18 Sep 2023

What started off as a dull event or a flop, with every activity starting later than planned, it eventually turned out to be a thrill.

Given the mood and the low turnout in the beginning, one would have thought the inaugural Xere Cultural Festival was going to fail, but it gradually gained momentum and lived up to expectations.

The event, with a slot in the Botswana Tourism Organisation calendar of events, was held on Saturday in Xere to celebrate and showcase the Basarwa culture.

To start the day, adventurous individuals embarked on a game drive in the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve in the morning, from which unfortunately many returned complaining of no sightings of even a single animal, probably because the game drive started around 7am than the planned 5am.

Fast forward to late in the afternoon, people started arriving in large numbers and the mood changed and there was now some form of hype.

It was until after the official opening of the event by the Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, when a group of Basarwa ascended the stage, showcasing their culture through music and dance.

Their popular Tsutsube dance was one of the highlights of the cultural festival.

The event culminated with a music festival, which picked up the mood of the revellers.

With an enticing line-up, the festival, dubbed ‘urban festival’, started around 10pm into the early hours of Sunday.

Artists such as Sereetsi and The Natives, La Timmy, Nature BW, Vee Mampeezy and Dr Vom dished out electrifying performances.

When La Timmy landed on the stage, there were screams of excitement from the crowd and his performance was not a disappointment.

Nature BW also portrayed some immense talent with his Herero songs and thrilling stage performance.

Self-acclaimed king of Kwaito-Kwasa, Vee Mampeezy, seemed to be the favourite of the night given his rousing welcome on the stage by the fans.

Many who had been seated far, moved closer to the stage to witness one of Botswana’s finest artists perform.

No doubt, Vee’s performance was the peak of the ‘urban festival’.

Fans went crazy as the pint-sized musician took them down memory lane with his Taku Taku hit.

Earlier on social media, Batswana had criticised organisers for putting Vee in the Xere cultural festival line-up, suggesting a traditional music artist rather, but he, however, turned out to be the highlight of the event.

In the early hours of Sunday, Dr Vom took the stage performing his popular Tsaya Thobane song, which has now become like a national anthem among Batswana.

The crowd sang along in excitement. Meanwhile, the Xere Cultural Festival is planned to be an annual event. ENDS