An opinion (Part 1) By John Walenga My contention is that for as long as there are no structures in place, where an outsider could knock at when he or she wants to talk about the business of Namibian music, we are dreaming without waking up. So, what is left? A bunch of highly egoistic individuals in the name of artists, producers and fake labels. Artists thrive and graze on ego. Can artists build an industry? No! I know we are the Land of the Brave where everything is possible, but we are not about to make history here. Like any other industry, it yearns for investors armed with serious money enough to absorb the shocks for a minimum of three years. After all, the world is coming to southern Africa in 2010. What are we going to present? What we have in Namibia are poorly-funded ‘record labels’ with signed-up artists with beefs here and there, and one wonders what the beefs are all about? If we admit that we are broke, then we ought to learn a trick or two from the dogs. In the African culture its oshipwe for dogs to fight when there is no bone. So, what is left for us to talk about? Let me tap from the ego by writing about Omalaeti Productions. By the way, let us agree that music is culture. Culture is music. According to The Africa Report of October 2006, the Music industry has been identified as one of the key areas with a potential to grow. Omalaeti Pty Limited is 100% Namibian-owned, and I am a shareholder. Omalaeti is a house under construction, and we are at the foundation level. Thus ,we have not yet laid even one brick. How do you do that when the foundation is still wet? We stand to be guided if the opposite is any different from the rest of the industry. Ano! For now otwa fa omuntu a gugwi la moshinima because ina hala people ye mu yole. Omalaeti Pty Limited has its roots on Omalaeti O’Swapo musical project which was 100% sponsored by Zebra Holdings which, in turn, is 100% owned by Swapo Party. The participating artists were Pablo, The Dogg, Gazza, and the producer was Elvo. We are not shy to trace our history to the four muskateers. My first lesson about music production, was acquired from those Laeties. Who says you need to grow grey to pass on wisdom? Are you still looking for the turning point in the Namibian music business? Omalaeti Productions Pty Limited, as a music publishing company, was born in 2004. Our debut albums were Ndombolo Ya Solo – Boeti & Janice featuring Buju and Alles Mumwe – Pablo. We have since seen through 16 albums. Some of our albums are concept projects sponsored by different companies and institutions – MVA, RCC, Nammic Financial Services, NUNW, MUN, Swapo Party, Capricorn, Radio Energy coun among them. We remain indebted to them. Omalaeti could not have survived without media coverage. Thus, we are grateful to both the electronic and print media. We hope local music will find itself on the menu of NBC’s National Radio which, in our opinion, continues to promote music from faraway places. Our research has shown that Rukavango Service has assumed the role of National Radio musically. As a matter of fact, they play more local music than any other station in Namibia. Oshiwambo Radio is hot on their trails. Radio Omulunga takes the cake, followed by Katutura Community Radio. Unam Radio & Energy 100 are on par. Anybody selling Omalaeti CDs for more than N$100 is cheating the public. We sell our CDs to our distributors at a competitive price. The reason is simple – for the music to reach as many people as posible. Whatever you do, do not believe anything to the contrary. How true is it that Omalaeti is too strict, to an extent that many artists shy away from it? Firstly, artists are our number one asset. There is no military conscription in Namibia, hence the lack of discipline among our youth. Secondly, music is our business. We are in short supply of money to waste. Thirdly, we have the public to serve. Those are our bosses. At Omalaeti, talent without the right attitude is not enough. Joining us would mean going through the cultural mill. Not that we are angels; far from it, but at Omalaeti, oha tu hungile. Thus, we do not blame those nameless and faceles aspiring or established artists. Our formula is simple. Attitude and Behaviour = Talent. It’s your attitude and behaviour which determine your talent. What artists do when they are off the microphone is what determines their eventual fate. In other words, their social life has to be in order … or else; e.g. we do not allow our artists to perform while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. We encourage them to dream, as long as they bear in mind that to live your dream you must wake up and dirty your hands. Our lyrical content is limited to everyday life.0 Until further, notice Omalaeti shall continue to concentrate on what we know best – music recording and publishing. We are happy to work with Equip Dancing Academy should we need dancers. Otherwise, all our sign-up artists (Tate Buti, Pedrito and PDK) do not need dancers. Any new talent in the future will be accommodated differently. If everthing goes according to plan, Omalaeti is going to release three albums on a quarterly basis. Three exciting things will happen this quarter: 1) We are going to release the first three albums; one is a house album and the other two are purely traditional. The latter is in fulfillment of our long-term held dream – to pay tribute to our ancestors and to ask for their blessings; 2) We are going to shoot our videos in different towns and villages in Namibia. We are greatful to the Namibian people for their offers to pay for our travels to their locations. Watch the press for details, we are coming to your towns and villages soon. 3) Culture is and will continue to be the heartbeat of Omalaeti. Omalaeti.Com has become too small for the many ideas we continue to receive from the community, including people we do not know. Thus, our website is undergoing serious reconstruction. Music, event management and entertainment will have its own site, paving a way for the launch of a new site dealing entirely with cultural matters. We are already five years into Vision 2030. The world is coming to wouthern Africa in 2010. What are we going to tell them about ourselves, let alone show them culturaly? Who are we? Our main challenge is to be able to get artists from Kavango, Caprivi, Hardap and Karas Regions. Nama music currently is poorly promoted. The same goes for Tswana music. The two cutural groups’ music is rich. Culturally. Omalaeti can be called “tribalists” – yes. But the richness of some of our ethnic groups cannot be ignored forever, and we stand for the overall promotion of Namibian Music in its entirety. The public should understand that we are constrained by financial resources. We have tried to accomodate all Namibian tribes under the CD Imba. That is probably the only mature product (targeting the age group from 30 years and above) under Omalaeti’s belt. Do you have Imba among your collections?