Following in your father’s footsteps can be quite a daunting task, especially when expectations are high to emulate him. Allen Jonathan, popularly known as Swartbaster’s son has decided to pursue music like his father.
Going by the stage name DJ Luzendo, Luzendo Asher Jonathan (9) told VIBEZ! he accompanies his father to the studio when he can.
“Every time I see my father recording, I would tell him ‘pappie, ek wil ook sing’,” says DJ Luzendo.
Swartbaster said music has no age limit, and is a universal language, so anyone can make music at any age.
“The talent we saw in him made us introduce him to the music industry. He is mostly into Amapiano and the hip-hop genres, which are not really my style. But I started out as a hip-hop artist in the 90s,” he noted.
Under the guidance of his father, DJ Luzendo is in good hands to be taught the ins and outs of the industry and, to an extent, made famous.
“So far, he has three Amapiano songs; one is called ‘Kom sit bietjie met ‘n jive king’, which he is busy shooting a video for that I will be directing. The video will be shot by Julian from Draycott Multimedia. My son mostly has party, joyful songs.”
The ‘Ding Dong’ hitmaker said he will be managing his son, and will be ploughing back the knowledge he has acquired over the years.
“I want to make him a big star so that he can be known in the industry.”
At such a young age, he has garnered a bit of a following on Instagram, which he hopes to increase once his debut video comes out.
The young DJ is already making his mark on the performance scene with him gracing the stage recently at the ‘Never walk Alone’ project of Tim Ekandjo at Elim primary school.
“I like performing Amapiano and my father’s traditional Ngoma music, and l feel happy when I perform like daddy.” Luzendo said.
“When he was 5 already, he could dance my style, which is a Kavango traditional dance style called ‘Mutenya wambati’.
“He really surprised me when I saw him dancing with his hips, as I do. He then started imitating me on my songs exactly to the core like… ‘Teka Teka Teka chimbwetu, chimbwetu chaaa’ that made me realise that one day, he will be like me and of course, here we are,” Swartbaster boasted.
“I am so happy more than the word itself, cos we have many artists in our industry who have children, like me, but I’ve never seen their children doing like mine does, meaning Swartbaster is ‘geseën van God’ (blessed by God)” -slunyangwe@nepc.com.na