2014-02-07Staff Report 2 "WINDHOEK-Namibian Afro Jazz and Ma/Gaisa singer, and one of the artists in the Last Band Standing 2014 series , Erna Chimu, is busy making waves in the music industry. Erna was born on the farm Onÿekeremba, and grew up with her grandmother in a strict Khoe Khoe traditiona in the Karas region. Her first musical experience was with Shemuyetu, one of the major reggae forces in Namibia today. Known for her massive live performances, Erna says currently she is busy with her autography in a book form that will be available next year. “Recently I was also approached by one student studying in Norway. They wanted to script my life story in miniseries short films titled ""African women-raising from poverty to fame,”. This miniseries is a great opportunity for me that no one can say no to and it will make me leave my marks on the African continent when I am gone,” she says. She adds that this year she will also release her Live DVD for all the performances she performed recently. Erna, winner of the Namibian Annual Music Awards (Namas) in the category of Best Traditional song in 2011, is certainly no newcomer to the local music industry. In 2007 she embarked on her own road to musical freedom, and was one of the Namibian musicians to perform at the Old Mutual Jazz Encounter 2008, where she shared the stage with South African artists, Lira, and Sipho Hotstix Mabuse. Her real niche in the industry came when more then 4 000 revellers at the 2010 Old Mutual Jazz Encounter, now the Windhoek Jazz Festival, enjoyed a Namibian African lady espousing international music standards so much that those not totally familiar with the evening’s programme, asked who the artist was and where she hails from. Then she patronised the stage with such South African musical greats like Freshly Ground and Vusi Mlhaselela. “As Namibians, we need to give acknowledgement to where we come from. I have always tried to blend traditional sounds with jazz. As a genre, jazz is fluid, yet grounded and mature. It gives me a podium where I can raise social concerns in a setting where people are calm and open,” Erna says. Her new album titled, Hai-serute, which means Vultures is an Afro-Jazz and traditional album. It is recorded live with a band & produced by Christian Polloni. Polloni is of the best music producers Namibia could ever find, as he has played and worked for years with Pappa Wemba, Alpha Blondi, and with a lot of Namibian acts. “The reason why this album is titled Hai-serute is that, I faced a lot of challenges during my short time in the industry that indeed we find people that will laugh and sing you praises but underneath their smile are envy, hatred, jealousy, and if given the chance are able to kill you. Hai-serute is such a song with strong warning to tell those people to ""get out of your life."" It is a traditional song and that showcases the beauty of chants and dance moves,” she says. “I have been receiving invites from abroad but this I can’t confirm as I didn't get an official invitation yet. One is scheduled in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the other in Berlin, Germany,” says Erna. Erna has entered into a three-year contract with South African based, Sheer Publishers Africa, to market her first album Imamakunguwe (my source of love and life), which is available worldwide. According to the agreement, the publishing house will distribute Chimu's debut album all over the world where she will take home 66% of all proceeds and the publishing house take the rest. By Pinehas Nakaziko" 2014-02-07Staff Report 2
