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Famo Music, A genre mined from the belly of the earth – Spotlight on Mantša oa Lesea
Writes: Sebabatso Phakisi and Manyathela Kheleli
Imagine working underground, deep in underground tunnels of a foreign land, where darkness is your permanent companion, along with unbearable heat and giant rocks that can cave in and crush you in an instant. In the grim environs, you long and fantasise about quitting and going back home.
It’s rather better to be a herd boy, you tell yourself, yet at that very moment, you remember your children and start imagining them starving. You hear voices of your mother and wife crying that they cannot feed the children without income from deep in the dungeons. That is your reality. That is all the inspiration that you need to go through another soul sucking shift underground. But you still miss home. These were and are still the realities for Basotho mineworkers who have provided migrant labour in South African mines since the 1920s. Towards the end of apartheid in 1990, over 100 000 Basotho men worked in the mines and the numbers have reduced by more than half in recent years. It is these experiences that formed the foundations of famo music as we know it today.
The unique Lesotho genre has gained popularity over the years. It has grown and has been recorded by distinguished artistes such as the late Phau Manyetse of Tau ea Matsekha, Apollo Ntabanyane, Puseletso Seema and Mantša oa Lesea among others. The artistes have recorded hit songs that have gone platinum and arguably made millions in record sales, but none of the artistes has anything to show for it. So unique and splendid is famo music that the American pop singer, Paul Simon, with 16 grammy awards under his belt, remixed Tau ea Matsekha’s song, Ke Ikhethetse E Motle for his opening track, Boy in the Bubble on his album, Graceland, which was released in 1986 and went to sell 16 million copies worldwide.
However, famo music has become known as an instrument of gang-related clashes leading to the murders of hundreds of Basotho in recent years. In neighbouring South Africa, famo is now known as the music played by illegal miners wreaking havoc in disused mine shafts. These miners are known as zama zamas and they have been blamed for all manner of crimes in South Africa to the extent of threatening bilateral relations between Lesotho and its powerful neighbour.
Famo music came at a time of hardship and was a great avenue for Basotho miners to reinvigorate their souls and calm their minds. With their accordions (koriana) and an oil drum, mine workers would gather after a long backbreaking and depressing shift underground digging for gold or diamonds with a bottle of beer to unwind and escape their harsh realities.
Before the accordion, they used sekhankula (a sesotho traditional bow-like musical instrument), but with the European settlers coming in, Basotho got accustomed to the accordion and adopted it. Famo songs are mostly about life, the life conditions of mineworkers, reminiscing about growing up in Lesotho, or merely expressing their feelings about an array of issues. Where one missed a lover, a child or a parent, famo plugged the gap. Some songs were funny while others were sad. One of the common characteristics of many songs was the ululation of a woman.
The structure of famo music has a striking similarity with rap. It contains a combination of expressive rhymes and poetry accompanied by a musical beat. So similar are the forms that the new school famo is infused with Hip Hop. Among these are Ntate Stunna, Kommanda Obbs, Queen Mo, Malome Vector and Morena Leraba. They have become ambassadors of the genre paying homage to those artistes who came before them.
The music gained popularity in the townships of Soweto in Johannesburg, being played in Randontein and Carltonville. Soweto townships, like Senaoana, Phiri, Molapo, Mapetla, Naledi and Moletsane were the preferred meeting places of the criminal networks of Basotho migrant workers who called themselves Marashea (the Russians). Marashea started off as a protection bloc against ethnic wars common in the mines at the time, but eventually turned into criminal syndicates that had influence and even sponsored famo music.
Famo is also expressly a protest genre and Lekena Bohale’s 1997 track Boloabe is a clear demonstration of this. The song expresses his frustration at the stigma that the music suffered from some who discriminated against it because of its association with illiterate mineworkers. Fed up with the stereotype, Bohale wrote the song to vent his frustrations.
Boloabe ke kelello ea motho
Boloabe hase koriana…
Batho khale ba re sonta,
Liriti tsa rona li behiloe fats’e
Le se ‘nale soma ‘mino oa koriana
Koriana e ts’oana le mesebetso eohle
Ebile e buseletsa motho.
Wandering is one’s way of thinking
Wandering is not the accordion,
People have long been despising us,
Disregarding our integrity,
Do not keep on criticising the accordion music,
Accordion music is like any other type of work,
It benefits those who play it.
It is such artistes like Bohale who made the music relatable with such lyrics that reprimand the public raising awareness that despite popular belief, famo artistes were fending for their families and deserved respect.
In the 1970s, famo was also known as focho and it was common for people to say: “Re ea fochong” (we are going to focho). Focho in Sesotho means missing the target. In the context of famo, it refers to disorder, where the audience would dance and sing randomly in response to music tunes played on an accordion.
Famo music produced talented artistes who excelled in that genre. In the late 1960’s, the first major recording artistes to make a living from famo were Tau ea Matšekha which was made up of the late Forere Motloheloa (accordionist) and Apollo Ntabanyane (composer/vocalist). The pair met and started performing in shebeens in the mines and became successful with albums such as Ha Peete kea Falla released by EMI, which led Ntabanyane to leave the group and start his own career.
