Music of Namibia
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Namibia is a southern African country. The people of Namibia boast a number of folk styles, as well as pop, rock, reggae, jazz and hip hop. The Sanlam-NBC Music Awards and the Namibia Music Awards are two separate institutions that give out annual awards at shows on December 2 and May 6 respectively . The Namibia Society of Composers and Authors of Music (NASCAM) has helped promote Namibian music within and outside the country, but despite this, the Namibian music industry remains undeveloped, with no major record labels or distribution infrastructure .
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[edit] Folk music
Traditional Namibian dance occurs at most community events, such as weddings. Such dances can be seen at the Caprivi Arts Festival folk music emulated animal sounds, and accompanied storytelling or dancing. The Namaqua use various strings, flutes and drums, while the Bantu added marimba, gourds and horn trumpets . The Owambo people are known for a style called shumbo.
[edit] Popular music
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Popular styles of music in Namibia include hip hop music, a style that comes from African Americans in the United States, and the South African style of kwaito. Some of the long-standing popular performers include guitarist Ngatu, who has been performing since 1994, Jackson Kaujeua, Black Diamonds. Die Vögel, a Namibian Rock and Roll band, has success with the German speaking Namibians during the 1970's. And one cannot forget Ras Sheehama, one of the founders of Namibia's contemporary music industry who has had the good fortune to perform in Europe, Jamaica, Cuba, UK, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Indeed his latest album,"Travelling On..." a compilation of his best songs from his previous five albums is now beeing distributed in the Check Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland. His latest single release - "Namibia" a collaboration with Swiss singer songwriter JAZ is starting to pick up a following on world internet radios as well as some local fm stations in Europe. As recent winner of "The lifetime achievement award" Ras could find himself as the perfect cultural embassador abroad for his Country. For people who have not seen Ras perform live in Europe you can go onto www.myspace.com/rassheehama and see a short video clip of him singing Namibia to the Czech Republic and their obvious response.
Prominent recent Namibian musicians R&B singer Jossy Joss, while the field of hip hop has produced Faizel MC, founder of Rapsody Entertainment record label, cousins Killa B and The Dogg, founder of Mshasho Records, Bone Chuck, Legg-Ghetto and Gazza, founder of Gazza Music Production simply G.M.P.. The Dogg is known for help lauch the career of his signee Sunny Boy, who is also one of namibias' prominant artist, and notorious for founding his own genre HiKwa which he describe as a combination of Hip hop and Kwaito. .
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Angola | Botswana | Comoros | Lesotho | Madagascar | Malawi | Mauritius |
[edit] References
- ↑ Music Awards Organisers Reach Compromise. AllAfrica.com. Retrieved on September 18, 2005.
- ↑ Artists A-Z. Nammusic.com. Retrieved on September 18, 2005.
- ↑ Namibian musicians exploited. The Economist. Retrieved on September 18, 2005.
- ↑ Country Information on Namibia. SOS Children's Villages. Retrieved on January 3, 2007.
[edit] Further reading
- Mans, Minette (2004). Music as Instrument of Diversity and Unity: Notes on a Namibian Landscape. Nordic Africa Institute. ISBN 91-7106-510-5.
- England, Nicholas M. (1995). Music Among the Zu' Wa-Si and Related Peoples of Namibia, Botswana, and Angola. Garland. ISBN 0-8240-2986-0.
- Hebert, David G. (2006). Teaching Music and Dance of Namibia: A Review Essay (pdf), International Journal of Education and the Arts. ISSN 1529-8094. Retrieved on 2006-04-21.
