Bothlale Phora, a 25-year-old young man from Pretoria who had a remarkable journey in the Idols SA competition by reaching the top 3 phase, talks about his latest album ‘Sonoblomo’ which is already available on all digital platforms.
The singer who is a songwriter and a guitarist revealed to the newspaper that he loved music from a young age, but he never thought he would be a musician until he finished his matric in 2013. Although he did not think he would be a musician full time, he disclosed that he knew there is nothing he could do better than music, so he decided to try it out by using his god given talent. “I’m very confident in music and I am more into African music, so my sound is Afro-pop/soul. I write my own songs because I can relate to them as opposed to my songs being written for me. Afro-pop allows me to be creative and it brings out the different tones of my voice,” added Phora. The young artist mentions that ‘Sonoblomo’ is his first biggest project that he has worked on, ever since he started doing music in 2014 and he explains that being on all competitions, especially on Idols has been great and it prepared him for the music industry, how to conduct himself as a brand and how to handle the contractual works.
Just like any other creative, Phora explains his challenges as a musician. “I’d like to believe that we learn and grow everyday, my challenges in the music industry has always been finding the right people to work with in terms of management, finances and it’s been quite tricky because I’m an independent artist. Of course, working on this album has been very hectic. Finances have to be the biggest obstacle as this is a live band recorded album. I started working on this project immediately after lockdown had struck in 2020, so we had to work remotely, meaning we were never in the same studio with other musicians. However I’m glad it was successful and I’ve worked with Jay Sax who I featured on ‘Awufiki’ and ‘Ke Godile’ which is a saxophone edition,” expressed the artist.
The musician says he would like to work with Black Coffee, Afrotraction, Presss and Encore. He also adds that he’s working on being one of the most successful musicians in Africa and he believes he will reach his dreams. “The Ke Godile music video is out already and this album is all about love. There are songs that will make people fall in love and believe in love all over again,” concluded the star.
By Palesa Ndinisa and Vusumuzi Makwakwa
