Art session rocks Maqalika

‘MAKERESEMESE LETUKA

MASERU – The annual Mora-Mobu Poetry Session took the masses by storm at Maqalika Dam in Maseru last Saturday. Under the theme ‘Art for the people and the people for the art’, this year’s edition of the poetry session hosted young fashion designers such as Aluta and Jonko-mAne on their fashion corner.

“We had Mora-Mobu (poet) and Origin Musiq (band) to give the people a new taste of live music and poetry,” said the session’s organiser, Thabo Mora-Mobu, in an interview with Public Eye. “When I thought of the concept I thought of a space that would be welcoming and full of love, laughter, friendship, kindness, art, and water being the heart of it all hence a place by the Maqalika Dam, and I guess that is what makes the event extraordinary.”

Mora-Mobu further said: “One notable improvement was bringing a band into the mix of things, and hosting young fashion designers like Aluta and Jonko-mAne on their fashion corner.” The organiser also said everybody who attended the last Saturday’s event contributed M10 each for the Maqalika community development. “Another major thing is that everyone who attended contributed M10 for the Maqalika village community development through the Chief’s office,” he said.

Mora-Mobu said their biggest challenge was funding. “Our biggest challenge is funding to get everything that would make it what we have envisioned.” “He further said: “We hope to attract sponsors for next year’s event so that we give people a great experience.” Mora-Mobu said another challenge was the weather. “We experienced heavy rains that hindered us from using our initial spot, and when we changed the spot we had to compromise our desired setup, but we made it work.” However, he said the event attracted twice the size of the audience they had last time.

“Again, we had the most beautiful crowd ever, and social media reviews were so beautiful on the following day. I would say we have achieved all that we hoped for, but the hunger keeps us hoping for more and more.” One of the Origin Musiq members, Karabo Phama, told Life&Style that they were happy to see the audience enjoying their music. Phama further said the event was successful compared to the previous show.

“The atmosphere was perfect, people were attentive and were willing to know and see art with a different eye, and have new ideas which gave the event a rainbow colour,” Phama. This was the third time Mora-Mobu Poetry Session hosted the event. The session began in 2018 but it could not continue in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mora-Mobu Session is built around poetry but it is aimed at merging many art forms from fine arts, rap, and live music to fashion and crafts.