Mohalenyane Phakela
SENQU Jazz Band has promised fireworks at their fourth appearance at the popular annual Cherry Jazz Festival at Ficksburg Grounds in South Africa, on Saturday.
The seven piece Afro Jazz band will share the stage with prominent South African acts such as Caiphus Semenya, Letta Mbuli, Ringo, Babes Wodumo and Lesotho’s very own Tšepo Tšola and Maleh.
Senqu first appeared at the festival in 2011 as one of the opening acts that performed during the day while bigger acts performed in the evening. They performed again in 2012 and in 2013 when they were finally given an evening slot.
The band’s publicist, Tom Rakoti, said fans should expect a killer performance as they have matured since their last appearance at the festival.
“During our first two appearances at the Cherry Festival we played during the day which is the time allocated for upcoming acts but our last performance in 2013 proved that we had earned respect as we were given an evening slot which is often given to established performers,” Rakoti said.
“We were not booked for 2014 and 2015 but we used the opportunity to perfect our skills and we can now say we have become more powerful than before.
“We believe our second offering, Fotha (released early this year) compelled the organisers to bring us back for it has been receiving a lot of airplay at Setsoto FM in Ficksburg, with tracks such as Lebitso la hao, Batšoarua and Pula Ea Na proving to be listeners’ favourites,” he told the Weekender this week.
“We have shared the stage with most acts on the lineup including Ringo and Caiphus Semenya.
“We even performed with Ntate Tšepo on some of his songs during a local show in December last year. They were all blown away with our performance and that gives us more confidence to perform alongside them again.”
Rakoti said they were confident the festival would open doors for them in their quest for global recognition as they were not fully appreciated in their own backyard.
“Cherry Festival is the biggest festival where we have been given the opportunity to perform since we are barely recognised by epic show organisers here at home.
“Our goal is to tap into international platforms hence we named ourselves Senqu, which is Lesotho’s biggest river that flows as far as Namibia and into the (Atlantic) ocean.”
Rakoti said they had been contacted to perform at another major festival in Pretoria, South Africa.
