Lady May rocks Berlin

A QUICK two-show tour of the German capital before Christmas had Lady May on stage at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in the heart of Berlin’s parliamentary district, and at the popular YAAM music club in the city on December 11 and 12 last year.

With this her first concert outside Africa and also her first international live concert, the young star grabbed the opportunity to reach new audiences and extend her international career.’The concert started at about half past nine and it was two hours on stage non-stop, we even made it longer. The crowd was excited and they took part, they interact and were responsive,’ said a beaming Lady May, who used the opportunity to premiere her latest creation ‘Tiger Ambition,’ which the German crowd appreciated. She promised the new song’s imminent radio release in Namibia. Other parts of her performance in Germany include recent hit ‘Chocolat’ as well as acapella pieces and traditional Oshiwambo songs with drums in that distinct Lady May style.’I strongly believe in taking Africa to the world and when you get an opportunity like that, you take it with both hands,’ she said in an interview last week. The trip was part of an AfricAvenir initiative in co-operation with Lady May’s new management team of Loide Namandje and Carlos Manuel, having left the Butterfly music stable late last year. AfricAvenir is a non-profit organisation which promotes African arts and cinema in Cameroon, Germany and also in Namibia. ‘By the first concert I still couldn’t believe I was in Berlin. We had lunch with the Namibian Ambassador to Germany, Neville Gertze at a restaurant near the embassy. Then it was the interviews with the radio stations and the first sound check,’ she said.
’The sound was so crisp, it was just perfect and I was enjoying it so we did an extra long sound check. When the show started the crowd was sophisticated and disciplined but once we got going there was a lot of excitement and energy. At the end of the show I even gave away a traditional long necklace and the red Aldo shoes that I was wearing,’ she said. An after-show interview done with Lady May and popular Afro-German group Black Atlantic at the show can be viewed on YouTube.The second show at the YAAM club was very different. Known as a reggae haven in Germany, the club has played host to many big international stars in the past. ‘When I arrived I saw that the club was painted with a lot of Afro colours. DJ Shortman from Jamaica, who I was to perform with, had to fly home so I had to do the show on my own, with the house DJ. I was already sleeping backstage from all the waiting but when they called me on stage I knew that I had to deliver the same energy and the same performance from the previous night. ‘Luckily this time it was only music and no interaction so I performed for about half an hour. It felt good at the end when the crowd called for extra songs shouting ‘we want more’,’ she said.She returned to Namibia on December 14 to start a relaxing holiday season.For 2010 Lady May has quite a few plans, including expanding her international profile,but first she intends to release her fourth album and shoot a music video for her latest song ‘Tiger Ambition’.Story by Augetto Graig of AfricAvenir

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