FOLKLORE REVIVALIST

Ntirelang Berman has been a consistent force in Botswana’s folklore music and has in the past taken this music globally as shown by his invitations to perform in Germany, China, Japan and Canada , just to mention a few. Berman was also part of the My African Dream Talent Search in its formative years. A couple of years ago, the young man released a key folklore album (Maloba) that won Best Folklore award at the second Botswana Music Union (BOMU) Awards.
He’s a hard-core traditionalist whose aim is to revive the waning traditional music and the culture associated with it.
Born 28 years ago, the Ramotswa musician is undisputedly one of the leading traditional musicians this country has ever produced.
He describes the music that he sings as 'classical Tswana poetry’.
The young man is a rare gem.
He is so much endowed with musical talent and his angelic voice aside; he can play different guitar strings.
He can play the four-string guitar made famous by Stampore, five and six Balete string and the standard string.
As if that is not enough, Berman can play both segaba and stinkane.
Voice Entertainment Editor, MOSES MARUPING during the week caught up with the immensely talented Berman to find out the many things which motivates him to wake up everyday…

I’m extremely proud to be in the company of greatness. Could you please tell us about yourself?
Thanks for the great opportunity. My names are Ntirelang Berman and I come from Goo-Rra Dimpe Ward in Ramotswa. I was born on March 7 1981.
I grew up in Ramotswa where I started my primary schooling at St. Condrad’s Mission School before going to Ramotswa Community Junior Secondary School (C.J.S.S) and finally Kagiso Senior Secondary School. I’m a performance artist with a strong incline towards traditional music.

How did all this come about?
I started taking interest in performance arts since my seminal years at primary school. I did mostly Setswana poetry where one gentleman by the name of Seabenyana Rasefako wrote me several poetry pieces to stage. When I was doing Standard Six I took it upon myself to write my own poems and during the same time I took interest in traditional dance as well as drama. During junior secondary level I continued in my strive and in 1998 joined a group called Barwa Kgodumo ya Leselesele which was basically formed to keep out-of-school-youth away from the ills of society. Truth be told, this was one of the first ever groups locally to fuse traditional music with instrumentals such as guitars and drums. It was during this time when I thought of an idea to enhance my poetry by simply starting to play marimba and percussions.

So what happened next?
I wasn’t happy as I got to realize that my poetry seemed to be swallowed by melody and rhythm. I tried my hand at segaba, stinkane and acoustic guitar. After several months of playing the acoustic guitar to add a bit of flavor to my poetry I fell in love with the effect and focused my energy in perfecting my skills.

People of your age seem to focus their musical interests in doing Hip-Hop, Kwaito and House music genres. Don’t you feel kinda old doing folklore music which is sometimes associated with the older generation?
Most of my peers often ask me why I chose to follow this path and I simply tell them that it is the coolest thing to preserve and revive our cultural norms and customs through music. Doing folklore music is the best thing for me and it’s the only thing you can do without falling into the quagmire of feeling like a copycat. I can never sing out of tune no matter what time of the day I’m asked to perform it. It’s not something I’m moulding but offering.

Can you tell me about some of your career highlights?
My career has been great. Ever since 2004 I’ve been traveling in and out of the country. I was part of the My African Dream Talent Search in its formative years and I was thrilled in 2005 when I went to the Grahamstown Arts Festival in South Africa as a background musician unto two plays dubbed ‘Sephiri se dule’ and ‘My brother’s bones’. I was also invited to Germany in 2006 by the country’s statesman arts concert. The German president had visited Botswana and we happened to perform at a dinner hosted in his honour. I think he was impressed with our performances such that when he went back to his country he invited us. I was with Joseph Dikgomo and Myzer Matlhaku. In 2007 I was part of the Botswana entourage which went to China with a group called Barwa Kgodumo, Skazzo and P-Mag. It was something called Botswana Week in Beijing. As if that was not enough I happened to go to Japan for something called "Tokyo International Conference on African Development"(TICAD). It was launched in 1993 to promote high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. It has since evolved into a major global framework to facilitate the implementation of initiatives for promoting African development under the dual principle of African "ownership" and international "partnership". A central feature of this framework is the cooperation between Asia and Africa. I went there with a local folklore group called Phate ya setso. However among all these travels I consider last year (2008) to being my greatest year as I attended First Voices in Canada. It is simply a platform for Canada Aborigines to meet with other indigenous groups from across the globe and share skills. I was accompanied by one Keletlhokile Sedumao of D’Kar and Captain Dira.

Wow! You just made me turn green with envy. Looking at your achievements, do you have any word of advice to the youth?
All I can say is that now is the time for every Motswana whether old or young to search deep within themselves and be proud of their culture. If we know our past then we will definitely know our future and move forward. If you look at other countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa; their music is deeply rooted into their past. It is only when we do this that people from other countries will respect us and pay attention to what we do.

As a cultural ambassador how do you carry yourself?
I live a very simple life. I’m only a different person when I’m on stage but the moment I get off I’m like you. Humble and respectful. I know people appreciate me because of my work and I live a very principled life.

Enough about your work. Are you romantically involved?
Yes, I’m taken but I wouldn’t want to discuss details of my relationship.

Fair enough! What qualities do you look for in a woman?
It’s not only about my woman but I also want my friends or the people I hang around with to be truthful and trustworthy. I want them to accept me as I am and not what the expect me to become. I know as the so-called celebrities people often dictate how we live our lives but I detest that.

What do you like about Botswana?
I’m just happy that peace and unity continues to prevail in our land.
What do you hate the most about the same?
Most of Batswana are indolent and rely too much on the government. This mentality has to change.

PERSONAL PROFILE

FULL NAMES: Ntirelang Shima Berman

D.O.B: 7 March 1981
P.O.B: Ramotswa
HOME VILLAGE: Ramotswa
FAV FOOD: Bread in any form with coffee
HOBBIES: I don’t have any
DREAM CAR: I don’t dream cars and I would accept anything God throws my way
HOLIDAY DESTINATION: Germany; it’s a very nice place
ROLE MODEL: I’m self-inspired
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS: Form II certificate. I dropped out of my Form V during second term and didn’t sit for my final examinations. I absconded as I was an intimidation to most of my teachers and they hated me.
FAMILY: I’m the eldest now, cos I lost my older sister when I was young. I have two younger brothers namely; Obakeng Moshingo and Boemo Mosoba Berman.