19 Oct 2022

Botswana’s unique acoustic music will once more be celebrated at the Naked Soul Picnic session scheduled for Saturday at Gaborone Club.

The soul picnic session is also expected to create a unique selling atmosphere for patrons as it brings them daytime entertainment experience.

Mpho Sebina’s brainchild, the event has been held since 2016 and in 2020, it was held virtually because of the outbreak of COVID-19. The last session was in July at Molapo Piazza.

Featuring Sebina and her friends from South Africa, Msaki and Abidoza as well as local artistes, the Naked Soul Picnic is characterised by live music, which is meant to celebrate Botswana’s acoustics.

Sebina said at a press conference Tuesday that the soul picnic sessions were intended to unify Botswana artistes and that they had previously featured some local artistes such as Ntirelang Berman, Shanti Lo, Han C, Daito Seiko and many others.

He said they strove to provide quality sonic music for their revellers in every session, which would be annual.

The event, which has always been an intimate affair with no less than 100 people, will this year accommodate a bigger audience as it will be held in a bigger open space.

 Rapula Kegopilwe, one of the organisers, said the session would  be held in a bigger space and that small entrepreneurs had been invited to also sell their products at the event.

He said the Naked Soul Picnic sessions were also a platform for young Batswana in the food and beverage sector to not only come and showcase their products at the event, but also sell to patrons.

Artefacts will also be on display.

Kegopilwe further said tickets for the event were limited as they hoped to give their patrons a minimum capacity show, where everyone would be able to freely move around the picnic way.

“It is a limited ticket event and if tickets are sold out on the day of the show, then it will be ‘next time’ for those who could not get tickets,” Kegopilwe said.

Commenting on the promoters’ inability to deliver on their promise regarding day entertainment, particularly the delayed  performance of headline artistes, Kegopilwe said logistics often determined the issue.

However, he said promoters needed to be more organised in order to give their patrons a memorable experience of their events.

He also said the industry was growing and that there was need to balance experience and business for both patrons and promoters.

He added that if promoters advertised an event as day entertainment, they should deliver on their promise.

Although it would be a day event, Kegopilwe said the show was not tailored for children as it was an alcohol consuming gig.

“However, we will not stop anyone from bringing their kids to the event,” said Kegopilwe. ENDs