31 Jan 2021

Upcoming local Zion gospel group Skizo and Mighty Brothers lead singer Gabatlwane Samonyaro alias Skizo embraces the mentorship gained through working with the late South African Zion Gospel artistes Lucas Xale aka Mojeremene and Charles Kodi alias Nkosana.

In an interview with BOPA on January 28, Samonyaro said they gained a lot of skills and knowledge from the gospel legends, which inspired the formation of Skizo and Mighty Brothers in 2016.

The Maun based group sings Zion gospel Accapela and Zion hymns.

The lead singer said they released an eight-track album called Senatla Ramasedi in 2017 with tracks such as Go laola wena, Oswabile Satane, Senatla Ramasedi to mention a few.

He said the album did well as they sold a good number of CDs locally and in South Africa.

He said in 2019 they released 11-track album dubbed Long way to Heaven with tracks such as Ha o tshwarela batho, Long way to heaven, Suna maru to mention a few. Samonyaro further noted that the album did not make waves in the market as expected due to the outbreak of COVID-19. However, he said,   the album did well as all the  CDs were sold out during promotions.

“In efforts to popularise the album we shot the music videos and uploaded them on social media and You Tube,” he said.

Both the albums were composed and written by Samonyaro and Uakuatua Ketjimambo while mastered and recorded at SubK Entertainment studios.

Samonyaro added that in May 2020 they were scheduled to hold a joint gospel show with South African Zion Gospel Kenny Makweng but the plan flopped due to COVID-19 pandemic.

He appealed to local radio stations to increase airplay of local gospel as such would aid in the growth of the genre.

He noted with COVID-19 ruined plans for many artists of holding shows and other events.

“Batswana can still help artist by booking artist to perform during tombstones unveiling, wedding ceremonies to mention a few,” Samonyaro added.

Samonyaro called on Batswana to refrain from piracy, stating that piracy killed artist production.

He applauded Batswana for patronising their music and encouraged them to keep on buying their CDs to boost their genre locally.

The 14-membered Skizo and Mighty Brothers is an all-male choir, with Skizo and Ketjimambo being lead singers while the 12 are backing vocalists. ends