Paheja Siririka
WINDHOEK – The Old School Jive Concert hosted veteran artists from the Namibian music industry at Funky Lab on Friday with the purpose of bringing them together to raise funds to host an even bigger concert on a date yet to be announced.
Patricia Ochurus said it was incredible to be in the company of her fellow musicians after being away from the limelight for a while. “It’s a great feeling and especially for me that has been in the industry for more than three decades, the event was a mind-blowing experience because Namibians don’t appreciate music that much, so seeing people here took me back,” said Ochurus.
She said one piece of advice she would give young artists is to keep their identity. “I want Namibian artists to stick and keep their identities, and not follow trends, keep true to your being, make the world adore and love your uniqueness, that’s what I would love them to do,” she said.
Ochurus loved and appreciated the fact that Namibian artists are coming out doing what they love.
“God’s timing is the best, you will find out soon with what I have been busy with,” she said.
Another artist at the Old School Jive Concert was Ras Sheehama. “It’s such a great honour to be part of this event. It has been ages since I’ve been in the same room with people such as Shikololo, Killa B, so it’s heartwarming to be in their midst,” said Sheehama.
He said that over the years what has worried him about the industry is the performance of some artists. “They perform with playback and that is not being artistic, they mimic, they leave the voice in the CD … they sing live on top of the music, they should not do that, ” he said.
Sheehama advised young artists to not give up. “Never give up, you know you are talented and you have it. Namibia is growing and in 10 years the population will grow and one will eventually be able to survive financially off the music,” he said.
Shikololo was ecstatic about the concert and reminisced on the good old times. He said the reason for partially parting from music had to do with growth.
“We grew and as that unfolded, responsibilities surfaced apart from just entertaining. Some people became parents, we are fathers, providers and with the music industry that doesn’t compensate fairly, we had to make decisions to fully have means to provide for our families,” explained Shikololo.
As one of the pioneers of Namibia music, Shikololo said he wouldn’t like it if originality was sidelined.
“I started with originality and unfortunately we are only seeing this in older artists like Ras Sheehama, he is very original. There are instances in our lives that are pushing us towards the new world in terms of keeping up with technology which indirectly forced us to deviate away from originality, but that is something we need to hold on tight to, we need to stick to performing live music, it’s essential, ” he cautioned.
Shikololo said it was great reflecting on life from that view, where he is physically touching some industry folks that have been in the game but saddened by those that have perished. “The industry introduced me to people I became close with that have unfortunately passed on and that includes Y T De Wet, Pablo, Pedrito. Some people detach from society because of this and to us, it touched our lives, and honestly speaking this is what made some of us turn to drugs, becoming drunkards especially when it came to dealing with situations such as losing your closest friends,” he said.
Shikololo added that there is an important element that is attached to using the right type of music. “If you intend to educate, give wisdom to people, fighting the same cause, it is important to use the right type of music.”