Khahliso Khama
MASERU — Kwaito star Thabo “Mthibo” Rakhomo has failed to release the DVD he had promised to put out on the market last month.
The 26-year-old muso told Xpress People financial constraints had hampered his project.
He also said he could not take time off his full-time work with a clothing retailer to concentrate on the DVD project which he started earlier this year.
“I ought to have completed the DVD but unforeseen financial circumstances held back the completion of the DVD,” Mthibo said.
“Besides music I also have other commitments from which I benefit financially since I am not a full-time musician.”
The DVD he is working on will include tracks from his two albums, Tsokotsa and Number One, both released last year in September and December respectively.
Mthibo could not say at what stage of production the DVD was but was confident it will be out “soon”.
“I am aiming at good quality,” he said. “To shoot a single video also takes quite a long time and I can only shoot over the weekends.”
The star was instead keen to talk more about the challenges in the local music industry.
“If our music industry was financially viable for one to launch as a full-time artist, I would have completed the shooting of my DVD,” Mthibo said.
“I fear becoming a full-time musician at this point in Lesotho because the finances are so limited.”
Mthibo said he saw little progress in the local music sector because of lack of support.
“This industry is very costly because one needs equipment to make music and if we do not get financial help from the stakeholders it becomes difficult for musicians to grow and produce good quality music,” he said.
Mthibo said he however hoped to become a full-time musician in the near future.
Last year he formed his own Mthibo Entertainment company which recorded his second album, Number One.
“With Mthibo Entertainment, I am striving to a point where I will establish Mthibo as a full-time artist and performer whose music is fully produced in the country all the way from its management, production to marketing,” he said.
Mthibo, who launched his musical career in 2003, grew up in a family of musicians.
His father, grandfather and grandmother were members of the popular 70s musical group Soil, Water and Sun which performed abroad.
Mthibo last year won the best kwaito artist accolade at the Lesotho Haeso Music Awards which earned him a ticket to perform in China.
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