From South-West Africa to Namibia Germany was very late to get some colonies. The world was almost shared by the then-super-powers like England, France, Belgium (Congo!), and Portugal. Slavery had been abolished for two generations, when the Germans got the colonial leftovers in 1884 at the first International Africa-Conference in Berlin: Tsingtao in China (where the Chinese still brew beer today like the Germans told 'em), some islands like Nauru in the Pacific, Togo, Cameroon, Tanganyika and South-West-Africa. 30 years later they lost those colonies due losing WW II, but strangely kept most of the farming-land in South-West, nowadays Namibia, well into the 3rd millenium. One hundred years later most Germans don't even remember colonial times, all the archives were either bombed out or were located in the DDR. For Germans, their national attrocities started with Adolf Hitler - they have no idea that their colonial time in South-West-Africa served as a kind of blue-print for the terrible things that happend during the Third Reich. Germany never really did benefit from those colonies, at last in the long run. They missed out on the diamonds-boom in South-West. They never got colonial drugs like opium and cannabis. So they became world champions in 'inventing' chemical drugs like morphin, cocaine, heroin, XTC and even methadon. The same wirth the music input. They had their classical & marching music, whereas England and France shipped 'their' africans to the caribic to cut sugar-cane and come up with Blues, Jazz & Reggae. No modern popmusic without sugar-cane. The Germans got their sugar from local sugar-beets and claim that the sugar-beet led to the abolishion of slavery. Namibia, formerly South-West-Africa, is the only country in the world that is named after a desert. Most of the river-beds haven't had any water in them for many years. If it rains, the clouds come from the East, crossing southern Africa. So there's always hope for rain, if you see a cloud. Namibia received political independence in 1990, but it's people still get most food from South-Africa. The farmlands, mines and industries belonging mostly to whites and culturally the not-white locals seem to be almost without being in contact with any traditional roots. What is now called Namibia was once made up of a dozen different ethnical tribes and peoples with different languages and music. Even to this day it remains a conglogamat of different people, who, in order to survive must create a Namibian unity. The country is home for about 1.8 million people, has 6000 commercial farms, 65% of which are owned by whites, 2% of those are no Namibians. 70% of blacks live and are being sustained by communal agriculture and contribute just 3% to the GDP. In the year 2000 there were 9000 interet.-users, 10.500 people with a cell phone, 40.000 PCs, 34% had access to sanitation and 57% access to safe drinking water. Namibia isn't a rich country today, but a proud one. In their 15 years of independence, they haven't taken a penny from the IMF and World Bank. Former President Sam Nujoma said: "The IMF and World Bank are the imperialist's well organised machinery to get African cheap labour and raw materials for their economic development. Thank God, Namibia has not taken anything from these institutions, even though we are members. We pay our annual dues but take nothing from them." The former German colony and later South-African protectorate still has German street names (not only in the capital Windhoek) - which might be fun for tourists, but seems a disgrace to the african locals. As Baffour Ankomah, editor of the New African magazine, wrote in 2003 "You walk the beautiful city of Windhoek, and all you see is German street-names. You rub your eyes - no you are not in Berlin or Frankfurt. [...] I would say a good 95% or so of the street names in Windhoek are all german. And the Germans lost South West Africa in 1915 ! Come on Namibia, you can do better than that!" In South-West, 100 years ago the German built their first concentration camps, started an unprecedet ethnic cleansings and human medical experiments were undertaken - much like those later ones, which were brought to perfection by the Nazis, well, some even by the very same people. Germanys first g' vner of Namibia was Heinrich Göring, father of Hitlers Reichsmarschall Herrmann Göring. The books on those racist medical experiements where read by Adolf Hitler while he was imprisoned. The guy who did those experiements, Eugen Fischer, became a big name in racist studies in the Third Reich. Genuine Namibian Music? At the World Conference on Music & Censorship held in Copenhagen (2002), I asked David Marks, the South-African who runs the Hidden Archives project of formerly forbidden music in SA, about Namibian music. "There might be some left up North, in Himba-land - but that's just a guess. I have never come across any Namibian music." And our travel guide told me: "There is no genuine Namibian music." Namibia has many in childrens- and youth choirs. I witnessed a wonderful concert of the National Youth Choir and several other kids-choirs in Windhoek. They sang songs from all over Africa - having been trained by a musician from Benin. Their singing is based on church-choirs, so the most played instrument accompanying them is the organ - not the drum. The only local song they sang: the National Anthem. Their latest CD was recorded on tour in Germany. More and more kids are turning from a-capella to Rap. Instruments are rare and some