I had to find myself – Araffath
By Rosalia David
LEGENDARY music producer Araffath Muhuure who has been missing in action for a while now is back with a bang with a firecracker album titled ‘Arapiano’.
Araffath who went AWOL after releasing his second album titled ‘House of Araffath Volume 2’ in 2018 said he went off the grid to focus more on himself and his art while learning what it means to ‘grow’ as an artist.
“Sometimes we grow and realise what is more important and what is not important. I just realised how much social media was eating up my energy and decided to take a break from it. I simply just went personal. I was still taking bookings, I only removed myself from social media because it has a nasty way of taking the best out of people especially us in the limelight,” he said.
Araffath said at that time, social media was starting to control his way of living as he took in all the negative comments that were said about him.
“Sometimes as musicians, we get lost in the fame and start living the rock star life running after that addictive hype and when one looks back you actually realise that you have nothing. You can be a top producer or artist but not a millionaire.
I don’t know if fame is a curse in Namibia,” he said.
The award winning producer further stressed over the hype that comes with winning awards saying that the winning could either make or break a musician.
With more than two decades of experience up his sleeve, Araffath said, “There was a point in time I was moved by winning awards, it used to be the in thing, until I realised that, you can win awards but there is actually more to it. Yes there is good recognition and a good feeling but it can go to one’s head and mess you up in the long run.
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He added that winning awards could slowly divert one’s mind away from their initial music goals and they would end up getting stuck in the world of competition.
“Some people end up not doing music out of love but because of competition and the hunger to win again or rather look busy because you’re an award winning musician and you need to be busy.
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Araffath spoke out of his own experience saying that he once upon a time found himself stuck in the ‘famous world’ while being on top was his only concern.
He further described fame as an addictive drug that the weakest people can easily fall prey to.
“I remember when I started, it was never about awards or being on top of the other but I was doing music for the love and passion, so I just had to take time off and now I am focused more than anything else,” he said.
Touching base on his upcoming album, Araffath said, the Arapiano album is inspired by the current trending sound named ‘Amapiano’ originating from South Africa.
“I don’t want to disclose the release date yet but surely in two months’ time or so.
I don’t want a deadline, it kills the passion, and one ends up rushing to finish.”
Asked on whether he has plans on taking upcoming musicians under his wing, Araffath said, “Signing up musicians is not an issue. I had a lot of musicians under me before, but in this country, you can open up doors for them and they will still tarnish your name or kill your brand. I had people like Maszanga who were later being managed by some snake in the industry, after that, so many things and lies were said and written about me but we are fine now”.
He went on to say that he is now more into redirecting the attention to himself than grooming upcoming musicians who can backstab him when they have ‘made it in life’.