Pick of the Week - Stiger Sola & Friends (Botswana)

An international trio hangs out down by the river in Botswana and plays a song by Stiger Sola.

Today's Pick of the Week is a collaboration from Stiger Sola, Maf Sheldon, and Hellish Forward, on a song by Sola. It was also our Song of the Day a while back. It's written by Sola, who's been doing music for quite some time. A 2013 article in the local press called him "the master of Romantic Tswana folk music."

Stiger Sola is also famed for romantic folk classics such as Kachere, and Macapentara, the latter performed over 30 years ago, for Radio Botswana's Sunday morning folk music programme dipina le maboko, before the artist released it on tapes and CDs when he launched his recording career.

Australian Sheldon has a few albums at Bandcamp, recorded under the name Maf and the Midnight Snack. Apologies to Hellish Forward on the fiddle. I fell short on tracking down any background on her.

The Old Matlapana Bridge is apparently a well-known landmark near Botswana's Okavango Delta. Here's more about the rehab effort that wrapped up a few years ago.