Jefta Haipinge (29) (Nazile) and Fritz Shilongo Munenguni (28) (Hicksy) have released a feel-good afrobeat infused with reggae dancehall ballad featuring Don Kamati dubbed ‘Operate’.
The ballad sees the Namibians giving a little bit of positivity in terms of grooving, especially amid the Covid-19.
The music video was released on 15 May 2020 under Basement Films’ YouTube channel, was shot at Funky Lab Social Café by Sodo. “We decided to rope in Don Kamati because of his unique voice, creativity and that we work well together on every project we have embarked on so far. We believe his experience and talent is just on another level,” said Nazile.
“Operate is all about a good vibe, empowering yourself, having the confidence to dance and face anything.
It’s a dance song, the type of song that will take your stress away and make you focus your energy on more positive things. When we recorded this song, we all were very much excited, motivated and decided to create something to dance to, encourage people in any way,” said the duo.
The song was officially released on 24 March 2020 and the trio said the video took them out of their comfort zone. “We went out of our comfort zone as three different artists from different genres to create this project, we all had our different ideas during the shoot but we managed to pull it off and we all had our visual concepts on the outcome of the video of which brought us to this,” mentioned Hicksy.
They say too many chefs can spoil a meal but the trio added each of their recipes to the song and the outcome speaks for itself. It’s all about positive energy and good vibes between people that make things work.
The man behind big production hits in Namibia such as ‘Hangover’ by Top Cheri featuring King Elegant and Athawise, Andrew also rendered his magical touch on this 3:38 track, which has received positive reviews on YouTube since its release.
“The song has that fire in it,” posted Rohann Lambert with Albertina Hashipala saying the song is dope and that the gentlemen should keep it up.
In light of this Covid-19 pandemic, this is one song that will put you in a positive mood for sure.
The mixing of afrobeat and dancehall is nothing new to the making of music as numerous artists have released great songs of this fusion. This includes songs such as ‘In Common’ by Alicia Keys, ‘Little Bit More’ by Jidenna, ‘One Dance’ by Drake teaming up with Wizkid and Kya. Who can forget ‘Not Nice’ by Partynextdoor?
-psiririka@nepc.com.na