Mokete Shadrack Chakela, more commonly known as Mosotho Chakela or just Chakela, was born 1963 in

Mafeteng Mafeteng is a city in Lesotho, and the Camptown (capital city) of the district of Mafeteng. It is located about 76 kilometres south of the country's capital, Maseru and has a population of approximately 61,000. The South African border town to M ...

, Lesotho, in Southern Africa. He was a cultural music singer in a popular Lesotho musical tradition called ''

famo FAMO, short for Fahrzeug- und Motoren-Werke (''Automobile and Engine Works'') was a German vehicle manufacturer in the early 20th century. Products * Sd.Kfz. 9: Heavy half-track used by German forces in World War II; some were also produced by V ...

''.

Music

Mosotho Chakela rose to prominence with his first album named ''Motsamai le Chakela no.1''. The album was released in 1999 by the Shear Record Company, and it sold enough copies to achieve

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

status. The album has hits like "O ka nketsang", "Ha ke noa joala" and "Mosali". He came to the spotlight again the following year with another hit album called ''Motsamai le Chakela no.2''. He has since been consistent, releasing hit after hit. In 2006 Chakela was awarded a South African Traditional Music Award for best musician in the

Famo FAMO, short for Fahrzeug- und Motoren-Werke (''Automobile and Engine Works'') was a German vehicle manufacturer in the early 20th century. Products * Sd.Kfz. 9: Heavy half-track used by German forces in World War II; some were also produced by V ...

music category.

Business

Apart from his singing talent, Chakela is a businessman in Lesotho. He owns 13 liqueur stores, seven of which are located in the capital city of Lesotho,

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...

. Three of those are in Leribe while the remaining three are in the second largest town where he was born, Mafeteng.

Politics

Chakela has used his prominence as a musician to make political points. In his second album, he talks about the political leaders of Lesotho which made him an eye opener to many

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

nations. In the politics of Lesotho he is aligned with the All Basotho Convention.

References

External links

*PC FM 95.6 MHz Ha Ntatae! (22 October 199

{{Africa-singer-stub Businesspeople in retailing 1963 births Living people People from Mafeteng District 20th-century Lesotho male singers 21st-century Lesotho male singers