- We were young and needed guidance-Mogwe
- I have never left Culture Spears-Charma Gal
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
Botswana’s iconic traditional music group, Culture Spears’ is working around the clock to reunite their band with Batswana, just like in the good old days. The group which was started more than a decade ago in Kasane is currently on tour with its founding members to reintroduce themselves to Batswana. With some of its original members including Thembeni ‘Ramozara’ Ramosetheng and Jelinah Selonyana Mokgwatlheng, the group has performed in eight locations already, including Thebephatshwa, Glen Valley, Jwaneng, Maun, Palapye and Maun among others.
“We want to restore the love that we used to get from our people. We have performed together in a number of places around the country and the reception is overwhelming. It just goes to show how people missed and prayed for our reunion,” Mogwe said.
To Batswana, Culture Spears was the epitome of a winning cultural group and fans are thrilled by the prospect of a comeback, but Mogwe says they do not have any plans of releasing new music yet. “When we reunited, we all came with our own personal projects and we would not want our reunion to mess up anybody’s plans. So Charma Gal can perform in the same show as a solo artist, and we later join her as Culture Spears. We are performing our old songs and venues are filled,” he exclaimed.
The group’s next gig is slated for June 1st at BDF Donga in Francistown with Charma Gal billed on the lineup. When asked about the group’s reunion Magdeline Charma Gal Lesolebe explained that she has always been a member of Culture Spears. “I have never left the group, I am a member and I still have shares at Culture Spears,” she briefly told Time Out.
Furthermore, Mogwe revealed that they are now mature and have learned from their past mistakes. He says Culture Spears was huge back then and came with fame which they struggled to handle. “We don’t even know why we broke up. We fully understand that our group inspired a lot of artists from Botswana and the region as many groups, especially in SouthAfrica, were formed because of us. But then again maybe we broke up for a reason,” Mogwe said, concluding that, “Go kgoberega ga metsi ke go itsheka ga one”, loosely translated as the ripples formed from disturbed water naturally settle into calmness.