Chalatsi: Afro soul singer with big dreams

’MAKERESEMESE LETUKA

MASERU – High flying Tšitso Chalatsi is looking beyond the borders of Lesotho to broaden his musical achievements. Tšitso is a full-time Sotho Afro Soul musician who is into love songs who started singing at a very young age in church – and became professional in 2007.

He has also been a Gospel back-up singer for renowned Gospel groups before he ventured into Sotho Afro Soul as a solo artiste. Tšitso is an all-round musician whose soulful voice has become his trademark on many Gospel, Afro jazz and Afro Soul tunes that he has sung, either as a solo artiste or as part of a group. “The reason I changed genres is because a lot of people are singing Gospel and it does not have a lot of gigs,” he adds.

“I have studied Business Management so that I would be able to manage, market and promote my music. In order to make it a career it needs proper management,” he notes. I chose that genre because it is all about love and love is a good thing. It is good to love and it feels nice to be loved and again in our country we did not have that kind of genre. I have realised four singles so far ‘Ke cha mpa le seatla, lerato laka’, ‘Turn around’ and ‘Botle ba hao’.

“They are all my favourite but I go with ‘Lerato laka’ because it is the first song I wrote and also because it was well arranged and compiled,” he tells Life&Style. He has featured Juvy oa Lepimpara on ‘Ke cha mpa le seatla’ and Wave Rhyder on ‘Turn around’ and is looking forward to working with Selimo Thabane and Mongali Nthako. “My favourite artist is John Legend. I can relate well to his music which is more or less the same as what I sing; he produces really good music and he has a natural voice,” he says.

When asked about whether the Lesotho entertainment industry is growing or not he says, yes the industry is growing but very slowly. Other countries are doing well because the industry is taken seriously and artistes can make a living out of their talents, he adds. “My vision is, therefore, to see every music lover in Lesotho having his or her thirst quenched every time I’m on stage. My future plans are to go abroad to perform and also record my next coming albums live in theatres,” he says.

Chalatsi is currently working on his single (Pelo eaka) which will be released soon. In addition, he sees himself performing internationally and featuring big names in the music industry. He has shared the stage with many notable musicians such as Ringo Madlingosi, Nathi, The Soil, and Tshepo Tšola between 2016 and 2018 on different occasions at the festivals such as LETOFE in Lesotho and MACUFE and Jazz by the River in South Africa.