Ivona Frans
She is Maria Lisa Immanuel at noon and ML at night – such is the dynamism in Maria Immanuel, who is juggling the best of both worlds in the arts and corporate world. Well, it cannot be easy trying to stitch a music career by burning the midnight oil and carrying the heavy workload that comes with working at the Statehouse. But well, you are not ML. She surely finds her a way to balance a rather challenging job as an agriculture economist at Statehouse and being a musician in the same vein. ML, who also has a single out on the Cassinga massacres, arguably one of the darkest pieces of history, is an easy person to relate to but rather difficult to judge both as a musician and a professional.
She has of late been pushing her YouTube channel to reach numbers during the lockdown period, with a new song titled ‘Lockdown’.
ML said she believes Namibian artists need to continue finding ways of staying afloat despite the tough times ahead.
She is a staunch believer in ‘where there is a will, there is always a way’. “Artists are one group that is overlooked in Namibia. I expected the government not to underestimate the power of artists, especially when it comes to information dissemination,” said ML.
She added that artists could have been used more to do campaigns on Covid-19 with budget allocation for such purposes since they are completely cut off from performances and events that could have given them income. ML told unwrap.online that she is currently running a cover challenge for the lockdown song, where singers record themselves doing the challenge and post on social media and tag her.
According to ML, the best song with more viewers and likes will than stand a chance to walk away with N$2 000.
“That’s to give back to singers and upcoming artists and creatives so they can use my beat and lyrics to win some money,” she said.
Aside from that, she is also working on her fourth album to be released in June.
PHOTO: Instagram