Despite the fact that most of their age mates are falling into the whirlwind of contemporary music such as House, Hip Hop, Pop and R&B, two Francistown lads, Tebogo Nkadile and Chilume Nbengwa, have their passion tethered on folklore music.
The duo, who recently released a folklore music album called the Tigelileni, (meaning ‘why are we sitting?’ in Ikalanga language), are defying the notion that folklore music is only for the elderly and mature people.
Speaking to the Sunday Standard last week, the group’s spokesperson, Tebogo Nkadile, expressed his undying love for folklore music.
“We want to correct the fallacy that folklore music is only for the old folks. Music does not have age, therefore, one has to follow his passion and do what he loves most. Through passion everything is possible,” he added.
Nkadile says that after meeting with Nbengwa, a fellow group member during the Presidential arts competitions last year, they decided to start a group which they formed in November 2011. He says that due to their combined talents, passion and ability to play guitars, they immediately started composing songs which they ended up recording.
“We are a good combination because we can both play guitars, which has worked very well for us and we are impressed because we are receiving support from people in Francistown and other areas,” he says.
Nkadile says that Tigelileni, which the title track for the eight track album, is mainly a song that is geared at encouraging people to act against all the social ills in society, such as passion killings, and other criminal activities. He points out that people who commit criminal activities should bear in mind the fact that there is always a moment when they have to pay for their crimes.
“We received a lot of support when we recorded this album from one Francistown-based company, called Events Live. They helped us with the design of the sleeves of the album,” he adds.
The album also has other tracks, such as Ngwao Boswa (Culture), (Seru), which talks about the ills of the society and Mankwekwe, which is another beautifully crafted song that talks about Mankwenkwe (a song that talks about women abusing men).
