The recent chat about Namibian choirs predominantly singing songs of South African origins had me in a retrospective chokehold. If there’s one thing you need to know about me…is that I love the art of choral ensembling. I love choir music, I have sung in choirs all my life. Hence why this chat was so uncomfortable for me.
It was uncomfortable because I needed to take an annoyingly uncomfortable look at myself, and identify whether I too was guilty of this. My conclusion is that I am guilty of this. I may not be an active member of any choir right now…but the fact is, growing up in different choirs in the streets of Kuisebmond, we predominantly sang choral songs of South African descent.
We sang these South African songs with so much passion. We sang these South African songs with so much swag, zest and determination. We sang these South African songs as if they were our own. I will be brutally honest and go as far as admitting that growing up, I actually always preferred to sing these South African choral songs. It was only when I got to the Polytechnic of Namibia (now NUST) that Michael Kisting inspired me to appreciate Namibian folklore songs.
In as much as I was killing myself over it as this debate was raging the last couple of weeks…I also came to the conclusion that I was too young to understand what I’ve been saying for weeks in this column…that we as Namibians are experiencing a deep identity crisis.
I was too young at the time to understand that there really was no political willpower to inspire people like myself at a young age to be proudly Namibian. That it is not just random words we say on Independence Day.
We thought we were so cool singing these South African songs. We actually were cool performing these South African songs because the audience would go wild with satisfaction. We were fools man, and probably still are. The fact is this…there is nothing just and correct about Namibian choirs predominantly singing South African songs. Highlight the keyword…”predominantly”.
The problem is so deep that you find 99% of Namibian players and athletes in the sporting world sing “Jabula Wena” before a game/bout/match. At funerals, weddings etc., we sing a lot of these South African songs. So, now my question is…do we not have our own Namibian folklore songs? Do we not have Namibian folklore songs the Brave Warriors can sing before a game that will remind them of home and spur them on? Do we not have Namibian folklore songs we can sing at funerals and other social functions?
If we don’t…whose fault is it? Namibian choir conductors and composers? If yes, how do we support and inspire Namibian choir conductors and composers to create a library of Namibian folklore songs that we can utilise for all occasions? I do not have all the answers.
That is where YOU come in. YOU need to stop being passive, and voice yourself using the hashtag #IndustryLoop by answering these questions. Either answer, or challenge me with an entirely different point of view.
We are a democratic dispensation, I have always appreciated a healthy and learned debate. What I do not tolerate though is someone debating in bad faith and downright trolling. Why is it supposedly wrong when Namibian choirs predominantly sing South African songs? Why is there this invincible need to have our own Namibian folklore songs? Tweet your thoughts.
On that note, the podcast version of Industry Loop is up and running. Check out the latest episode on YouTube on the biggest newspaper brand’s platform, New Era LIVE.
Until the next Loop, we say #GMTM
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