The ravaging covid-19 pandemic might have hit the entertainment industry hard but local musicians have not allowed the devastating situation to define them as they continue to push on with their passion against all odds.
When the prolonged extreme social distancing was recently imposed resulting in many of music festivals to be shelved and clubs shut down most of the artists did not despair and resorted to do live stream performances.
Of recent a number of local musicians have been taking the radio air waves by storm with their newly released hit singles amid the difficult times experienced by the industry. Not to mention all but only a few, sensational Mpho Sebina recently dropped a single dubbed Pula. Through social media Sebina revealed that she wrote and recorded the song during lockdown in Gauteng, South Africa. “Making music has been keeping me sane during these crazy times. I’m privileged to be able to create during lockdown and also thankful to be locked down with two insanely gifted King,” she said.
About a week ago seasoned rapper, Kast of Tlatsa Lebala fame also dropped a new song titled PHOKO in which he featured local producer, Beat Slayer. Kast narrated interesting events and challenges he encountered behind producing the single owing to the disruptive pandemic. Extreme social distancing in most African countries came at a time when Kast and Beat Slayer were about to tour SADC countries to shoot a documentary project titled ‘My Africa.’ The project was however disrupted by the world wide pandemic. The duo could not be allowed into Namibia as the country by that time recorded its first case. They eventually got stuck in Makunda a small village close to the Namibian border. This is where Kast says the single( PHOKO) was realized and recorded.
“While we were stuck in Makunda we recorded four songs and PHOKO was one of the songs that we managed to complete. We did not have proper recording equipment so we had to improvise using a boom microphone and a small laptop. It was really a small thing but it end up coming out big,” Kast told Patriot Lifestyle.
Interestingly, Kast indicated that he also had to improvise even when shooting a promotional video for the single because he could not go out and shoot the video professionally as he would please. He indicated that the sleeve and the promotional video of the single was shot and edited using his mobile phone. His son, Loapi Molapisi and wife, Veronica Molapisi played a crucial role in all this. Loapi was the cameraman while Veronica made sure that lights and everything was on point.
Despite all the hustle behind producing the single Kast lamented that due to the ongoing lockdown he is however not able to promote his single the way he would had wanted to do. “In Botswana we make money through shows so even when you have released a single like me you are unable to go to a club or a festival to promote it,” Kast decried.