NAMIBIA’s entertainment industry was forced to embrace technology to avoid sinking, as music shows and packed in stadiums were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
From DJ Dreas’ keeping Namibians glued to Instagram at 23h00 during the lockdown, to Baxu and Giants making it onto Netflix, 2020 was a year in which artists had to beg corporates to sponsor their online shows.
These are some memorable moments of 2020 from the industry.
Fans are often charged exorbitant prices to witness international stars perform in Namibia.
DJ Dreas not only brought these musicians to our doorsteps, but also made them perform for free, albeit virtually.
South African acts such as Busiswa and Focalistic, amongst others, mingled with Namibians on DJ Dreas Instagram show
“The show gave me a sense of achievement in terms of shedding light on my fellow artists in the Namibian industry, and I’m hoping the artists who took part had fun as much as I did and took advantage of the platform,” he told The Namibian on Saturday.
The show started when DJ Dreas first went live with rapper Skrypt.
“We thought we could make it an everyday thing during lockdown. After the first three episodes, the whole thing blew up and became a hit,” said DJ Dreas.
It became such a hit that DJ Dreas has been invited to be one of the acts at the 2021 Rocking the Daisies music and lifestyle festival.
It’s the biggest camping outdoor gathering festival in South Africa, which has comedy, art, film and music to entertain their audience.
After 30 years of independence, Namibia has finally managed to have one of its film productions aired on the premium Netflix platform. Netflix remains the world’s largest subscription streaming service, with roughly 183 million paid subscribers worldwide as of March 2020.
Baxu and Giants is a short film about rhino poaching triggering social change in a village in rural Namibia, seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old girl.
Director of the film, Florian Schott, said Namibia is finally showing the world what the country can do. He hopes to see more Namibian films reaching international screens.
An eagle has landed in the Namibian music industry, snatching various musicians in its quest to modernise the music industry by delivering international features and Hollywood-type videos. So far the record label has snapped up DJ Spuzza, Tangos, MEGA, Chester House Prince, rapper Stanzo, Tumi Mohamed, Charmy Kurz and Shana Zandile.
Owned by Ennio Hamutenya, the music label has been splashing money on local talent to get international recognition.
In its infant stages the label has already jetted in internationally acclaimed stars such as AKA, Da L.E.S and Nadia Nakai, amongst others, into the country for features and music videos.
In October, the record label shut down Independence Avenue – the busiest street in Windhoek – to shoot Stanzo’s music video for the song My Way, featuring South Africa’s Da L.E.S, FLVME and Nadia Nakai.
“A year of hope; that’s what we brought to Namibia in 2020. We made Namibian artists and young children who aspire to be artists believe there is a way for them to achieve their dreams, and that’s through RTE Records,” Ennio Hamutenya told The Namibian on Saturday. The former aspiring footballer added that 2020 was also a year of breaking down barriers in the music industry.
“You can see what we’ve done thus far and I can promise you it’s just the beginning,” he said.
In 2021, the public can expect Namibia to be known for having music superstars, Hamutenya said.
He has also revealed to that the first ever RTE concert will happen in the New Year.
Some people have alleged that RTE is splashing money on musicians, but it has no concrete plans for these artists. You’ll see. All the naysayers… you’ll see,” Hamutenya added.
Namibia hosted its first pay-per-view concert, spearheaded by MTC and using influencers to raise awareness about homelessness in the country. At the time when most creatives were struggling to make ends meet, Namibia’s first pay-per-view concert resulted in 60 influencers and artists earning N$5 000 each for a mere performance.
MTC then followed that up with a month-long Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) event, which for the first time was also held virtually. All nominated artists were given a chance to perform for a stipend of N$3 000 each.
MTC spokesperson John Ekongo told The Namibian on Sunday that the company’s philosophy has always been about providing support.
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