By Matṧeliso Phulane
Award winning famo musician, Khethang Hlalele, popularly known as Morusu has announced the launch his own blanket in partnership with Aranda Textile Mills.
The launch of the blanket, ‘Letsatsi’, meaning the sun, is set to take place on June 22 at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre.
Morusu is a Famo artist who is proficient in playing the accordion. With 15 years’ experience, he excels as a producer, songwriter, actor, voice over artist and designer.
Morusu was born and bred in Qomoqomong, Quthing district. This is also the place where his music career started, but it did not take off to his satisfaction until he relocated to South Africa and was able to start making a living out of his artistic work.
In November 2021, Morusu won a South African Traditional Music Award (SATMA) in the “Best Sesotho Group or Artist” category where he was up against an artist called Mahlanya and a group called Bana ba Motho.
According to Morusu, this was not the first award he had received from South Africa. He received the other two in 2009 and 2011 from SATMA and South African Music Awards (SAMA) respectively. Getting recognition to even be nominated in such big award ceremonies is a feeling that Morusu describes as ‘humbling’.
The determined artist took eight years break into the music scene because of conflicts among famo musicians at that time, which resulted in many deaths.
He told theReporter in an interview this week that his inspiration behind designing his own blanket comes from being part of the Young Basotho Designers Collection initiative.
Launched in 2022, the Youth Basotho Designer Collection is a project by Aranda Textile Mills aimed at empowering young Basotho designers to create original work.
“I loved what Aranda did about two years ago when they gave young Basotho an opportunity to design blankets. That’s because we need to be proud that there is something we have done as Basotho.
“That impressed me a lot, but unfortunately I was late at the time and I vowed not to miss the next opportunity,” Morusu said.
He was, therefore, grateful and thankful to be part of the Young Basotho Designer’s Collection Class of 2024 to be launched by Aranda Textile Mills this month.
Designing is part of Morusu’s job; he started with designing t-shirts which he would sell. That proved to him that this was something he is good at.
What set ‘Letsatsi’ apart from other blankets is that it has various designs played around it.
Among others, the blanket is branded with Basotho hats (Mekhoro), huts as well as a shield. In addition, it has the sun centred on it which is the main theme.
In designing the blanket, Morusu worked with Isaac Mojalefa Sentṧo, a Soweto multi-skilled realism fine artist who is also a professional multimedia designer and self-taught innovator.
“The significance of this blanket is that as its owner and designer, I refer to it as Basotho’s blanket which they will be proud of.
“As someone with a vision, I had dreamt for long time that one day I will own my blanket brand. I recall when I was an initiate, the blanket that was bought for me was one of my favourites.
“I then told myself that one day I would have my own blanket designed by me. As a result of that opportunity given to young Basotho designers, I rose to the occasion to pursue my dream,” Morusu expressed.
‘Letsatsi’ is named after his father. It also informs other nations that according to Basotho’s culture a blanket is a traditional attire which could be worn in hot or cold weather.
“I have designed this blanket for Basotho, despite being a musician. I am an independent musician who is not aligned to any famo group.
“As a result, I have not designed this blanket for a particular person. It is similar to any other blanket which has existed before; it is not related to any of my musical art,” he added.
‘Letsatsi’ will be available at Aranda, as well as in all blanket stores in the country. It is available in different colours.
