Franco and Afro Musica is a twelve piece kwasa kwasa band from

Gabane Gabane is a village in Kweneng District of Botswana. It is located 15 km (10 mi) west of Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. The population was 10,399 in 2001 census, making it the fourth largest settlement in Kweneng. Its population wa ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. The band was founded by Frank "Franco" Lesokwane. As is the norm in the

soukous Soukous (from French '' secousse'', "shock, jolt, jerk") is a genre of dance music originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and the Republic of the Congo (formerly French Congo). It derived from Congolese rumba in ...

(Congolese rumba) circles for artists to go by more than one names, Lesokwane also goes by several other names like Stango, Molamu, Lepako and

Chakala Chakala is a locality in the suburb of Andheri in Mumbai. It had a station on the Salsette–Trombay Railway, which was dismantled after the rail line closed down in 1934. It is served by the Western Express Highway and Chakala stations on L ...

. After playing and providing vocals for other leading Kwasa kwasa bands in Botswana, Franco, together with

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

n born lead guitarist, Shabani Mwanasande Yohana, formed the band and started touring the country. They recruited other soukous experts and recorded their first album, ''Ke lela le lona'', which loosely translates to "I am crying with you". Other members of Afro Musica are DannyBass Dikole Gasebatho (bass guitar), Oxy Oxygen Ntoko (Drum), Samurai Ngingo (lead guitar). After ''Ke lela le lona'' the band has produced albums annually. The band released their most popular single ''Tshutshumakgala'' (a

tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu languages, Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Tswanaland, ...

name for a train), which won them their first Botswana Music Union (BOMU) Award. This is a song about how much they fear the train. The songs are usually about 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. However, in his first ever music video for his new album ''Mmamane Robala'', Lesokwane, does not feature his back-up band or dancers, especially in interviews and behind the scene footage and he is unapologetic about it. "I gave them publicity on my

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

and CDs, what more do people want. I have written about those guys on my

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

sleeves. " I do not think it was so important to feature them in the video," said Franco, when asked why the band did not receive the same exposure he gave himself in the video. "We did not see it necessary to do so. People will talk as they always do, but it is up to the management to decide these things. Maybe Afro Musica will appear in the next video. In April 2005, the band supported

Koffi Olomide Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba (born 13 July 1956), known professionally as Koffi Olomidé, is a Congolese singer-songwriter, dancer, producer, and founder of Quartier Latin International. Often referred to as the "King of Ndombolo", he is not ...

in his African tour. Koffi was quoted as saying "I am shocked to learn that the standards of the rhumba music in the country are this high."

Discography

*''Ke lela le lona (2001)'' *''Ba ntatola (2002)'' *''Robala Nnana (2003)'' *''O nyala leng (2004)'' *''Mmamane Robala (2005)'' *''Khutsanyana (2006)'' *''Spekere (2007)'' *''Koti Koti (2008)'' *''Baesekele (2009)'' *''sephiri se dule (2011)'' *''maja ka thata (2012)'' *''Ke Fela Pelo (2013)'' *''Ke lorile sengwe (2014)'' *''Zeng zeng ke eng (2015)'' *''Eya le nna Babilone (2017)'' *''Mene Mene Tekele (2018)''

Awards

* Best kwasa kwasa album of the year (2 years in a row).

References

*http://www.mmegi.bw/2007/October/Monday15/87.php *http://www.bloggersmusic.com/2007/10/27/the-lesokwanes-take-rhumba-music-scene-by-storm/ Botswana musical groups Soukous groups {{Africa-band-stub