…demise of jazz artistes forces festival organisers into adapting
Tšepiso Malunga
MASERU, Lesotho – Over the past few years, the Standard Lesotho Bank Letofe Lifestyle Experience has been transitioning and adapting to changes in the arts sector, particularly after deaths of several jazz artistes.
This has forced the organisers to be more diverse and allow more genres to participate as the number of jazz artistes has continued to drop, organisers said on Tuesday.
Founder and promoter of the festival, Montoeli ’Moleli, told the media during the launch of the 2023 edition of the festival that they have over the years also targeted the growth of younger artistes to ensure continuity.
Death and dearth of jazz
While this has had significantly positive results, the deaths of several jazz gurus has forced them to become more diverse in their approach, allowing more genres onto its line-up annually.
The organisers said on Monday, that they have had to continue incorporating other genres because the number of jazz artistes has continued to dwindle.
Jazz music has for a long time been the hallmark of one of Lesotho’s premium music festivals. But as the years go by, the festival, now known as the Standard Lesotho Bank LeToFe Lifestyle Experience, previously known as Letofe (short for Lesotho Tourism Festival) has had to innovate.
Speaking during the launch, ‘Moleli said the deaths of several jazz artistes had forced them to increase other genres.
While there was a lot of background engagements that were happening to help groom younger jazz artistes, he acknowledged that there was need for more work to be done to help more artistes.
Speaking at the event, Standard Lesotho Bank chief executive, Anton Nicolaisen, said he was pleased that they were still the headline sponsor of the festival.
Standard Lesotho Bank continues to jazz up festival
“As a patron of the arts that has jealously guarded the creative industry, Standard Lesotho Bank is still here to promote the arts and bring happiness for Basotho. We have been sponsors of this festival since 2005. We are now 18 years on the trot and I am proud that we have been a significant contributor to the growth of this festival, which has grown in leaps in bounds to become one of the biggest features on our entertainment calendar during the festive season, attracting multitudes within Lesotho, Basotho diaspora and our neighbouring countries,” Nicolaisen said.
“With our sponsorship of this lifestyle festival, I believe that we have made a bold statement as proud supporters of the arts, which is an important part of our long-term strategy. In many countries where the Standard Lesotho Bank operates, we support music festivals and other arts including the iconic annual Joy of Jazz Festival,” he added.
The festival was also one avenue through which they expressed their thankfulness to all their customers for their support throughout the year.
“This explains why we have made an arrangement for our customers to enjoy 6% discount when buying festival tickets using their Standard Bank cards at any Computicket outlet in Lesotho and other CMA countries.”
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Also speaking at the occasion, Rethabile Mabaleha, from co-sponsor, Alliance Insurance Group, said that when sponsoring the arts, they started by identifying how this would benefit Basotho. Among other benefits coming along with this sponsorship was the economic growth steered by both job creation and tourism encouraged by this festival.
She said they were aiming at strengthening their alliance with all the sponsoring companies.
Local artiste, Lebohang Letšohla, expressed gratitude to LeToFe for choosing him to be one of the sponsored artistes this year.
He also implored the sponsors to grant similar opportunities to upcoming artistes and thanked the sponsors for contributing towards the success of local artistes.
