Maun based musician, Onalethata Ntema who is affectionately known as ‘Mambo has released his new six tracked album titled Mpambo which is a follow-up to his 2021 debut album ‘Stranger.’
Mpambo is a Sesubiya name for a lady, which appreciates of beauty and purity. The album is in Sesubiya, Shiyeyi, Mbukushu, Setswana and English languages. The six tracks comprises of, Empress of Divine, Miss Jackson, Mpambo, She, Since lately and So lonely.
The 37-year-old Matsaudi born musician told The Weekender that Mpambo is a very danceable, calm, soothing and enjoyable compilation which appeals to all ages. According to Ntema, the album explores love and affection, a sense of belonging and the feel to be tolerant and humble beings.
Five of the songs were produced at Hashtag Music studio in Kasane by Tay Boz while one was produced by Tribal Tiido of FarmBoyz Internationale in Gaborone. The spectacular album artwork was designed by Tay Boz, infusing an earthly African art background.
The Afrobeat genre album was released on the 31st March this year and it is currently available on shelves in Maun, Kasane and other places countrywide. The album is also available online as a soft copy folder sold for P75 and Ntema has indicated that it will soon be distributed to other online platforms such as I-tunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.
The album has recently featured on RB2 Reggae-Dancehall segment of The tuck shop with DJ Gouveia and Selectah Dimo. Mambo Ntema indicated that the album listening session is slated for end of May 2022 in Maun.
Through Mpambo, Ntema has revealed that he wanted to showcase his creativity as a solo artist as well as promoting positive human face portrayed by man as a loving person who is socially accepted beyond just gender roles. “The album encourages me to be humble and mentally or emotionally strong in order to reduce gender based violence incidents,” he noted.
Despite the challenges bought by Covid-19 that left many creative artists hopeless because of the financial constraints they faced, the unconquerable Ntema has explained that as a creative artist all along he has explored different artistic abilities that make him to progress even in difficulties.
He highlighted his capabilities as a Poet, Writer and author, Social entrepreneur (Cultural Tourism, Camping Equipment Hire), Folk Jazz Musician, Native drummer and Dancehall entertainer.
“During Covid-19 and post Covid-19, I went to the studio and continued to record more music, there is an opportunity to do music and sell online directly to the clients,”said Ntema.
Ntema also stated that he uses social enterprise model which embraces expansion in different viable opportunities for creative cultural tourism. He indicated that the benefits distribution approach allows him to reinvest the dividends, returns and loyalties from merchandise and record sales into other businesses, musical and artistic interests.
He however lamented that there is still resource constraints that limits him to push the product mobility. Despite the challenge, Ntema said he tries to utilize the little that he has optimally to reach out to the market in different and diverse strategies.
“Where there is a challenge I look for the opportunities that I can derive from that challenge because in a crisis there is comfort,” Ntema stressed.
The artist has since pleaded with Batswana to support local music and to buy his album. Ntema received Best Reggae-Dancehall award in the 2021 Botswana Music Awards (BOMU) after dropping a 22 tracked album titled Stranger.
