang language dlala, familiar to the Lobatse -based lifestyle known as Pantsula style, DJ Sadique received an overwhelming response from the audience as he took it all out to dish songs familiar to the audience as they sang along and he kept waving and clapping his hands and at the same time dancing to the tunes.

Taking to the stage, the audience could not stop yearning for more as he showed some unique dance moves, getting down to the best of his ability along side MC’s Zizi and T.H.A.B.O who gave him a hype in his performance.

When the Minister of Youth Sport and Culture Thapelo Olopeng made his maiden appearance as DJ Tipps in his constituency, one may have thought that it was just for Christmas celebrations.

Little did many know that people will see more of him on the decks with time.

DJ Tipps’ second appearance in youth pop up bash showed that indeed he takes his DJeeying passion with seriousness as he displayed a lot of improvement from his maiden appearance  in Tonota.

The songs that he dished out and his mixing styles were out of this world as it indicated that he took his time to choose a list of songs he played.

Dishing out hit after hit, DJ Tipps showed DJ’s who played at the show in the likes of DJ Sly, Gouveia,Dallas, Chrsipin, Bunz and Ricki Lamar that he was a force to reckon with and gave them  tips to use in their career line.

Though it was a sad day for him, as he announced the passing on of his elder brother on the day, DJ Tipps said despite his loss, he made it a point that he took his time to be with the youth to celebrate Botswana’s 50^th anniversary. He ended his performance with a gospel song by Tshepo Tshola dedicated to his just passed on brother, Ho lokile ho lokile and bid revelers farewell with Andile B’s Ke tsamaya le Jeso as he bowed off stage.

That was not the end of the show as it hit midnight and more artistes in the likes of Slyzer, Mapetla, Sasa Klass, BK Proctor, Wizards, Team Distant and more DJ’s took to the stage till the wee hours of Sunday morning when the sun rose from the horizon and Big L Wasekai closed the show.ENDS