By Neo Kolane
A panel of independent music industry judges who selected 10 winners in the Econet Theme Song Competition have decided to bridge a gap they discovered during the course of the competition, with a workshop in Maseru today.
The purpose of the competition was to expose the wealth hidden in Lesotho’s untapped musical talent as well as celebrating the organisation and its associated products.
One of the judges Mookho Moqhali who is also an afro-jazz musician and a lawyer, revealed that in as much as there were the 10 winners, there are certain aspects that were lacking.
“Some of the winners’ lyrical content needs toning and direction. In terms of the legal aspect, the musicians need to be well-informed about intellectual property rights.
“The musicians need to know about different types of music contracts – from individual song agreement, the exclusive songwriter’s agreement, the co-publishing agreement to participation agreement.”
The selection criteria were based on the performer’s tone in terms of clarity, resonance and focus, intonation, rhythm, technique, interpretation and creative inclusion of ETL products. The ultimate winners were selected through ‘likes’ by the public and ETL staff members during a three weeks’ time frame.
