NAMAs future: what will happen now?

• BY JO-MARIE ORTNER

NAMIBIAN Society of Composer and Authors of Music (NASCAM) board chairperson, Erna Chimu says the organisation’s immediate focus is to recruit a new Chief executive Officer (CEO) after John Max left the position in December.

Chimu said the recruitment of a new CEO is of paramount importance together with the finalization of NASCAM’s strategic plan.

However asked if NASCAM was working on bringing back the Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs), Chimu said should the board resolve on anything related to the NAMAs an official communication would be made.

The NAMAs were last held in 2020 after a 10 year sponsorship by telecommunication giants MTC came to an end.

The MTC awards honoured and gave a platform to local musicians to be acknowledged but the telecommunication company opted to end its partnership with NASCAM stating it was time for them to pursue other endeavors and was leaving room for other institutions that were willing to succeed it.

Asked if there had been other companies that expressed interest in partnering with NASCAM, former NASCAM CEO John Max said there had been individuals and institutions who had stated interest in sponsoring the NAMAs.

“There have been a couple of interested individuals and institutions, however due to COVID-19, NASCAM had to keep it confidential as the future after COVID-19 was not clear and considering that the event is extremely costly, finding someone who could provide proper funding was important.

However, the pandemic made it difficult to come to categorical conclusion,” Max stated.

Well-known artist, Gazza, who has 18 NAMA awards said although it is hard to measure the impact the NAMAs had on his career, the awards added “value and glorification to his work.”

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