By Clemence Tashaya
EENHANA – A young man in the densely populated township, Federation, here has set up a music recording studio to help talented artists who fail to record their work due to lack of fiannces.
Lumbu Hosea, aka Kulenyane, praises young Namibian musicians for staying true to the development of the Namibian music industry, hence the establishment of Kulenyane Entertainment Firm and Music. The new studio has been the only one functioning here following the folding of several others. “I sourced for funds to open up my music studio from some good Samaritans in Botswana, and my wife, Divine Shingelao, and others from my personal savings. My mission is to make sure that no upcoming artists fail to record their music because they have no money. We want to promote the music industry in our small way,” says Kulenya.
He adds that while other studios charge as much as N $ 800 to N $ 1000 per single track, his services for upcoming young artists wishing to record for the first time are free as long as his is free although he charges N $ 350 per track?????. “The idea is to make sure that these talented young artists can be heard on air. There are several of them in this region who are good but they do not have money to record their works. So what I am saying is that I have sacrificed to help them. I have the qualifications of producing music and adequate experience of sound engineering,” says Kulenyane.
History has shown that where free and less expensive music recording service are rendered, virtually unknown young talented artists rise into stardom. Eenhana is currently boasting of hordes of young Dancehall and Afro-Kwaito artists like Killer T, DML, Vuzi Kings, Nestor Flybek and Omptine who emerged almost at the same time some three years ago. So far more than 30 upcoming artists have approached his studio. “Many young artists from Okongo, Oshikango, Onhuno and Ongwediva have been here to see the new studio and I have booked them for recording. I have invited them through our Ohangwena Community Radio (OCR) and the response is overwhelming,” he explains.
He explains that he can record Gospel , Afro-Kwaito, Hip Hop, R n B among other genres. “I was taught this business by some Tswana friends. I was in Botswana in 2012 and some serious friends encouraged me to take up this recording business. I copied a lot from established musicians like Bujo Mujo from South Afric, hence my name, Kulenyane, meaning “Naughty Boy”.
Kulenyane has thus far produced a ten track album titled Omu China, which was released in 2010 by Mushe records. “I am an Afro-Kwaito musician and I have plans to release my second album titled Stand for Your Right, which will be released this August. Apart from that he is also a part-time scratching Disk Jockey and have been hired to play in many events in the Ohangwena region. “As Kulenyane Entertainment Firm and Music, we have also produced short movies in the Oshiwambo language and they are selling like hot cakes here.”
However, Kulenyane he advises upcoming artists to desist from sabotage and hatred in the music industry, encouraging them instead to do more collaboration featuring established artists like their fellows in Botswana and South Africa. “Look at how the South African music industry is growing compared to ours. The Namibian music industry is being destroyed by hatred and jealousy, and those who come to my studio should be aware of that and as a producer, I can’t take that nonsense.”