In 1974, Ntabanyane declared himself the king of famo music at a concert held at the then Maseru Airport hotel attended by Her Majesty, the late Queen ‘Mamohato Seeiso. Although the famo genre was dominated by male artistes, women on rare occasions took centre stage. These include ‘Malitaba, whose music was played on Radio Lesotho, and Radio Bantu of the South African Broadcasting Corporation back in the 1970’s. She was instrumental in paving the way for other female famo artistes like the great Puseletso Seema and Bo ‘Me Ba Maphutšeng. ‘Malitaba was a force as she was able to breakthrough and become a star in a male dominated genre, especially at the time when black women were segregated in society and in homes. She became one of the most respected female famo artistes of all time.
Although famo became a hit genre not only liked by Basotho, but also by other tribes like Zulus and Xhosas, the artists struggled financially as they were not paid what was due to them. Artists like Mahase of Mahosana a ka Phamong once declared that record labels gave them flimsy contracts. Demos were sent to record labels in the 80’s and were rejected until around 1985 when acceptance improved. At the time, Mahase said looking back at his career; he was paid peanuts as a session musician at Johannesburg’s Downtown Studios.
There is no information available in terms of the genre’s commercial success because the artistes were largely illiterate. Instead, there is strong evidence of clandestine shenanigans and exploitation, especially by studio owners and record labels in South Africa. As a result, most famo artistes have nothing to show for their prowess.
The experiences of Lephoi Elias Mohale, better known as Mantša, demonstrate how famo artistes were exploited back in the day. The Mafeteng born artiste got into famo music by chance. He had hoped to emulate Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Joseph Shabalala but one day in 1982, he found Peretle and Mabili playing at a stokvel at his home village, Tajane in Mafeteng.
Fast forward to 1988, Mantša was in the mining town of Welkom in South Africa, where he was introduced to Edward Vierra, a white South African of Portuguese descent who ran a chain of businesses in the mines in the area. After listening to his music, Vierra convinced him to record and they went into the studio in Johannesburg with Teboho Motsie and the late Phakane of Rutla Masupha to record his first album, La Hlaha Lekanyane with ten tracks.
It was his first experience in the studio. No contract was signed and he had no clue how many LPs were produced from the recording, except that he recalls that Edward bought him an accordion.
In 1989, then aged 24, he recorded another album, the self-titled Mantša with title track, Khale le ‘Matla. He believes that this is where his music made a breakthrough judging from his fame. But still, he never got any information from Vierra, who was now his producer. He would only get money when he asked for it and at times, along with other artistes produced by Vierra, they had to lie that they were attending funerals to get money. Otherwise, the producer was content with providing him with clothes from his string of shops in Welkom. In Vierra’s stable were also other famo artistes like Matsie, Keketso Mathula and Seputsoe, all suffering the same fate.
In 1991, Mantša released an album, Mantša oa Lesia, which was unfortunately misspelled Lesea (meaning an infant) for Lesia. It was another hit album that increased his popularity. Like the ones before, he still had no idea how much the album made in sales, save for his growing fame which was his only gauge for success. Mantša says Vierra paid him R2 000 for his efforts.
Recognising his growing popularity and to serve his aspiration to change the negative public perception of famo, Mantša set himself to change his tune and make the music palatable to all his fans and possibly recruit more followers. In 1996, he started singing about issues of the day spreading messages of respect, tolerance, love for humanity, and most importantly, the love of God. One of his revered songs, Molisa oa Ka – inspired by Psalm 23 is one example that changed the face of his music and warmed the hearts of the elite and the clergy to look at famo differently. The track got the highest airtime on Radio Lesotho and featured prominently on the playlists of most black radio stations at the time.
In 1999, Mantša released Mantša No.9, with the hit song, Keletso which hit gold, if not platinum status. As was to be expected, Vierra had concealed information from him. Mantša only became aware of his celebrated work after he was contacted by journalists from Sowetan Newspaper in South Africa and other publications that his album had done well and had been nominated for the 2001 South African Music Awards (SAMA). He did not win, but he recognised that he had reached celebrity status. He was also invited to perform at the awards ceremony, singing a medley with the late Tsepo Tshola, Frank Leepa, Coyote Motitjoane and Jabu Khanyile.
Mantša severed ties with Vierra in 2000 and registered Mantša Music Productions to produce, market and distribute his music. Vierra was literally in tears when Mantša broke the news, and more companies sought his signature. In 2002, he was approached by Universal Records, where he first signed a recording and distribution contract. Under this contract, he produced Mantša No. 10 and received a M50,000 advance, and was promised 10% royalties on the sale of the album. They also organised performances for him and made him famous.
Mantša eventually cancelled the contract with Universal, opting to pursue his music through his own label. With 37 albums under his belt to date, he contends that by now, he should probably be owning a private jet and he talks about this in one of his hit songs, Airport from his album, Mantša Number 14. He currently produces other famo artistes and is now working on his 38th album. His music is now distributed on online platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.
Despite its beauty, famo has become an economic and social problem in Lesotho affecting the lives of thousands of people in the bloody gang violence. The gang problem is also compounded by illegal mining perpetrated by the so-called zama zama gangs who have taken over disused gold mines in South Africa creating diplomatic tension between Lesotho and her neighbour. However, with well meaning musicians like Mantsa, famo has a place in the heritage of Basotho music. It also has a bright future with upcoming artists who are redefining the artform into contemporary music, with an appeal to the youthful and affluent segments.
