Making music at 88

Kgomotso Molelekeng | Friday January 24, 2014 15:46

 

To some, he is just an old geezer trying to make a quick buck. But to his wife, 88-year old Monnaotsile Ntwayagae is the breadwinner of the family who makes sure that no one in his household ever goes to bed on an empty stomach.

The old bloke who sits outside AKG House in Gaborone’s Main Mall (old Capitol Cinema) playing his unique – if a little crude – instrument is a folk musician of note. The instrument that looks like a rudimentary version of the violin dates back ages among Batswana who refer to it in the south as serankure and segaba in the north.

My first encounter with Ntwayagae was not a very pleasant one. I had dimissed him as one of those people who want to make easy money instead of working hard to earn it. But his appearance and advanced age somehow convinced me otherwise.

A closer look at him revealed a quiet sincerity and an aspect of passion for what he did with his makeshift violin. So out went my prejudice and I decided to support him by dropping a few coins into a cup that is always by his side for the purpose. My gesture brought forth a genuine smile from the contoured face and a “thank you.” 

The following day I decided to pass by to see if he was still there, and he was. I decided that I would chat him up because the leathery face must have a story to tell.

Old Ntwayagae travels to the big city from Molepolole every morning. Love lightens labour, they say, and this is true of this old gentleman whose sense of chivalry motivates him to get on the bus twice a day so that he may provide for his family.

“At any rate, what choice do I have?” Ntwayagae queries rhetorically.

He was born in 1926 in the ward of Mahikana in Kanye where he grew up surrounded by music. He first discovered he had a talent at the age of 20 years when he was working in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) for a construction company.

“We were constructing a dam in Zimbabwe when one day I decided to entertain my colleagues by playing music with whatever tools were available,” he recalls. “I impressed so much that as I was playing, money was literally thrown at me. When I finally counted it, it was a large sum. I never stopped making music.” In due course, Ntwayagae bcame an accomplished minstrel who fashioned out his own segaba. “It is quite simple,” he says. “It doesn’t take even a day. Infact, it’s done in matter of hours. The crowning beauty of it is that all that is needed is a tin can, a piece of woodplank and a wire. No need to go to great expense.”

Ntwayagae thus made music – and money – in Rhodesia until he and his fellow migrants were expatriated in 1958. “The workers there went on strike and we all lost our jobs and we were all brought back home,” he remembers.

But this sudden change did not dampen the gent that Ntwayagae then was. Instead he took it as a challenge to work even harder at cultivating his talent. Over time, he became famous all over Kanye as the ‘Segaba Man’.

As is the case with most artists, Ntwayagae is multi-talented – he is good at sculpture, although he confined himself to the utilitarian craft of making spoons and knives out of wood which he sold at affordable prices. “People loved my designs, but later I stopped because I had to take care of my partner who was sick,” he says pensively.

The illness of his partner also caused him to relocate in order to be closer to his partner’s family in Molepolole where he started afresh. Ntwayagae continued playing his instrument in towns.

One may wonder why Ntwayagae chose to play a sebaga. The answer is that he wanted to show people, especially the youth, that music can be enjoyed in various ways. “They do not know the type of instruments we used back then,” he notes. “Most of my customers are young people who are fascinated by this instrument partly because it is home made.”

Ntwayagae currently lives in Molepolole near Boitshoko Primary School. Although he is an octogenarian, he does not allow age to confine him to his home. “I get up early every day and take a bus to Gaborone where I make enough money to get groceries for the household because my wife is not fit enough to work.”

Asked to give an idea of how much he makes, Ntwayagae answers that it is enough to make the world go round for he and his good wife. And how much is that, I press on.  “Up to P100 on a good day,” comes the answer. “Far less mostly.”