Talented and ambitious musicians always set their eyes on becoming instant millionaires, but in Namibia artists still struggle for basic needs like food and accommodation.
Most Namibian musicians neither own a house nor a car. Some of
them live in extreme poverty.
The reason partly lies in the fact that Namibian consumers have been exposed to South African and Western music instead of their own. As a result, the local artists have to compete with their more professional foreign counterparts in a tight market of 1.8 million people.
Jackson Kaujeua is a household name in Namibia. He has been in the music industry for 30 years.
Kaujeua, who has been playing music both at home and in exile before Namibia’s independence in 1990, is struggling to make ends meet, just like any other local musician.
”The market is still very small. In a year I only make about 1,000 U.S. dollars. As a prominent musician, you can imagine how hard it is for the young and upcoming artists,” said Kaujeua.
He cites lack of transparency from some production houses, both local and international, who are not giving Namibian musicians the royalties due to them.
”Once you have a contract with them, they produce your music and sell it on your behalf and tell you that they produced 1,000 or 10,000 copies only. It is difficult to verify whether or not these figures are correct,” Kaujeua said.
”The system is not transparent. It is a funny and dubious kind of business.”
A promoter of a reggae band, Mushitu Mukwame, who is based in the capital Windhoek, cited a lack of operational funds as a major setback for Namibian musicians.
Some band members do not have equipment and, to survive, borrow from other musicians until a good Samaritan comes along and assists them.
Mukwame also blames the Namibian public for undermining the skills of local artists, when it comes to paying them for performing live shows.
”South African musicians are sometimes paid about 20,000 U.S. dollars, while it is rare for a Namibian artist to get about 2,000 U.S. dollars for a live show despite being an international musician,” he said.
An upcoming band ‘Omidi D’Afrique’ said it usually has to walk up to 15 kilometres to venues where it was expected to perform, due to lack of transport.
Most of them band’s members stayed in squatter settlements around the Namibian capital as they could not afford proper accommodation.
One of the band members, Farry, said they were hanging in there just for the love of music, not that they were earning enough to improve their livelihood.
”Most people in Namibia judge us through our outer appearances and where we are staying. They do not know that by supporting us we can become better and prosperous people who can market the Namibian culture to the outside world,” he said.
Farry said despite being independent for 13 years now, Namibians have not realised that time has come for them to stop living in South Africa’s shadow and embrace their culture.
”Namibian musicians are trying their best, but as we all know, money makes the world go round and Namibian musicians can never achieve prosperity without it. Our band has only a base and rhythm guitar as well as drums.
”We have to hire all the other equipment whenever we have to perform and money is very tight,” said Farry.
The head of the licensing department at NASCAM, Eino John Max, conceded that Namibian artists live below the poverty line. He attributed the poverty to the tight market and a lack of companies that can assist musicians with recordings, publishing and distribution of their music.
Namibia has 600 registered local musicians whose combined annual turnover amounts to just 11,000 U.S. dollars, which they share with composers and authors of the songs.
He said royalties were not enough as the Namibian public preferred South African and Western music to the local music.
”Commercial radios in Namibia are promoting too much foreign music and cultures in their programmes and an intervention is needed quickly,” he said.
”As a result, well established artists are now leaving Namibia for greener pastures to foreign countries such as South Africa and Germany.”
‘Oruuano’, the union representing musicians and artists, said it has plans to lobby government for an 80 percent local music content to be played by all broadcasters in the country.
”There is need for change in the broadcasting policy, so that radio or television stations that fail to comply can be taken to task. Musicians cannot survive on their current income, especially those not having another income to supplement their earnings,” ‘Oruuano’ secretary-general said Vincent Mwemba said. — Sapa-IPS