MASERU — Local Afro-jazz group Moshate is re-recording its debut album after finally settling a dispute with a South African engineer who handled the band’s first attempt.
The album, Mosipeli, was initially recorded at the South African radio station Lesedi FM’s studio in 2006.
But the album never saw the light of day with Moshate claiming the quality of the recording was sub-standard.
The row deepened when the Maseru band demanded the release of the recorded material so that it could be improved on elsewhere.
The engineer who had handled the recording refused to release the material and instead demanded M13 000 for extra studio time.
Moshate had initially been charged M18 000 for the recording of the album which they paid.
The band insisted they could not raise or pay the extra charges for the “sub-standard” recording.
However, Moshate guitarist Eric Mohoanyane this week told the Lesotho Times that the matter was settled in December.
“Some people helped us pay M13 000 that he (the engineer) claimed we owed him,” Mohoanyane said.
“He said the money was for the extra recording studio time that we used when we wanted him to redo the work.”
Mohoanyane said they had struggled to raise the M13 000 because they entirely depend on hand-outs.
He said they had now given the material to a local studio to improve the sound quality.
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“The eight songs that the engineer managed to send through the post are being reworked by BK Studio to improve sound quality,” he said.
Mohoanyane said they are also working on four songs that are missing from the material sent from South Africa.
“We are also busy recording the other four songs that were not included in the material sent by the engineer,” Mohoanyane said.
Moshate is planning to release Mosipeli at the start of summer.