Lifestyle

Takeaways from Leero's latest masterpiece

Ditiro Leero PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
 
Ditiro Leero PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

Everything that the Selokolela born artist has dropped in the past has always caught attention, catapulting him to perhaps the most popular Borankana musician in the country.

Whilst Leero has always exhibited his songwriting skills in his previous successful albums, with songs loaded with the rich Setswana lyrics, his latest offering reflects his maturity and versatility.

He has shown that by featuring artists who are either not known to be household names in traditional music genre or do not specialise in the genre at all. This is reflected in track three of the album called Ramokuana, in which he features Jazz artist Thabang Garogwe.

The song has that jazz fusion and Garogwe signature. It could be one of the songs to look out for in DT’s album.

He also features one Semetsamere in the title track Lesamutlha. Lesamutlha is a typical DT type of song, where he shows his deep knowledge of Setswana.

Other songs to look out for in the album are Molodi wa Koma, Sediba Ngwao, and Moremogolo in which he features fellow artist, Kalahari.

A founding member of Matsieng, Leero was instrumental in the production of the group’s powerful debut album, Semakaleng. However, nobody gave him a chance to survive this long in the industry after quitting Matsieng back in 2009 following his fall-out with producer Eric Ramco just as the group was releasing one of its hottest albums, Setswana Sa Borre. However, Leero swiftly moved on and launched his solo career, with an album titled Molemo wa kgang. In the album, there was a song titled Lepenyola, which was a diss track to Eric Ramco and his iron-fist rule.  While some of the popular traditional artists have ditched the genre along the way, some venturing into other genres and others quitting the industry altogether, Leero has maintained his way and is going strong all the time.

Even Matsieng has never been the same without him. Last year when Matsieng released their first album since Setswana sa Borre, some Borankana fans called for his return. While many appreciated the return of the once formidable local music group, they said the group will never be the same without him. This seemingly rubbed Eric Ramco the wrong way, and with the public pressure mounting he wrote on his Facebook page that “in 2021 Eric Ramco Records will sign Ditiro Leero. Alone. Solo. He wont belong to or be member of any group or duo or versus rubbish. He’s not the type. Alone alone”. At the time, Ramco said he intends to do a 12-track album with Ditiro, with him contributing four songs, Paul two with the rest being Ditiro’s responsibility.

Notably, Leero who has always maintained his silence in the midst of all this, has gone on to release his latest album at Touch Records Production.