inBUSINESS Issue 12

SINGS THE BLUES AND JAZZ APLENTY
… but the songstress finds that for all that zing and more, the disconcerting refrain
remains one of Botswana artistes being paid a measly pinch while foreigners take all the
shinplasters from shared projects, writes MBAKI TJIYAPO
For any artiste, to have been
identified by Gomolemo
Motswaledi is an achievement
on its own because the late
singer, voice mentor and
choirmaster was a maestro of no
small note.
But ever unpretentious, Nono
Siile speaks of this in a manner
that is a tad too modest for one who has
become an artiste of no small measure
herself. Growing up in the dusty streets
of what many regard as the ‘kasi’ side
of Broadhurst that is Tshimotharo, she
has been nothing short of phenomenal,
bursting onto the scene like a whirlwind.
With three albums in seven years, Nono
has buttressed the popular wisdom that
holds that talent and the ghetto complete
an equation for music, dance, sports,
sculpture, painting, the performing arts
and other art forms. Nono’s golden voice
has seen her release three albums under
her belt and one in collaboration with
Punah Gabasiane-Molale.
Upon completing her secondary
education at Elite in Gaborone in 1999,
Nono - believing herself not cut out for
academic work - told her parents that she
wanted to pursue a career in music. “I wish
I had studied music at secondary school
but it was not on offer,” she says. “My
dream was to follow in Punah Gabasiane’s
tracks and become the second Motswana
woman to record a jazz album.”
Because her mother, Sekopelo Siile,
was also musically-inclined, Nono met
with little disapproval. Infact, mother
gave daughter her blessing and supported
her all the way. Like many young women
artistes, the Church provided the very first
plank on which she stood as a timid tyro.
Perhaps unbeknownst to Nono then, her
future form as a diva began to take shape
when she started singing solo lines in the
UCCSA youth choir. She was a budding
beauty of 17 years, and it was not long
before the soprano joined her church’s
‘Bind Us Together’ to sing in praise of God
as part of the Sunday service.
A path was clearing before her because
the lilting lass was soon with ‘Love
Supreme,’ that junior a capela ensemble
in the stable of the remarkable KTM
that was always ready to sing the cosmic
notes of the senior choristers. After a
time, Nono was no longer a neophyte and
was ready for the plucking for the smoke
and mirrors that go with rock concerts.
Afterall, she had had a solid foundation
in the church that should act as a strong
moral bulwark against any morass.
Whereupon the master minstrel, the late
Gomolemo Motswaledi, introduced her
to Duncan Senyatso, a man who delighted
in helping ‘apprenticed musicians’ come
into their own. Nono became Senyatso’s
backup singer in 2000. Remembering
her days with Senyatso, she chuckles and
speaks about a show in Tsetsejwe, the
home village of her late mentor who spoke
several languages.
“We parked under a motlopi
tree and Senyatso, may his
soul rest in peace, said they
could write a song about
anything,” she says. “Suddenly
he was waxing lyrical and
poetic about the leaves of the
motlopi tree and their use to
cure women’s ailing wombs.”
Rich in the idiom and vocabulary of
Setswana, Senyatso also encouraged
to her to sing in Setswana the national
language. To-date Nono says Senyatso’s
melodious lead guitar still rings in her
head. But times were hard for musicians
then, witness how the Scania truck launch
was the first time she was paid P700 as a
backup vocalist.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 12 | 2017 45