19 Nov 2019

A Maun-based recorded artiste, Kebonyetsala Samoka is expected to release a gospel album titled Motlha o Etla Volume 1 soon.

In an interview, Samoka said he was featuring his brother, Othotswe Samoka, in what is his first ever gospel album under Bafenyi Gospel Group.

He said the six-track album has a bonus track, adding Motlha o Etla title was inspired by a verse from the book of Malachi chapter four from the Bible.

Samoka, who is not knew in music cycles, said the gospel album was an answer to a call made by his followers who believed in him.

The 28-year-old Samoka, who was born in Gumare, has two previous albums in the dikhwaere genre under the stage name Mogaka wa Koma.

Samoka has a talent in song writing which he couples with poetry in his dikhwaere inspired music. He said his talent had sustained him since he performs at events, weddings and coaches various dikhwaere groups since 2010.

He said he quit formal employment in 2013 to give music undivided attention and had no regrets since he gets enough earnings to survive.

Samoka said he had recently embarked on giving back part of his proceeds to charity by donating sanitary pads to Gxhabara Primary School in Maun recently and planned to donate sport kit to some team in Gumare during the festive season.

He encouraged fellow artistes to tackle challenges head on if they wanted to succeed in the music industry, noting that he never won an award in the Presidential arts competitions but that did not discourage him.

He said his two dikhwaere albums, Se a re go tlogelwa tsatsing Volume 1 and Khutsafalo Volume 2, which were released in 2016 and 2018 respectively, were doing well owing to the continued support from followers who were still asking to produce more albums.

He said Khutsafalo, as title track which means sorrow, was about a partner who promised forever to their lover only to abandon them on the verge of marriage.

Samoka said he became active in music in 2010 as a solo artiste by performing at events and weddings.

He said in 2012 he formed a Dikhwaere group named Bommutla Cultural Group but went on to be a solo artiste again.

He attributed his talent in poetry and dikhwaere to 4B club during his formative primary school days where he used to lead a dikhwaere group.

“That is where I identified my talent of writing songs and singing,” he said.

Samoka further said his singing talent was identified and nurtured at church at a later stage where he was a choir member.

He said the Bible urged congregants to multiply their talents, and that his followers understood that he did both gospel and dikhwaere. Ends