Anyone who has witnessed
a Selaelo Selota
performance knows it is
a magical experience.
He is a musical masterclass in production, composition and teaching.
Selota considers musical showcases to be a hunting ground for
artists like him.
When the guitar maestro
performs, it is an out-of-body
experience for both him and the
audience.
“I must always bring
my A-game and try to dig
deeper. I’m reaching
that stage where the
maturity, the experience,
the brand and
the confidence of
being who I am is now
bringing that game to another
level."
He’s approach to live performances is to make it as if it is his last. Every time he goes on stage he asks himself ‘what would I want people to remember me by’.
TRANCE-INDUCING: Guitarist Selaelo Selota performs at the Go West Festival in Krugersdorp. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko
Selota has regularly-every three to four years- built a band that will reach its full potential and work toward the vision he has for his brand.
“I have the most
exciting band of my entire
career. What I have now is a
band that no one has ever seen.”
The name Selaelo Selota is
synonymous with his iconic
song Thrrr…Phaaa! from his
first album Enchanted Gardens.
When Selota was younger, he
used to hear his grandfather tell
the story of how he was a bare-knuckled fighter.
In Venda, they
call it Musangwe. It remains a
popular local competition to
this day.
His grandfather was a master
of the sport and would tell
his children about his fights in
the 1950s and how he would go
to the mithi halls in Alexandra
and pay in shillings to get in.
“So my grandfather would
sing, Monyako wa thimithi o
tsenwa ka sheleni… Hele makgale
ha patele thrrr phaaain a
dynamic way. My version is just
an improvisation. It was a story
I heard over and over again.”
ENGAGING: The composer is always looking to make new music and share generational stories through song. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso
About 20 years ago when
Selota was learning jazz at university, he did not appreciate
that the theory and harmony
of it as a music genre was
all-American. By his fourth
year, he started to worry that
the education he was getting –
composition and writing – was
too Western.
“As a composer and arranger
I started reducing the mainstream
jazz idiom and started
incorporating and bringing
some of my own compositions.”
The first time he performed
Thrrr…Phaaa!, the band was
hesitant. They were at the Concert
on the Mount, a pre-exam
stress reliever for all students.
The response he received from
the audience was priceless. His
next performance was solo- just him and his guitar.
“It’s been 16 years since it
was recorded, but I’ve been
performing it for 20. The song
has gone through many generations.
It has travelled over
time and even become a lingo
of some sort referenced in different
ways, even now with the
biggest trend on social media the
‘vrrr phaa’ car reference.”
Selota has also seen new opportunities to take it forward.
He registered Thrrr…Phaaa!
as a trademark long before it
became a craze, with the aim of
migrating it into other business
avenues.
Many people would say
that his song Ma Modiegi was
another that catapulted him into
the spotlight. Selota wrote the
song after noticing that newly married brides never visited
their in-laws after marriage.
The song is about encouraging a new bride to go and see her
new family.
For his sixth album, The
Promise, Selota showed much
of his social commentary on
issues affecting the people. On
the track Promised Land, he
sings prophetically about South
Africa today.
“I start the song with When
you promised Mandela his people
shall be free, did you tell them
they won’t be free, and then
talk about how there will be no
more schools in Limpopo, fire
burning in eThekwini and in
Mahikeng. To this day, I am told
I angered a lot of politicians
with that song,” he said, adding “I have to be a mirror to society.
You are a mirror for the rulers
to see what society is going
through. My conscious doesn’t
allow me to sacrifice that part,
I’d be irresponsible, a blind artist.
I’m comfortable in my space
and utterances.”
CULTURE KING: Selota is discovering new ways to expose traditional instruments to a larger audience. Picture: Bhekikhaya Mabaso
Selota is working on a new
album he hopes to release sometime in August or September. He also wants to get into
archiving so that as a people South Africans can reflect back to themselves
as he believes that, musically
speaking, identity has been
lost.
“I want to capture the indigenous knowledge systems through art with musicians in obscure parts of the country. Those are the ones who use instruments that are so traditional they are seen to be playing ancient music but their lyrics are very modern.”
Selota is in a space where he sees the possibility of working on projects that approach musical expression differently.
“Life has taught me that
language is the root of culture,
and culture is the fingerprints
of a people.”