Lerato Matheka
MASERU — Takatso Ramakhula is a man of many talents.
Ramakhula, who has dabbled with acting and boxing in the past, has now decided to pursue a new dream, music.
Ramakhula, who is well known for his role on a local movie Kau la Poho 2 has now released a single titled Tlohong which has been receiving a lot of airplay on local radio stations.
The artiste, who is popularly known as Bra Tuks, told XpressPeople that the 12-track album was produced by well-known musician Tshepo ‘The Village Pope’ Tshola.
“This is the first local album produced by Tshepo and I am very excited to kick-start my music career on this note,” Ramakhula said.
He said he had intended to name the album Toilet Peace but had since been discouraged from using that title by Tshepo.
“The album was a funny way of taking comedy into music. My intention was to make feel good music which would put smiles on people’s faces,” Ramakhula said.
He said he had intended to work with Fatere on the album but had to change plans after Fatere was involved in a car accident last year.
“Tshepo then decided to develop it into a professional track after he heard the raw copy that I had already recorded,” he said.
Ramakhula said the veteran artiste had worked on the album, adding backing vocals, piano, lead guitar and the bass guitar.
He said the album did not fall under a particular genre but was a combination of kwaito, Afro jazz, and pop.
Songs featured on the album include Bazala, Sphume Jozi, Homonate Kasi, Ke Lelimo and It is a must for the world to know my name.
“I was just doing this for fun and a music legend (Tshola) motivated me into seeing the bigger picture. I am very happy to give voice to what has been making noise in my heart for a very long time,” Ramakhula said.
He said Tlohong was an appeal to all Basotho professionals scattered in the Diaspora to come back home and help make Lesotho great.
“I have learnt that Lesotho is not developing because of social ills such as corruption hence my invitation to Basotho outside the country to come back and help the Mountain Kingdom,” Ramakhula said.
All the songs were recorded in 2010.
“Before I could plan the launch of the debut album, Tlohong started buzzing in my head so I wrote it and recorded it; now I feel the album is ready for release,” he said.
He added that working with Tshola had boosted his confidence.
“He told me I could be a music legend and that alone boosted my confidence,” Ramakhula said.
Ramakhula is a former president of the Lesotho Boxing Association.