The Many Faces of Micheal Pulse

There is no way you wouldn’t have heard of him by now, especially if you are part of the creative industry. A 2017 Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) nominatee, Micheal Pulse is an artist whose creativity knows no bounds, whether he’s making music, writing, directing theatre plays or even managing other artists.

This multi-talented singer, who just celebrated his birthday earlier this week, hails from a tiny village near Okakarara. This is where his love for music, his first passion, was birthed.

“My aunt, who used to sell food and drinks, would play music all day long – she’d play Celine Dion and all the major R&B singers. I would sing along and this is how I fell in love with especially old school R&B,” he tells us in an exclusive interview.

Having just dropped his debut album ‘Pulsified’, Pulse is breaking boundaries with his unconventional sound. “I never really thought I would end up doing music. It’s just something I loved doing and in high school, I decided to try singing and I got on stage with Fu Jazz and later became one of the first people who started out at Song Night, he tells us.

While ‘Pulsified’ consists of 11 tracks, Pulse has over the years written more than 60 songs, of which he has given some to other musicians. He wrote fellow NAMAs nominated singer Bradley Anthony’s ‘Long Lost Love’, with which Anthony auditioned with for his Song Night debut.

Pulse worked with producer Ponti Dikuua on ‘Pulsified’ and while they both knew that R&B is Pulse’s first love, a decision was made to broaden the sound on the album to appeal to a wider audience. “We wanted everybody to have a piece of themselves on the album. We added hip-hop because we wanted some party songs,” he says. ‘Smile’ was added for a house flavour while ‘Oval Heart’, a contemporary song, contains more of the elements of R&B that the musician holds dear to his heart.

“I never had management through my my music career, so when I started my company, I wanted to help artists with what I wasn’t lucky enough to have. I know what it’s like to be a struggling artist,” says Pulse.

Together with his brother, he co-owns JustThink, a branding and marketing company that assists start-ups, actors, artists and musicians in the areas of branding and marketing. “I want artists to understand that they are a brand, a business, and they should be able to plan and set out what it is that they want and be able to work hard towards achieving those goals,” Pulse says.

He speaks passionately about the work he does together with the four budding musicians he has under his wings. He says that he only takes on those artists he has heard and likes to first see what they are about before taking them on. “I pitch my ideas to them and give them a three-year plan of what I want us to achieve. I also expect them to give me a three-year plan of what they expect and we take it from there.”

On the role of management towards the development of an artist, Pulse stresses that even once managers break ties with their clients, they should never hesitate to keep assisting wherever they can with the growth of these artists. “As management, you can’t cut ties completely just because someone is no longer with you.”

Pulse has a background in performance arts as well and did a stint at the College of the Arts. This clearly shows in his approach to his stage performances. While performing ‘Oval Heart’ at the recent Namibian Theatre and Film Awards, he used the effortless merging of music, choreography and powerful imagery to give the audience an incredible musical performance. While he looks very much at home on stage, he admits that performing live was never his forte. “I’m learning to be present on stage. I used to be scared of being on stage and that’s why Lize Ehlers was very important in my development in this regard,” he recalls. Today, he considers it vital for musicians to be able to use various art forms in order to deliver on stage. “Sometimes, it’s the simple stuff that can touch the audience. Artists need workshops on how to use different elements such as drama in performance.”

Pulse is a big advocate for the development of the arts from grassroots level. He has worked with ChiNamibia, an arts education development organisation that aims to develop, educate, empower and create awareness among children through arts and culture. “Through this, we wanted to help parents understand that their children can become successful in the arts sector,” he says.

He also works as a publicist in the film sector, doing projects for the likes of small screen actor Dalton Ashikoto as well as South Africa’s favourite soapie villain Jamie Bartlett who recently visited Namibia.

As if that’s not an impressive enough CV, Pulse adds singer-songwriter, playwright, theatre director and screen playwright (for ‘The Third Will’) to the list, and also serves as a deputy director on the board of a youth arts organisation and a youth development organisation respectively.

With all of his various projects in the arts sector, it is his music that has been putting him in the spotlight of late. The young musician is nominated for two awards at the upcoming NAMAs, something he hopes will assist his drive to further help those who may not have the same opportunities that he has.

“I would really like to make a difference in the careers of upcoming artists and if I win, I will use the money to build my company,” he says hopefully.

For now, though, he looks forward to attending the big music showcase for the first time as a nominee and to give a memorable performance at the awards.

– rukee@namibian.com.na; @rukeeveni on Twitter

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