United in Prayer

Coming together with gospel musicians from various church backgrounds was a career highlight for musicians such as Tony The Poet who is part of the Nam Gospel United group that’s unifying the country’s gospel music industry.

Talking to The Weekender recently, the poet recalled the day of shooting the music video which saw all these personalities overcome their differences for a common cause on the song ‘We Pray’.

“That weekend at Swakopmund was the vision of unity that the Namibian nation and the church should have of unity,” he recalled. The poet said that being part of the song was a great experience as it brought different people of varying talents together. “We were able to enrich each other in terms of strength in diversity. Each artist, big or small, has their own fan base and we were able to tap into each other’s fan bases through this collaboration,” he said.

Also lending his voice to the powerful song, Levite enjoyed the experience and says fans can look forward to an even more impressive collaborative album. “The idea for an album came about when we were shooting the video. We all want to unite the gospel artists in the country, even those whose careers have failed to take off or those who are not as big as they used to be. We want to be able to boost each other’s careers,” he said.

The full album, he said, will take some time as the group is anticipated to grow in numbers to at least 50 gospel musicians from across the country.

The Nam Gospel United initiative is described by those behind it as a milestone in efforts to unite Namibian musicians, with some of the country’s most loved gospel stars using song to offer hope to a nation in distress.

While there’s a lack of diversity in the number of local languages used by the musicians, the song includes a wide variety of genres from hip-hop to kwaito with the addition of poetry that strikes a chord on the track and shows just how harmonious the coming together of different musicians can be.

Other artists who feature on the track include award-winning gospel artist D-Naff, Lady Dyna, Alex Shiwayu and newcomers such as Franklin and Dee’A, and Effy, while Bhuqaid, Justin Lomame, Levite, Maranatha Goroh and Pride also lent their unique voices to the project.

D-Naff said music as a universal language is about touching hearts, and as gospel artists, they wanted to offer hope and inspiration to people. “All of us as artists have an individual sound and individual fan bases. We wanted to unite all of that to show people that despite our many differences, we are still united in the Lord’s grace and in love, and that with more love, we can make the world a better place. We just need to choose love over hate, over anger and over bitterness,” he said.

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