Mohalenyane Phakela
GOSPEL ensemble, Tehillah Africa, has vowed to take Butha Buthe and Leribe districts by storm during the promotional tour for their debut album on Friday and Saturday.
The two-day tour will start off in Butha Buthe at Crocodile Inn, ending in Hlotse at Leribe English Medium the following day.
Tehilla, Hebrew for praise God, consists of up-and-coming gospel and jazz musicians. Formed in 2009, the group has lofty ambitions, not least of which is conquering the Mountain Kingdom, the African continent and beyond.
The Maseru-based group draws inspiration from multi award-winning and acclaimed South African gospel group, Joyous Celebration, which has made it big in the cut-throat gospel industry. Much like the South African group, Tehillah Africa employs the talents of various prominent local gospel singers such as the recently enlisted instrumentalist Joey Mofoleng from Spirit of Praise.
In conjunction with marketing firm, Afro Media, Tehillah Africa has held annual shows featuring such popular South African artists as Sfiso Ncwane, Benjamin Dube and Teboho Moloi.
According to Afro Media Marketing Manager, Vuyani Mone, the tour is meant to acquaint music lovers in the northern region to the group’s music and also to market their debut offering, Tehillah Africa Vol. 1, which was released last September.
He said the promotional tour for their 13-track album would also extent to the southern region at a date to be announced.
“It is through such shows that Tehillah Africa gained a foothold in Maseru and that is the strategy we are going to employ since it is very difficult to sell gospel music CDs in this country, let alone getting a distribution deal from music stores,” he said.
“So we believe this is the best approach to take our music to the people so that they understand and love what we do.”
He added that Tehillah Africa had formed synergies with Joyous Celebration in line with their vision to emulate the South African ensemble “which is arguably the best in Africa”.
“We have already made a name for ourselves in Maseru and featured in a number of local shows and corporate events. It is high time we work towards increasing our popularity before going beyond our borders,” Mone said.
The tour, he said, will also feature jazz maestro Bhudaza and Senqu Jazz Band as well as Mofoleng.
“We decided to collaborate with Bhudaza in the tour because he has a large fan base in the north since it is his home town,” said Mone.
“Hopefully, it will make it easier for us to make inroads in those districts. Mofoleng is now part of the Afro Media family so fans should expect to see more of him.”
