Relocating to a new town in pursuit of your dream is a daunting task, but for Bafedile Mandla Jeremiah and Bonang Karome it was inevitable. Both from Maun, the artists met at the 2009 presidential awards and later formed a kwaito group called The Big Collabo.
The collaboration between Bafedile and Bonang, whose stage names are Mandla Es’ckiz and B.O.G respectively, has resulted in the two creating music that will definitely appeal to the masses.
They have been making music together officially for three years and they recently released their first kwaito album titled ‘Re Banna Rotlhe.’ The six track album features dominating afro kwasa sounds. Mandla describes their journey as a great coincidence.
“When we met at the awards, I was into afro gospel music and B.O.G was doing kwaito. These are very different genres but we decided we wanted the same thing. We are both from Maun and we are both passionate about music,” said the 31 year old.
They aim to dominate the music industry and gain national acclaim with their new album. The two say they were inspired by locally renowned artists such as Vee and Mapetla.
“We do kwaito music because we love it and we feel more comfortable with it. But we will not limit our creativity and we will be dropping a house track soon. Hopefully this will give our fans variation and show them that we can do other things,” they said.
As upcoming local artists, they have met challenges along the way.
“There are many hurdles in this industry. It’s a tough industry, you have to be persistent and believe in your dream. We had delays in marketing our music and getting the best quality we wanted, but things are slowly changing for the better. Right now, we have two songs playing on radio stations and a video available on YouTube of a song called Sweety,” said Mandla.
The duo has also dropped a single entitled ‘Ndisaza’ produced by DJ KSB.
“We want to build a company from this music business, that’s why we moved to Gaborone. This is a perfect place for opportunities. We take our craft seriously and we hope it will take us far. Living off our passion is what we want to achieve,” Mandla said enthusiastically.
This duo aspires to be the next kwaito sensation and they are positive that their music will do well nationwide.
