#73 Fela sa Hamojela, hymn of hamojela

In this manifestation at Buro Stedelijk, two pioneering voices from Lesotho converge to explore the intersections of sound, memory, and visual culture. Thato Toeba brings their signature practice of iconoclastic collage and mixed-media assemblage into dialogue with Morena Leraba’s genre-defying fusion of traditional Sesotho music and contemporary electronic soundscapes.

This collaboration emerges from shared geographical and cultural roots in Maseru, Lesotho, yet represents divergent artistic trajectories that illuminate the complexity of contemporary African diasporic creative expression.

The two first encountered each other in Maseru before either had begun their formal artistic practice, a meeting that would later prove foundational to their understanding of creative possibility within and beyond Lesotho’s cultural landscape. Toeba’s practice, deeply informed by their legal scholarship and anthropological sensibilities, interrogates the “instruments of authority” – law, archives, religion – that sustain political power structures. Through their collage work, they propose alternative realities by uprooting images from mass-produced media, creating what they describe as “reconstructed hallucinations” that challenge dominant narratives.

Morena Leraba (Teboho Lechaoa) offers a sonic counterpoint, transforming the rural soundscapes of his shepherding life in Ha-Mojela village into psychedelic electronic compositions. His work preserves and transforms famo music, the traditional songs of Basotho migrant workers, into contemporary expressions that cross linguistic and cultural boundaries while maintaining deep connections to place and ancestral knowledge.

Together, these artists create a multisensory exploration of what it means to inhabit and reimagine Lesotho from both within and beyond its borders. Their manifestation at Buro Stedelijk questions conventional modes of exhibition and interaction, inviting audiences into an intimate creative process that challenges museological practices through the lens of Southern African cultural production.

Through sound, image, and installation, they construct new territories of meaning that honor ancestral knowledge while proposing radical futures.

Free entrance with ticket / Gratis toegang met ticket
September 18, 18:30 – 20:30
Location: Central Space
Entrance: Paulus Potterstraat 13, Amsterdam

18:30 – doors open
18:45 – performance