14 Aug 2018

Thirty-two-year old Tshepo Matsogenyane has vowed to help unfortunate members of his community as a way of giving back and expressing gratitude to them for having supported his music career.

Shortly after winning best Zion artist award at the inaugural Botswana Gospel Awards recently, Matsogenyane, known as Tshepo Zion in music circles, set the wheels in motion for his project.

He revealed in an interview that he has adopted the Kalayakgosi family in his home village, Thamaga, which he will help build a house for.

“Winning this award has inspired me to give back and say thank you to Batswana for their support. This is not a new project as I have long started it, but unfortunately I ran out of funds before it was completed, so

I’m continuing where I left off,” he explained.

To garner the funds, Tshepo Zion will launch his second 10-track album titled Amen on September 1 in Gaborone and the proceeds will be used to complete the Kalayakgosi family home.

“I want everyone who will be purchasing tickets to my show to feel like they also contributed towards building a house for this family. They (tickets) sell for P50, which is equivalent to the price of a single pack of cement. So purchasing a ticket will be like buying cement for that house,” he added.

During the launch, Tshepo Zion added that there would be auditions for Mr and Miss Zion which is expected to take place by end of the year. He said winners of the pageant would be brand ambassadors of the church and would be expected to represent the church, what it stood for and also inspire young people to take pride in the church.

Quizzed on why he decided to go with the genre of Zion gospel, Matsogenyane admitted that Zion was not common and was mostly done by members of their church. He wants to make the genre grow as well as inspire other gospel artists who wished to pursue the same path as him to do so even though it was not profitable.

Tickets to the album launch are available in all web-tickets outlets across the country. Ends