Award-winning artist Big Ben, and Namibia’s leading songbird Erna Chimu have been selected to perform with some international artists at the third Euro-Namibian music festival slated for 30 October at the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) Windhoek.
As part of a continued diplomatic relationship between Namibia and the European Union (EU) through culture and arts, the EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) cluster in Namibia will be hosting six music acts from France, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Namibia.
Speaking at the press conference recently, Sinikka Antila said the music festival will create a platform to hear Namibian and European music and stories.
“I believe there is still so much undiscovered talent in Namibia and especially in the rural areas that need to be made known and presented in the country and beyond,” she said.
At last year’s event, Eunic cluster hosted a hip-hop festival and held a skills exchange session for music students at the College of the Arts – and this year, they promised to have an exciting and vibrant mix of European and Namibian music performances lined up to create a festive setting, stimulate and strengthen the local and cultural scene, promote creativity and innovation and expand the diversity of European music.
Clément Reboul, a professional gipsy jazz guitarist from France, singer and songwriter Dota from Berlin, Portugal’s Senza, and Spanish artist Sergio de Lope are the European acts that will blaze the stage at the music festival.
The Namibian Chapter of the EUNIC Music Festival will also host music development training under the theme ‘Live audio production Master-Class’ for Namibian students.
“Four areas have been identified as being most in need. These are Principles of Digital and Analogue Production; Balancing Frequencies, Sound Engineering for live shows, and Software development. The Masterclass series will be conducted over four weeks and renowned Namibian born, South African-based facilitator Burton Reid will deliver the master-class sessions,” an official statement from the Eunic read. – ashikololo@nepc.com.na