Namibia, Nigeria Unite Through Dance
It looks like Nigerian superstar Yemi Alade had a worthwhile trip to the Land of the Brave, as the fruits of her travels slowly make an appearance on her social media pages.
She is promoting her latest project, ‘QueenDonCom’, a seven-track EP with spectacular visuals from our immensely beautiful and popular desert.
The Afrobeats singer was in the country in March this year to shoot a music video, while celebrating her birthday, and collaborated with Namibian creatives, including the final Namibia Annual Music Awards’ artist of the year winner, Rose Blvc. She will make an appearance in the video and previously spoke of the experience fondly.
Yemi documented her stay here with social media snaps and vlog style posts, and referred to herself as an “international village girl”, before jetting off to the next location, Ethiopia.
With the EP coming out on Friday last week, the first visuals being teased all across her social media pages and the catchy tunes already raking in over 1,2 million YouTube clicks collectively in the first four days of being uploaded, we are getting a glimpse of what’s to come featuring choreography from four of Namibia’s very own talented dancers.
They are Hillary Shiimi, Marcha Kaffer, Linus Marchell So-/oabeb and Michael Namaseb. They can be seen surrounding Yemi Alade on the cover and promotional material for the EP, draped elegantly in crimson garments, with breathtaking dunes in the background.
One of the objectives of shooting this video for the songstress was to showcase the beauty of Namibian tourism to the world, and she is living up to that seemingly excitedly. For the dancers, this was a life-changing experience.
Michael Namaseb, who has appeared countless times on some of the biggest stages at the biggest events in the country, recalls being called personally by actress and media personality Odile Gertze for the gig, an opportunity he did not hesitate to accept.
“It’s definitely an experience of a lifetime. It was one that I absolutely relish because I never thought I would meet her anytime soon in the career that I am in,” he said, still taking the whole encounter in.
He described the artist as “kind and sweet”, with an amazing team behind her, and fondly recollects his youth, when he would listen to her music while growing up in Katutura.
For him, it was a dream come true. Namaseb is no stranger to working hard and creating entertainment value. He was the director for the music talent search programme ‘The Search’, has largely dominated the NAMAs stage year after year, and has worked on numerous theatre productions such ‘Aspoestertjie’ by Abraham Pietiers and ‘Prime Colours’ by Zindri Swartz.
He also accompanies rapper Lioness on stage most times and directed the choreography for her latest smash hit, ‘Superstar’.
So-/oabeb, a professional dancer, choreographer and movement director, shares Namaseb’s excitement. The two dance together regularly and he remembers immediately clearing his schedule to prepare for a journey he called “thrilling”. He expresses excitement at being able to create movements for and interact with such a major player in the music game, as it pushes his career in the right direction.
“This experience definitely boosted my resume. I didn’t just sit with my hands folded while I was on her production, I did actual work that aligns with my career,” he said, taking note of how much of a learning experience it was. “I got a chance to observe how they operate on such an international level. It was very intriguing and eye opening.”
So-/oabeb has been a professional dancer for nine years and has taken part in the NAMAS for seven of them. He has also won local dance competitions and has done choreography for many of the National Theatre of Namibia’s productions. He has worked with the likes of Lioness, Ethnix and Chikune, and describes himself as a versatile dancer.
The group was mum on how much they were compensated, choosing to keep it to themselves, though Linus did say they were in a fortunate position to be able to negotiate. As for the video itself? One can only speculate. Everyone who worked on this project has been sworn to secrecy with a nifty little non-disclosure agreement, prohibiting them from talking about particular things.
This means we are at the mercy of her marketing schedule and can’t do much more than wait as each little bit is released, and then cheer on and root for our compatriots who are surely helping push the local arts and culture industry out into the world.
We can only imagine it will involve some tribal dancing, some beautiful landscapes and of course the gorgeous vocalist and famous maker of hit song ‘Johnny’ showing us why she deserves her spot as one of Africa’s most celebrated musicians.
Shiimi, who also can be seen by Yemi Alade’s side, says she is excited to see it all come together. “It was really a wonderful experience and amazing how different people from around the world choreograph dances differently. You would think that we all use the same system but we don’t and it was great to see that,” she said.
She has been a dancer for 10 years now, and surely brought that Namibian flare to the set. QueenDonCom is powerful. It is truly a shining example of home-grown sounds paired with undeniable talent, a killer voice and a hard-working creative team. Two stand-out tracks so far are ‘Sweety’ and ‘Ogogoro’, which have catchy and unforgettable sounds, synonymous with Nigerian music.
Yemi Alade has sung in English, Igbo, Pidgin, Yoruba, French, Swahili and Portuguese throughout her long career and has won awards in Nigeria, South Africa, America and Europe.
She has worked with Patoranking, Angelique Kidjo and P-Square and is featured on Beyoncé’s soundtrack album ‘The Lion King: The Gift’. She also performed alongside the likes of Miley Cyrus, Shakira, Coldplay, Usher and Justin Bieber at the Global Goal: Unite for Our Future concert in mid-2020.
– Anne Hambuda is a poet, writer and social commentator from Windhoek. Follow her online for more.