Was there a December hit this year?

Rosalia David

REMEMBER December 2018 when all we could hear was the song ‘Young, Wild and Free’ by Sunny Boy throughout the festive season? Well, that was a summer jam, a song that was heard everywhere from jukeboxes and blaring from car windows.

I personally can’t say the same for this year, it’s hard to point out any Namibian songs that reminds me of the nights of reveling I had during the festive season, except the ‘Jerusalem’ song by Mr KG from South Africa.

Of course, it is generally agreed but never specifically discussed that there is a thing called the “summer jam.” I suppose it bears some genetic resemblance to the “summer read.” But the “summer jam” is both a more fleeting and a more dominating sort of beast.

However, that beast seemed to have been held captive somewhere in the studios this time around. Although a few musicians have attempt to create relatable songs for the summer, honestly, no song did it for me during the last festive season.

Before I start sounding like a hater, I have to admit that there were a few good local songs I heard playing in different bars and in taxis, such as ‘Soek, Soek’ by Spuzza but I don’t think the song went viral across the entire country.

When I say a summer jam, I mean a song which one hears everywhere, including the villages, a track one cannot run away from no matter how much you try.

We all know that when the summer jam happens, it happens. You hear it congeal on the streets, you feel the dark wheels of popular consensus churning in the murky depths of the collective unconscious. And then before anyone can say anything the summer jam is here.

Sadly, there is typically only one summer jam per season and there is no such thing as a repeat. You can only be the summer jam once, as much as people try to bring back songs which were hits once upon a time.

If you’re from here or you’ve spent more than a few years in Namibia, you know that for us, summer doesn’t really get underway until you jam to that one song that steals your heart throughout the ‘party season’.

What I’m trying to say is that, year after year, skilled musicians and producers, people who know and understand what makes a song a hit should turn their attention to the summer jam next time. Instead of rushing to release a crappy album just in time for the NAMAs.