The story of Harmony Entertainment is a beautiful one a South African black man growing up in a rural area who became a pianist, a registered business accountant, the founder of a rental company and most recently, the owner of a DiGiCo S31. It's the story of Tsholanang Montsho who some years ago looked out of his window to see rental company Gearhouse South Africa preparing for events at the Union Buildings, and their sound test enticing him to leave his apartment to go watch the crew set up.
This is how it happened, explains Tsholanang. Growing up in Motlhabe, a rural village in the North West of South Africa, there were not many activities on a Sunday. There would be church, and after church, there would be soccer teams playing. If there was no soccer, there would be nothing, unless you watched television and not all of us were privileged to have electricity or a tv during that time.
Tsholanang had a relative who played the keyboard. I used to listen to jazz and this made me love the piano even more. Whenever I heard jazz, I would feel I want to play this music.' I remember there was a verandah wall at home, and I would put my fingers on the wall, playing on pretend piano keys.
When his family moved to an urban area in 1996, Tsholanang (aged 15) found himself in a church where he was taught to play the keyboard. He also attended piano lessons at Mmabana Art Centre in Tlhabane in the Northwest, the local community centre. It wasn't hard to learn to play because the zeal had been there for a long time, he says.
A bright lad and motivated by his parents, he enrolled for an accountancy diploma at the Tshwane University of Technology at the Soshanguve South Campus in Pretoria, and in the second year, moved to the main Pretoria campus. I was studying full time but dropped out to follow music. He attended a music school, only to discover that the school was not registered with SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) which meant that he would not even have the needed credentials to be a music teacher. My parents never believed in music because of other musicians, said Tsholanang. These artists may have been popular, but when they died, they had nothing and the community would have to cough out money to help assist the family with burial arrangements. As a result my parents asked how I would feed my family with a keyboard in the future.
Tsholanang returned to TUT to complete his accounting diploma. On the side, he was asked to join Prestige 7 band. Their pianist had entered the Coca Cola Pop Stars competition and the band needed someone to replace him. By God's grace I hit the books so hard that I passed, he smiles. The second semester I hit it so hard that I even got distinctions in the semester tests for all the tough subjects.
As a student, Tsholanang lived in an apartment block positioned in Arcadia next to Pretoria's Union Buildings, the official seat of the South African Government which house the offices of the President of South Africa. Gearhouse used to do most of the big events taking place there, he recalls. Every now and then, they would start stacking gear. I would be one of the first to hear that something was happening, and by the time they did the sound check, I would hear the audio in my flat. I would go down, look at the rig and admire it. At the time they were using the large pieces of gear, the big blue boxes - Turbo Sound Flashlight. They would rig them and pump up the sound. It increased my love for audio.
From his apartment, he realized this is what he wanted to do. I planned how I would start my company. The year was 2006 and with no funds available, he sold his computer for R3 000, and from the gigs he worked on as a pianist, added another R3 000, which was just enough for two tops. I had no amplifier, no microphones no nothing but two tops! he admits. I took them to the flat and I looked at them every day.
His first client was a three-day conference for a church a few months later. Dan Mampone, whom Tsholanang had worked with before in a studio environment, lent him an amp, mixer and one microphone for the event. The church also had a few microphones. There was so much trial and error on the mixing, I was a pianist, after all, and not an audio engineer. But having been a keyboard player at the church, Tsholanang knew some of the basics and the conference was a success.
He continued, hitting birthday parties, weddings and churches, slowly building his gear and always keeping an eye on what Gearhouse were doing. Simultaneously he was working and completing his articles. I would get a gig, finish on Sunday, derig at 9pm and put all equipment in my flat. The following day I would have to wake up and go to work, drink tea, and balance the books. I still pushed but I knew my time as an accountant was limited.
His parents were thrilled when Tsholanang completed his articles over a three-year period but his heart wasn't in it. In 2010 he started working for Toyota as a financial accountant with a two-year plan in mind he wanted to raise R200 000, finish his car payments and get married. When Tsholanang unexpectantly lost his job, his rental company Harmony Entertainment received his full attention.
Enrolling at the Academy of Sound Engineering, he upped his game to have a clear understanding of audio and the technical set-up thereof.
Today, Harmony actively supply the full technical for corporate and live events. Needing a professional audio console, Tsholanang and his freelancing team, Masilo Makgato and Katlego Masogo, decided to invest in a DiGiCo S31, purchased from DWR Distribution. We wanted something competitive with at least 48 channels. For live bands, outdoor events, corporates and weddings, the S31 seemed to be the best possible option, he said. DiGiCo is a sound changer. My team i
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
The story of Harmony Entertainment is a beautiful one a South African black man growing up in a rural area who became a pianist, a registered business accountant, the founder of a rental company and most recently, the owner of a DiGiCo S31. It's the story of Tsholanang Montsho who some years ago looked out of his window to see rental company Gearhouse South Africa preparing for events at the Union Buildings, and their sound test enticing him to leave his apartment to go watch the crew set up.
