Popularly known for his heroics with award winning music group Culture Spears, Kabelo Mogwe otherwise known as Kulenyane has released two single tracks in which he has collaborated with Ramozara and South African disco star Slindile.
The two tracks, which were released during independence holidays, are titled Bantomo and Tumelo respectively. Though Mogwe has deviated a bit from his original traditional dance beat and opted for dikhwaere and gospel sound, the tracks by all accounts promise to be the next popular songs locally.
Mogwe has worked with Slindile on the first track which is called Tumelo – the song is a purely a gospel one adopted from a biblical hymn “Tumelo ke thebe” though the duo have infused in their own lyrics to make it enticing to the audience. In the second single, Mogwe has roped in his group mate Thembeni Ramosetlheng otherwise known as Ramozara. The song has a unique slow sound which has given Mogwe a chance to bring in dikhwaere lyrical content to the beat.
“In music the market has changed and is digital and when you don’t have some singles which you always use to remind people that you are around they forget you. Those are the dynamics of the music industry. So if you look at these new songs they are likely to dominate the scene next year because for this year I was just introducing them to the masses. There is a Setswana saying which says ‘Mosele wa pula o epiwa go sale gale’ that’s what I’m trying to do here,” explained Mogwe when quizzed on his decision to drop new music while still basking in the glory of his latest album.
Working with international artists has always been regarded as a difficult task by local musicians. However for Mogwe, it was quite easy to bring disco queen Slindile on board. He shares why he chose to work with the duo.
“I have always worked with Ramozara at the group and he was also part of my last album but since we are together in Culture Spears I had the pressure to work with him such that he doesn’t feel left out. We support each other at the group so it is important for me to support his brand as Ramozara such that he supports mine as Kulenyane. We are here to grow and improve each other. Slindile has that disco which is a bit aligned to gospel so I tried her and she didn’t decline and here we are,” he said.
According to Mogwe, he is yet to promote the two songs that much but he has already introduced them and the feedback has been positive. “I performed in our couple of shows and the response has been very good so it’s only Tumelo which I haven’t managed to perform because Slindile has not been available,” he said, adding that production and release of the video will depend on the schedule since he is very busy. So far Kabelo has two albums to his name being Dibeisane which was released in 2017 and Bare ngwana ga se wame which followed in 2018.