Euro-Nam music fest begins
By Rosalia David
THE Euro-Namibia Music Festival hosted by the EUNIC Cluster will kick off on Friday with performances by musicians such as Clément Reboul from France, Sergio Lope (Spain) and Namibian legend Erna Chimu.
EUNIC is the European Union National Institutes for Culture and is a partnership between national cultural institutes from European Union (EU) member states, which represent their country’s cultural and educational connections to other countries worldwide.
According to Susan Lewis, press officer, Delegation of the European Union to Namibia, the festival’s first session on Friday will start at 17h00 followed by a short break.
“Thereafter the second session will follow from 19h30 until about 21h15. During the second session Dota Kehr (Germany) Livestream, Senza (Portugal) Live stream and Big Ben will deliver their performance and tickets for the performance are available at FNCC,” she said.
She said, this year, the festival has an exciting and vibrant mix of European and Namibian music performances lined up, to create a festive setting, stimulate and strengthen the local and cultural scene while promoting creativity and innovation including expanding the diversity of European music.
European music artists that will be performing include Reboul.
“Reboul is a professional gypsy jazz guitarist for over 10 years while Dota is a singer and songwriter from Berlin and a leader of the musical group Urban Pirates. Her topical, critical texts are often delivered in rapid flowing rhythm and sound influenced by Bossa Nova and jazz,” she said.
Apart from live performances, the festival will also host music development training under the theme ‘Live audio production masterclass’ to Namibian students.
She said four areas have been identified already as being most in need which are the principles of digital and analogue production, balancing frequencies, sound engineering for live shows and software development.
“The masterclass series will be conducted over a four-week period and renowned Namibian-born, South African-based facilitator Burton Reid will deliver the masterclass sessions,” she said.
She added that the music industry has been significantly affected by Covid-19 with major festivals, live shows and tours in Namibia and all over the world being postponed or cancelled.
But as the saying goes: ‘The show must go on’.
Lewis said there is a need to adjust to new realities, newly emerging trends – such as live streaming and adding elements and effects, which cannot be done during a live performance.