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Mohalenyane Phakela
LOCAL music lovers are set for a free musical concert at The Trading Post in Roma on Saturday, courtesy of Swiss-based Velosolutions in collaboration with South Africa’s The Project Room, Lesotho Sky and Black Mix Lesotho.
The event will feature performances by South African acts such as Tidal Waves, BCUC and Bam Bam Brown as well as local favourites, Morena Leraba, Juvy and Basali All Stars.
The musical fiesta is part of events to kick start the #pumpforpeace Lesotho project, a Velosolutions initiative to unite musicians and athletes on a mission to develop sport and musical talent in third world countries and to build a healthier, tolerant and peaceful world.
Velosolutions who have built bump tracks in Thailand and New York City, America will partner Lesotho Sky (the organisers of the annual international mountain bike race in Lesotho) to build #pumpforpeace’s first bump track on a piece of land donated by the owners of the Roma Trading Post in Roma.
Roma is home to the National University of Lesotho as well as 15 primary and high schools.
Legendary rider and Velosolutions owner, Claudio Caluori described the bump tracks as “social hotspots where children and adults, beginners, amateurs and pro athletes, poor and rich, locals and foreigners, black and white, mountain bike riders, BMXers and skate boarders get together to spend time in a very tolerant and positive atmosphere”.
Caluori said they had decided to combine sport with music because the two were his “biggest passions as well as languages that transcend borders”.
“They’re both universally understood and are both about raw, inherent talent – talent that shines on either side of the poverty lines,” he said.
On the other hand, Lesotho Sky founder Christian Schmidt said, “there won’t be a single weekend without kids and youth riding and racing bikes on the track once it is completed”.
For her part, Black Mix Lesotho owner, Manisha Black said they were exploring ways to uplift the local music scene with the concert being the pilot project.
“Black Mix Lesotho has been involved in several local projects including the Ultimate Music Awards and our very own Cocktail Experience which enabled me to realise that there is a lot of talent in Lesotho,” she said.
“However, I noted that they lack the platform to expose their work so we are looking at ways to assist them.
“We will have three local artistes on Saturday as a starting point, although we are open to others who wish to voluntarily perform. We intend to host the concerts at least once a month with more artistes,” she said, adding the internationally-acclaimed Urban Trace TV and other global media houses would attend the launch.
She further stated that they were working flat out to secure sponsorship for some local acts to attend a Project Room festival in South Africa this winter.
