Franco and Afro Musica

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Franco and Afro Musica is a twelve piece Gabanean kwasa kwasa band founded by Frank "Franco" Lesokwane. After playing and providing vocals for other leading Kwasa kwasa bands in Botswana, Franco, together with Tanzanian born lead guitarist, Shabani Mwanasande Yohana, formed the band and started touring the country. They recruited other rhumba experts and recorded their first album, Ke lela le lona, which loosely translates to I am crying with you.

After Ke lela le lona the band has produced relatively successfull albums annually. The band realised their most popular single Tshutshumakala (a tswana proverb for a train), which won them their first Botswana Music Union (BOMU) Award.[1] This is a song about how much they fear the train. The songs are usually about very controversial issues in the society like witchcraft, promiscuity and death. They tend to write material that is very personal and in each album, the band has at least one song that tells a story about a certain village in Botswana, which has earned them a good following. The band has won several awards, including the BOMU "best kwasa kwasa album of the year" two years in a row.[1]

In April 2005, the band supported Koffi Olomide in his African tour. Koffi was coated saying

“ I am shocked to learn that the standards of the rhumba music in the country are this high. ”

[edit] Discography

  • Ke lela le lona
  • Ba ntatola
  • O nyala leng
  • Robala nnana
  • Khutsanyana
  • Mmane robala
  • Spekere

ke nyetse

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mokganedi, Mosah. "Culture Spears steals limelight at BOMU music awards", Mmegi Online, 2006-12-05. Retrieved on 2008-01-21. 


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