By Matṧeliso Phulane
Singer Tṧepo Moletsane, also known by his stage name ‘Eska Ponto’, will launch a mixtape of 24 songs titled ‘Victoria Oane’.
The new offering became available on social media platforms on Monday this week.
Eska Ponto gained fame for his Afro-pop hit called ‘Mahali’ which rocked and kept audiences on their feet whenever it was played since its release in 2021.
On ‘Victoria Oane’, he simply recalls that Basotho were once colonised by the British and he became fascinated by the persona of Queen Victoria of England.
Eska Ponto’s mother has inspired him a lot in music, hence he refers to her as Queen Victoria.
In an interview with theReporter earlier this year, Eska Ponto explained that a mixtape is a collection of songs from one or more artists, produced professionally and usually put on the internet for people to listen to.
He said it is more like an album, but is not intended for selling. The difference is that the attention given to a mixtape and album differs in that the latter can take up to a year or two to work on.
Eska Ponto explained that the process he took was more like an album because some of the songs found on the mixtape are those from two years ago when ‘Mahali’ was released.
The mixtape was inspired after Eska Ponto and his team realised that people have been listening to his music and right now his fan based has grown. As a result, the team is now aware of which market they are targeting.
“We think people are ready to listen to more of Eska Ponto’s music, not turning a blind eye to the concept of love songs because in this mixtape we have love songs.
“The genres contained are: Afro beat, Amapiano and trap music which is done in Sesotho language,” he said.
Other local artists featured on the new release are Mosimoli, G flex, Cyber and Sausy and Koete Lavish. International artists Skoen Pampiri, Icon Lamaf, as well as Botswana’s Captain Dira and Lore-la-Batho also lend a hand.
Eska Ponto mentioned that those are artists who are either doing Afro beats and versatile in their music.
“They are able to do music as long as it is music, without being genre-specific and it was easier to work with them,” he indicated.
Eska Ponto added that even though ‘Mahali’ was a popular song for Basotho, it did not sell well.
“However, ‘Mahali’ was able to open certain doors and we are hoping to sell better with this mixtape. This year we have started publishing our music, and that means most of the videos that we are going to shoot will be played on Channel O and other music channels. “I urge Basotho to listen to my music because the aim is to provide authenticity as well as to promote our Sesotho language,” he concluded.
