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.
 

 

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

Hollis Clifton - WST Africa correspondent

From the news desk of HC, Africa   -  4.25.06

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