08 Jul 2020

As COVID-19 continues to sink its claws on the creative industry, upcoming musicians Motswako Translators have chosen to look beyond the circumstances by focusing on the flip side of things as they turn it to be a launching pad towards realising their full potential.

Young, bold and daring, the music group which is made of a trio of young lads Gomolemo Mothibi also known as (aka) ‘Spydr’, Lekgotla Tsietso aka ‘Lefty’ and Lionel Ferris aka ‘Lio’, has defied the odds to release a hot debut track titled Tsamaya Satane featuring a local Kwaito artist Tizo.

“After much financial struggle we officially released our track on June  20 and this is an opportune time to do so as the track is all about trusting God to cleanse bad omens and the current situation applies even though the lyrics are not direct,” says Lefty.

The tune which is  a mix of Setswana, Afrikaans, English, tsotsi raps was written and arranged by the trio with the help of DJ Skizoh BW and Charlton Jacobs as the producers.

Lio noted that the gospel lyrics apply to every situation thus targeted to appeal to the youth who may be going through challenges.

The music group which was formed in 2012 was inspired by well-established local artists such as Vee Mampezy, HT Tautona and many other rapping emcees locally.

 Armed with tertiary education certificates from different institutions  but currently unemployed, the trio sees music as a great avenue of expression and  to earn a living.

Having gone through challenges since the time when they formed the music group, the Kgalagadi natives who hail from Tsabong and Werda are unstoppable as they were able to circumvent tough challenges over the years.

They used to be curtain raisers at shows featuring some of the renowned local artists. Their appearances, they said, served to build stage confidence and improve performance. The young musicians have participated thrice in the President Arts Competitions at district level which served as a pedestal that boosted motivation and drive to do more music.

The trio extolled Ministry of Youth Empowerment Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) President Arts competitions for giving them platform which instilled confidence in them.

 They participated for the first time in the regionals which were held in Hukuntsi in 2017 where they scooped position six out of 40 contestants. In 2018, they entered again and got position six again.

They persevered entering the competitions again until in 2019 twhen hey got position two. In the same year MYSC gave them the platform to perform at the Annual Kgalagadi Polka Festival. These were the highlights and building blocks of their music group.

In the same year they decided to take their music further and hosted a festival at Tsabong in December 2019 dubbed TSB Festive Explosion. They used the proceeds from the show to realise their dream of recording their first track in an effort to break into the music industry.

They emphasised that even though the creative industry is at an all-time low because of COVID-19, they will strive to make their mark and use available avenues to grow their music.

They are well aware that the music industry is a dog eat dog world and they are ripe for the big stage after releasing the electrifying Tsamaya Satane. Ends