By Pinehas Nakaziko
WINDHOEK– Regardless of the successful Namibia Annual Music Awards (Namas) hosted at the Indoors Sport Centre in Swakopmund last weekend, some local artists invoked their political leanings thereby tainting the event with political overtones.
This year’s Best Live Performer, Castro, and The Dogg who scoops three awards, the NAMAs Special Award, Best House Song and Song of the Year, shouted “vote for Swapo” after their performances and when receiving their awards. NAMAs Executive Chairperson, Tim Ekandjo, says it was not a good platform for the artists to include politics in such an event. “Yes, we haven’t thought of it but it happened, but we are not going to stop here, we are going back to them and tell them that they were not suppose to do that at all, as that was not a night for campaign politics but to celebrate the achievements of our artists. We don’t expect this to happen again,” he says.
Ekandjo however adds that MTC is a Namibian telecommunication company which doesn’t do or involve in any political issues. But regarding the overall event, Ekandjo admits that this year they experienced the slow tickets sale. “We told our self that in Namibia people normally don’t buy tickets in advance, and when the last day came the gate was packed. People bought tickets like pancakes and we as organisers were very happy as about 60% of the tickets were sold the night of the event (Saturday).”
“We are happy that the show went well, hosting 37 awards in one night would make the show long and boring, that’s why we decided to make it a two-day event,” says Ekandjo. He adds they are already preparing for the next NAMAs and they already have two different venues (not in Windhoek) that have accepted to host their fifth awards.”