On Saturday night, we went to the Gazza album release party. Gazza is one of the most commercially successful musicians in Namibia, and is the godfather of the kwaito music scene here. Clearly it was going to be one of the biggest things happening in the Namibian music community, so I knew I couldn’t miss it.
Namibian concerts are another kind of breed here. They start insanely early (like 6PM) and run insanely late (the main act still hadn’t gone on stage by 1:30AM). Unlike Canada, where there might be two or three opening bands before the main headliner, these Namibian shows have dozens of performers that do a few songs each, all warming up to the main climax of the night, which tends to happen in the wee early hours of the morning. Also, there is a lot of coordinated dancing. Julia is a big fan of coordinated dancing. Heck, I’m a big fan of coordinated dancing.
So yes, there were lots and lots of acts, and lots of dancing between acts. We heard the Facebook song at least three times. Exit performed his signature I AM ROCKAZ song, a phrase I still don't quite get, and there was also this other act where I saw my very first white rapper in Namibia:
There really aren't a lot of them here.
Sadly, we didn't end up sticking around to see Gazza. I had every intention to stay at least for one or two songs, but 2AM was rolling up quickly and I was finding myself falling asleep while standing up. The last act we saw was this large man who liked to shimmy - and honestly, there is nothing as beautiful in the world was watching a large man shimmy - but I knew I wouldn't be able to stay awake for the next act.
Besides, the crowd gave new meaning to the phrase "thick as thieves". It was really robby and pickpocket-y. I guess it was easy with such a large crowd. Some guys tried to steal Dean's wallet, three times within five minutes. Unfortunately they were more successful with me: some guy shoved me from behind, grabbed the equivalent of three Canadian dollars from my jean pocket, and then ran away, disappearing into the crowd. It wasn't a big deal, really, although I feel like it's never worth the effort to rob someone for less than the price of a beer, but it did leave me a bit uneasy for the rest of the night. Unfortunately they made off with Pinehas' phone as well, which was a much bigger bummer.
Nevertheless, it was pretty fun night full of dancing, and coordinated dancing.
and randomly posing by strangers' motorcycles
I really like the new single that he has out called Seelima. It's really upbeat and catchy, and the music video is awesome, a really cute throwback to retro 1970s with a good look at what the townships look like (and people having fun in them), with lots and lots of coordinated dancing.
