Up Close and Personal with Boli Mootseng

Producer, presenter, actor and poet Richard ‘Boli’ Mootseng seems to have the Midas touch.

The Weekender sat down with him at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) radio service’s Studio 7 this week.

“I was part of a play, and the character I was playing was called Boli. Since I walked off that stage, the name Boli just followed me,” he says about his nickname.

“I’m a second-generation Katutura-born. I grew up at Gemengde Lokasie, and that’s where I taught myself about life.”

Boli says he attended quite a few schools.

He completed his school career at Jacob Marengo Secondary School, after which he went to the Africa Cultural Centre, a college in South Africa.

There he studied African theatre and literature, majoring in performing arts, after which he returned to Windhoek, where he started as a freelance radio presenter at NBC.

“I spent 15 years freelancing at NBC before I was offered a full-time job. I have produced TV shows. I virtually grew up in a house of storytellers and entertainers with my uncles and my aunts.

“I could see how people got into and out of character,” he says.

Boli says it was easy for him to venture into theatre, because he could play different characters.

“Today I call myself a storyteller because I can tell different stories. With my music I can tell a story, on stage either in a drama or with my poetry I can tell a story,” he says.

Boli kick-started his theatre and poetry career at the Bricks Community Project, a non-governmental organisation, under the likes of the late Andre Strauss, who went on to become the deputy director of culture at the former Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture.

Platform 2000, the cultural section of Bricks, was launched under Salome van Wyk in May 1986, and aimed to portray people’s daily struggles through drama.

One of his earlier colleagues at Bricks, poet Keamogetsi Joseph Molapong, describes Boli as his former mentor.

“He was my mentor at Bricks when I entered the theatre space on a full-time basis. I did my first big theatre production with him, and then the ‘curse’ of the arts paralysed me,” Molapong says.

‘ALWAYS FLOURISHING’

“He is a lively person who constantly thinks and acts outside of the conventional box.

“He’s always one step ahead of everybody and gets bored quickly. This propels him to continuously find new excitement, and he always flourishes in it,” Molapong says.

Boli was part of a group of young people who struggled daily with social issues in their communities and decided to do something about it through art.

“At the time we were dealing with community-based stories. The issues of HIV-AIDS and the daily struggles of the community because of unemployment, et cetera. I have always been about community upliftment.

“I have never compromised on my roots. In both my music and poetry I am telling a story. I never listen to the music of other people, because I don’t want to be influenced by others. That is my way to maintain my uniqueness,” he says.

Boli says his grandfather Benedictus ‘Frikkie’ Mootseng taught him to be his own person and to never try to emulate others.

“My grandpa called me aside one day and told me there were billions of people around the world and I shouldn’t try to be like any of them.

“He said trying to be like them would be a complete waste of time. You would end up reproducing other people’s thoughts and feelings, and […] you wouldn’t be able to represent your own mentality,” he says.

‘BE YOURSELF’

Boli’s grandfather further advised him that his friends would never be like him, and he would never be like them either.

“Pave a way for yourself, he said, and find that freedom to reproduce yourself as you move on. I think that was the beginning of something that was always there.

“I just don’t do things other people do,” he says.

Boli says there were no local music videos when he started at NBC, apart from his colleague Lesley Kazonguizi’s music video of his popular song ‘Omwatje Omutonga’.

He eventually put his creativity to work and produced TV programmes like ‘Cool Runnings’, ‘Afro Connection’, ‘Soul Makossa’ and ‘School Grounds’.

The dreadlocked artist made waves in music circles when he collaborated with two other local musicians, Black Diamond and Mannekie Zulu, to drop an album titled ‘Damara 5’.

“‘Damara 5’ took even ourselves by surprise. I went to Damara Dik Ding and asked him to put all the beats he didn’t want on a stick for me. Then I invited Diamond to the studio, who told me about Mannekie, whom he described as a good and powerful singer.

“The rest, like they say, is history, because the single ‘Sebulon’ became an instant hit with music fans,” he says.

THE FUTURE

The father of five children says next for him is a studio up on a mountain on the outskirts of Windhoek, with work already in progress.

Inspired by his motto of staying original, Boli’s stories appeal to young and old.