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Captain Bajaki Mosweu
with students |
Botswana - After some thirty-four
years of service in the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Captain Bajaki
Mosweu calls it a day come April 30, 2007. The army captain retires as
musical director of Botswana's Defence Force Steelband. He gained this post after
capitalizing on the opportunity to study music upon joining
the local regiment as a young man. Mosweu appeared to have
breezed through all his music exams right up to grade seven.
It was in 1991 when the
then-BDF General
Ian Khama (now the Vice President of Botswana) heard a
steelband from Trinidad and Tobago, and was so mesmerized by the
sound that he felt that it should be introduced to
Botswana's Defence Force.
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Captain Bajaki Mosweu
tuning |
Bajaki Mosweu was the
beneficiary of the General's dream. In 1992 he was sent
to the United Kingdom to study pan tuning and pan playing. This exposure resulted in the
founding of the Botswana Defence Force Steelband.
To date, Capt. Mosweu has been the
arranger of the musical aggregate and often is required to do the
blending of the instruments.
As the Captain prepares to take
his final curtain, a little birdie told him that a door might
be open for him in the Local Police Service. But what of the BDF
steelband which he groomed from nursery to professional
musicians? Bajaki intimates that if his services are needed after his
departure an arrangement can be arrived at. For the
immediate future, though, it is hats off to Captain Bajaki
Mosweu and his sterling contribution to the landscape of pan
in Botswana, through his founding, nurturing, establishment
and leadership of the Botswana Defence Force Steelband.
Related story:
Botswana Defence Force Steelband does it for Charity