Mohalenyane Phakela
THE Vodacom Summa Feva became the biggest music festival upon its inception in 2007 and party aficionados looked forward to its gigantic line-up of local and foreign acts mostly from South Africa who managed to fill Setsoto Stadium with more than 30 000 people.
DStv channel Trace Africa TV rated it as one of the biggest festivals on the African continent.
Revellers were left devastated when Vodacom Lesotho announced in September this year that they would not be hosting the event this year but rather divert the funds to sponsor other local events taking place this festive season. Vodacom Lesotho said it was not the end of the road for the national festival but that they had resolved to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Summa Feva by sponsoring Basotho events.
It is against this background that entertainment outfit, Rock The City, in partnership with Nala Group and Phoka Forwarding and Clearing Agency seized the opportunity to host Maseru Summa Fest which will take place at Setsoto Stadium on 15 December.
Rock The City, a South African company which is owned by a Mosotho, made a memorable introduction to the music scene in March 2016 when it held BOLESWA Intervarsity Opening Bash, packing Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village with hordes of revellers who partied to the next day despite the rains.
In that event, they partnered with Vodacom Lesotho which may have showed them how ‘big dawgs’ do their thing in this country.
They held the inaugural Maseru Summa Fest on 10 December last year, a week before the Vodacom Summa Feva. Boasting a huge line-up as well, it proved that they could organise a show on their own as the event got nothing but praises from people who attended it.
Phoka broke into the events management when they organised the tertiary institutions fresher’s ball in Roma in September this year. They are very good at promoting a show as they managed to create a large hype to get people to attend, but unfortunately the post reports were not as positive as they would have expected.
Maybe Phoka’s ability to market a show and Rock The City’s experience will bestow a killer show that could be the next big thing.
Nala Group, on the other hand, is a new kid on the block so it will be important to see what expertise they bring to the table.
The Summa Fest line-up boasts of big names from Lesotho and South Africa and the show is already creating a huge buzz on social media.
Given that the upcoming second edition of Maseru Summa Fest has been moved to Setsoto Stadium from Berea district, the question is whether this could be a way of replacing the Vodacom Summa Feva?
Only time will tell which will be the bigger event when Vodacom Summa Feva returns in the not-too-distant future.