Mohalenyane Phakela
LOCAL singer and vocalist, Hlasoa ‘Nel Rivers’ Molapo, recently signed for the South African entertainment company Fusion Cartel Entertainment.
Fusion Cartel is a multidimensional entertainment company that aims to excel in the broader entertainment industry through artiste management, bookings, hosting events and gigs, music production, video production, and consulting services.
It seeks to provide world-class entertainment services to a broad range of clients across the Southern African Development Community.
Molapo is expected to be at Fusion’s studios in Cape Town, South Africa on 22 August this year to begin working with the record label.
The Maseru East-based musician said his relationship with Fusion Cartel began after they were introduced by a mutual friend who is based in South Africa.
“My friend, Itumeleng Mothobei, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in law (LLM) at North West University in Potchefstroom (South Africa) and she is corresponding with the Fusion Cartel owner who is a law lecturer,” Molapo said.
“When the lecturer learned that Itumeleng was from Lesotho, he told her of his company (Fusion Cartel) and its interest in branching into Lesotho. He asked her to connect him with artistes from Lesotho and she gave him my contacts.
“We started talking three weeks ago and I sent them my songs as well as the online streaming links and they loved my soulful house sound.
He said they particularly liked the track, Face to Face which he released last year alongside producer, Kabelo ‘Brainchild’ Makote.
“They then emailed me the contract which I signed and emailed back last week and I will be flying to Cape Town later this month. But then I am not sure whether I will be permanently based there or I will be visiting when we have recording sessions,” he added.
The Let The Heart Do The Talking singer has been in the industry since 2014 when he was a final year law student at the National University of Lesotho.
He started his musical career as a vocalist for Roma-based INI Entertainment. He has been featured by rappers, Sadon, Bible Verse, Hermit Sage, Cyphic Black, Nuch and his brother OG S’killz before launching his independent career alongside Brainchild.
He said the deal would help expose local music on the international stage.
“I learned that Fusion Cartel has already branched out into countries such as Botswana and Namibia with me being their first signing from Lesotho. I see this is a fulfilment of a dream of having local music recognised internationally as they have said they will be signing more artistes from Lesotho.
“I was told I will continue doing Soulful House when I get to Cape Town and hopefully I will continue working with Brainchild,” he said, adding he had no intention of giving up his law practice.
“I have mostly worked on helping people with deeds of transfers and the likes of company registrations and I intend to continue doing that. I will have to find new clients if I move to Cape Town,” he said.
For his part, Fusion Cartel’s Artiste and Relations manager, Deo Siyabonga Nkosi, described Molapo as natural talent who need nurturing to realise his full potential.
“We have been scanning the Lesotho music scene for some time and our local agent informed us about Molapo and also sent samples of his music.
“He is a natural talent who needs to be nurtured as his got an immense amount of creativity in his lyrical material and a unique sound we can work with.
“It is a long term partnership and we will be getting him into our studios in Cape Town this month to work on an album. We are looking at starting with the production of a few music videos for his most recent hit single Face to Face,” Nkosi said.
He also revealed plans for Molapo to stage live performances in South Africa in the build up to the release of his album, adding they would also want him to feature other artistes from Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
“We source our artistes from across Southern Africa because we believe that the African tunes that flow from these countries need to be marketed and appreciated.
“Lesotho is one of the territories we are focusing on in our endeavour to take our music to the continent and create an environment where different genres from different socio-cultural settings are placed on the open market. We are looking for more talent from the Mountain Kingdom,” he said.
