Setswana culture preserved
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday July 11, 2023 06:00
Through the event, revellers were treated to different traditional dance and song from various tribes across the country. Previously known as the President’s Day Competitions, the National Arts Festival continues to attract large numbers of traditional song and dance lovers.
The 12th Annual National Arts Festival was themed, “The Creative Economy: Botswana’s Economic Future Redefined.” The competitions are part of the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture’s (MYSC) various categories that were held at different locations on the same day.
They were introduced to empower local artists as well as ensure that the arts are recognised as a sector that can become a source of livelihood for people and contribute meaningfully to the diversification of the economy. Different traditional dance and song troupes from different regions did not only showcase their beautiful cultures but also dressed in their diverse cultures stunning attires. Some traditional groups dressed in beautiful and colourful attires especially those that showcased Diware, Seperu and Sebirwa.
This year unlike many others saw women in all the cultural groups appear in the same beautiful and clean hairstyles and their attires were not revealing. Traditional groups including the newbies brought in something new and kept the audience impressed. Revellers witnessed different seperu dances from both Chobe and Okavango.
With the Chobe Seperu, the dancers wore beautiful skirts with layers of colourful materials. The tail of the skirts when shaken looked more like the one of a peacock. However, with the North West Seperu, dancers wrapped themselves with layers of reeds. The similarity of both dances is when dancers shake their waists to show the beauty of their attires. One of the tribes that wear beautiful and colourful attire are the Babirwa who showcased Bobirwa traditional song and dance. Coupled with that, the Babirwa wear colourful wrappers, beads and matlhoa. The thrilling thing about the dance is that there are four drums that the crew plays while the dancers showcase their beautiful dance moves. There is the big drum and two small ones and lastly the medium drum that is said to be used to give the song and dance a thrilling sound.
Revellers also got treated to a Hosana dance famed from the BaKalanga tribe. Hosana is a dance that the tribe used to do ages ago pleading for rain from their ancestors. At the event, the Francistown Ensemble was back much bigger. Dressed in black and white as it is norm in the Hosana dance, the crew took the audience through praying for rain, receiving it, ploughing, harvesting and enjoying the harvest just through song and dance. The audience was also treated to a Setapa, Tsutsube famed amongst the Basarwa tribe and Phatisi. Giving keynote address, the director of Compliance, Awareness and Client Services at Company and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), Ntesang Sebetso said government is committed to growing the art industry. She added the industry is capable of creating jobs for citizens once it is developed.