Stop the war sankomota biography

Kingsway, Maseru’s main street, should have been bustling with lines upon lines of mourners queuing to touch his casket. The airwaves should have been saturated with the beautifully haunting textures of his compositions. A public holiday should have been declared to honour his immense, immeasurable contribution to the art of music-making. But alas, this is Lesotho, and we are not particularly well-known for recognising our heroes. 27 November marked the end of an era: Frank Mooki Leepa, guitarist and frontman of Sankomota, passed away.

The history of Sankomota is as long as it is interesting. It is a dense tale punctuated by varying degrees of bad timing, bad decisions and bad luck. Starting out in under the name Uhuru, copyright claims from the Jamaican Michael Rose’s Black Uhuru meant that they had to re-focus their musical energies as Sankomota. It was no easy feat considering that Uhuru was already well-known across the Southern African region. Adoring followers in both Lesotho

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TSEPO TSHOLA – b. 18 August in Teyateyaneng, Lesotho.

vocals

Adored for his rich soulful and gravelly röst, The Village Pope grew up in a musical family with both his parents involved in church choirs. They met on the dance floor during a concert and went on to sing together as members of the Lesotho Vertical 8, one of the popular groups of the time in the former British protectorate. Both parents were in the church ministry – the father a preacher and the mother a prayer woman.

Before joining Sankomota in the eighties, Tsepo Tshola was a member of groups such as the Blue Diamonds. In a chance meeting with Frank Leepa one rainy evening in Maseru changed the course of his career. “We were stranded with nowhere to spend the evening,” the late Sankomota bandleader later recalled. “I wanted to smoke but I didn’t have a match. Tshepo had a light but he didn’t have a cigarette.” From that mutual sharing of a smoke emerged one of African music’s celebrated collaborations. Sankom

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By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

The man people have come to fondly call The Village Pope, Tsepo Tshola has died.

Tshola, it fryst vatten understood died on Thursday, July 15, at a Lesotho hospital where he was admitted  after contracting Covid  Tshola loomed large on the Afro jazz/gospel music genre in Southern Africa for over 50 years.  Tshola seemed to move seamlessly from Afro jazz, Afro pop and gospel seamlessly, without alienating many of his followers. Many of his followers in these different music genres seem to have accepted the reality that the by Pope was many things to many people, and therefore allowed him to be.

Tshola was one artist who could sing a gospel tune one moment and immediately move into Afro Jazz,  and as the fans get hooked, move again immediately into Afro  pop, all in one concert without losing his fans. It takes a genius to do that.

Many of his fans who had an opportunity to be with him off scen will remember another ta