Mmurubele regroups for second offer
Formed by three ladies; Tumiso Ntona, Motshabi Moloi and Doreen Tshiamonyana, Mmurubele music group broke into the music industry in 2008 under the wings of legendary producer, Eric Ramco.
Despite being a new group then, the Molepolole based troupe made much impact in the local scene and had fans eating in the palm of their hands with their debut album, ‘ Puo ya mme Kopelo.’ While the album received much radio airplay locally, it also got support from South Africa where some Botswana groups have found a lucrative market. However, following the success of their debut album, expectation was that Mmurubele will dish even more killer albums but nothing happened as they went into hiatus. Fast forward to 2021, the once famous group is busy regrouping in preparation for their second album. According to the troupe spokesperson and manager, Pondie Alefeng, they have already hit the ground running though one member, Doreen Tshiamonyana, is yet to rejoin the group.
“We are still working on building the team again to be strong in the industry. We will decide about the studio very soon but we are ready because we have already written the songs.
These songs are to be recorded this year under the album called ‘ Bomme Basadi,’ meaning we are now grown- ups. We are hoping to do a feature with Ditiro Leero and Kgokgonono anytime soon and we appreciate the support and courage they have been giving us through the years,” said Alefeng.
Whilst Tshiamonyana is yet to rejoin the group, Alefeng said she is welcome to retrace her steps back anytime. Back then, under the Ramco Records the group flourished and even got international recognition and much exposure with songs like ‘ O tla ntelela’ and ‘ Fa a lela legodu.’ At some point in 2019, Mmurubele was selected to represent Botswana in Vietnam, Hanoi City in collaboration with Morwa Tsankana and Ditiro Leero to showcase their music and culture in a trip that left the Europeans dancing to the African rhythm.
According to the lead singer, Ntona, the absence of their founder made things very difficult for them to continue. “As everyone knows that we are a group of ladies founded by Eric Ramco, it was hard for us to continue without him due to our contract with Ramco Records. So we had to wait for the term to end for us to resume,” said Ntona.
However, Eric Ramco, has returned and has been busy working on the regrouping and return of Matsieng- another group from his stable, which also was inactive in his absence.
So it could be reunion if Mmurubele can return to their master again to continue where they left off. When quizzed if they will consider working with Ramco again, Ntona said, “We haven’t decided yet on which studio or record label we are going to do our next album under. We will reveal once we decide and start working on the album. So Batswana should expect growth and pure cultural music and beat performance from us,” she said.