By Selma Neshiko
WINDHOEK– Afro-Pop and Afro-Jazz artist, Ben Kandukira, popularly known as Big Ben, together with his friends will be taking on the Warehouse Theatre on May 9.
With the concert Big Ben and his friends would venture into a musical interpretation of the Ovaherero traditional male dance, Omuhiva. He says he has been studying the music to disprove earlier research by renowned musicians that it can only be translated to reggae or dance-hall when played with modern instruments.“The combination of the audible music and body rhythm makes the music sound more similar to genres from west and central Africa. The off-beat sounds and ghost notes that are filled by the stamping feet complete the musical rhythm and cycle. African music is not just music for listening, you have to dance or see a dance to fully appreciate it,” he says.
Music lovers can also expect a guest performance by internationally acclaimed music producer and guitarist, Christian Poloni. The French-born music maker will draw much from his experience from playing with big African stars such as Papa Wemba to entertain the crowd on that night. Big Ben is one of Namibia’s most talented and one of Namibia’s top performing artists with seven albums so far. He will also be performing his Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMS) nominated single “1000 Tears” .
The concert will start at 20h00 and tickets are available at the Warehouse Theatre for N$80 in advance and N$90 at the door. Tickets are also available on a new Namibian website called staytoday.com.na.