Aletta Shikololo
WINDHOEK - Award-winning artist Gazza, real name Lazarus Shiimi, is hosting a show to celebrate 1.1 million views on YouTube for his single hit “Chelete”.
Last week, Gazza launched his Milli concert at a local hotel in Windhoek, where he described his music journey as a tough battle to get to where he is today.
Gazza has partnered with the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) to broadcast the show live from the Sam Nujoma Stadium where he is expected to attract up to 7 000 people, on August 3.
Gazza told Entertainment Now! that he got where he is because of his supporters and his Milli-concert initiative is to celebrate with them as a form of appreciation.
“When we started this project, I never thought we will be here today but sheer hard work has given us this. So, I thought what could be the best way of celebrating the one million views and the team decided a show like no other is the best way to go about it. We approached Windhoek Draught and NBC and a partnership was conjured up,” Gazza said.
Speaking at the Gazza’s Milli concert launch, NBC’s Chief News and Programming Officer, Menesia Muinjo said NBC would broadcast the historic show live on all NBC platforms, television, radio and online through the NBC-Plus application.
“As you may know, the NBC has a wide reach, with a compounded audience level of up to 1.6 million on any given day – through our 11 radio stations, including the latest addition, Touch FM whose target audience is the young people, 6 linear TV channels and 18 TV channels on the NBC Plus, your handset platform. The NBC foot print makes it the ideal channel to beam the Gazza-Milli Concert,” Muinjo explained.
Muinjo said the NBC team is already at work finalising the awareness creation of the event to ensure that it reaches every person, young and old, in all corners of the country, especially Gazza’s fans and supporters who helped him get a million views on his video.
NBC will promote the event in indigenous languages to ensure that the key message is understood clearly and reaches the target audience.
Entertainment that includes music, which Gazza and his team will showcase on that day, is one of the key local content output pillars and strategic indicators of the NBC mandate that of informing, educating and entertaining the Namibian public, said Muinjo.
“Music as you know is also one of the best unifiers of any nation and its people, irrespective of gender, age, colour and interests, which speaks to the aspect of our role in nation building and unity in diversity,” Muinjo explained before congratulating Gazza for yet another milestone in his music journey.
“To all upcoming artists, invest in your talent and become good at it. Nothing comes on a silver platter, so to be a champion, you have to be consistent and patient with what you do,” Gazza said.