The eccentric musician who arrived in Botswana’s cosmopolitan city of Gaborone, largely as some unknown quantity, has forsaken the city that has made him a household name for Maun, a dusty tourism village.But still, it’s hard to grasp this reality; Maun is facing an acute shortage of entertainment centres, let alone venues for hosting shows.This coupled with the village being far from the rest of the country should have been enough to discourage the Zwaka presa star from this career defining plan.But if it appears barely plausible for Manto 7 to have chosen moving to Maun for him it is even less plausible that he should continue practising his craft in Gaborone.Speaking in an interview with Timeout, Manto 7 said his decision to move to Maun stemmed from his desire for a change of scene and to help budding musicians. “I have been in Gaborone for too long so I decided to come here to help local musicians,” he said.
He has realised too that there is much talent in Ngamiland so he has taken it upon himself to form a local musicians’ association to help local musicians in recording and marketing their music.Manto 7 made use of the recently held workshop organised by promoter Zenzele Hirchfield with the help of the Department of Culture for local artists to sell his idea to a group of musicians that included legendary musician Stika Sola.As a result, a committee has already been formed with Manto 7 as its public relations officer (PRO).He said the purpose of this association is to give local musicians a voice to enable them to penetrate the music market without getting disadvantaged because their place of operation is far from major business centres. “This area is rich in raw and untapped talent. We have formed this association for all artists in Ngamiland and the Okavango; we have already applied for registration with the Registrar of Companies and Associations,” he said. 
Manto 7 also took a swipe at the Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) for allegedly ignoring artists in remote areas.He said BOMU only represents the interests of artists in urban centres while nothing concrete is done for those in rural areas.He however said they would affiliate to BOMU.“Our association has many challenges because local artists can be quite lazy and uncooperative,” he said. He revealed that ever since the association was formed Maun musicians have not been attending meetings.Manto 7 is incredibly talented; his album was crowned best BOMU Kwasa kwasa album of 2009. Once talented marimba keyboardist; his antics on a soprano won the heart of President Seretse Khama Ian Khama in 2007.“While still a member of Shakarimba Marimba band we used to entertain Khama and his family whenever they were on holiday at their Island home in Shakawe,” he said.He said khama was impressed with his talent and roped him in to establish Marimba bands in the Serowe constituency. He hopes to ask the President for funds to establish a recording studio for his association in Maun. By BONIFACE KEAKABETSE

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