bands have to borrow them for a gig, if there is one. Older readers might ask: "is that positiv Rap or brutal, negativ Rap?" Well, by western standarts and if we think of their peoples hard past, it's astounding positiv and optimistic. Here's an example, intervieweld by Big Issues Windhoek's Sarah Taylor: "Upcoming young rapper Max Mweshininga (aka Pablo D'ablo O'outlaw) might serve us as an example. For the confident but down-to-earth Max, his pseudonym has taken over. Given to him when he was a laeti by his peers in the "Tsumeb ghetto" after a character in an Italian mafia movie and because he used to "dodge school every Friday", it's now the name he goes by, on and off the stage. "Although I was a naughty kid, I always got good grades," he says, adding that he was top of his Grade 12 class. "Today I discourage kids to get involved in gangs - it's just a waste of time, and it's safer to stay at home than on the streets. "I wouldn't advise anyone to skip school. Education is very important. We need a literate nation. We need people who can solve the problems in our society. Even if you come from a poor background, if you study hard you can become a lawyer and make something of your life." Mister O'outlaw was born in Lusaka, Zambia, during exile. He then went on to Angola with other Namibian children, while his mom stayed on in Zambia to study and his dad "went to fight on the front". It was only in 1991 that he came to Namibia for the first time and was reunited with his parents. His inspiration came from his mother's wide-ranging music collection, which included Tracey Chapman, Brenda Fassie, Bob Marley and Dolly Parton. Last year, John Walenga, aka Mr Wa, of the Swapo company Zebra Holdings, called Pablo to ask if he would like to work with fellow musicians Gazza and The Dogg to make songs to encourage youngsters to vote and to make them aware of democracy. This is how the Omalaeti O'Swapo CD came about, which was released shortly before the elections. Says Pablo: "I was amazed that [President-to-be Hifikepunye] Pohambo and [the grand-daddy of the nation] Sam Nujoma came into the studio! We'd initially wanted to imitate their voices, but then they agreed! It was so tight and it's a boost for Namibian music because it shows the president recognising the culture. Sure, he did it for his party, but we got him on top of a hip beat!" Since the release of the Swapo-funded Omalaeit O'Swapo, Mr Wa has launched a new music label for up-and-coming Namibian artists called Omalaeti, which is separate from Zebra Holdings. Alles Mumwe is part of the Omalaeti stable. Pablo's debut includes songs in Afrikaans, Rukavango, Damara, Oshiwambo and English. "That's why I called it Alles Mumwe - it means 'all in one' or 'everything together' - because I incorporate all these languages. Also, because the songs vary a lot in terms of style: some are slow, some are fast, some are funky. It's my own style - some hip hop, some kwaito, but at the end of the day it's alles mumwe! For this album I hooked up with the Blunted Souljahs, who are originally from Kenya but are living in Namibia now. They brought a Swahili feeling onto some of the tracks." Pablo, a sociology, linguistics, environmental studies and English student at the University of Namibia, says he wants to use what he learns to "contribute to society, to help create an identity for ourselves as Namibians"." But not all young artists are like that. When I asked a local reggae-band, if they had any songs on colonial times, they were quick to answer: "Not yet, but we can write one for you any time!" And young songstress Lady May, still going to school but named 'The First Lady of R&B' has only one goal: "To become a superstar!" - whatever she means by that. Old times, when the music got killed There is still some traditional down-home music being played in the different remote parts of the country. You will need a guide to find it and it can take days to find San or Himba people who sing and play, as they are mostly without home or land and without rights on their way to extinction. A tiny minority in a land composed of minorities. How did this cultural/musical attrocity happen? The early missionaries drew up a list of unchristian no-nos. In the 1840s the anti-social practices forbidden by the missionaries were among others: the deconstruction of dagga (marijuana) planta-tions and the prohibition and active prevention of 'heathen' dances and music. We have a few reports by the early colonists that highly praise the singing and dancing of the locals, by the San (with their click-sounds - remember Miriam Makebas Click song') to the Herero, "especially on full-moon nights there's a lot of all-night-dancing. Their instruments are mainly small flutes and the mouth-bow - an instrument used for hunting as well as for musical entertainment". The missionaries and later the colonists systematiclly destroyed all signs of local cultural life and installed Christian symbols and music instead. The apartheid-rule of South-Africa obviously did nothing to help to redevelop local culture. In the words of Frantz Fanon: "In the colonial situation culture, which is doubely deprived of support by the nation and by the state, falls away and dies. The condition for its existence is therefore national liberation and the renaissance of culture ... It is the fight for national existence which sets culture moving and opens to it the doors of creation." In some rare instances the shocks and stimuli of colonialisation were absorbed and confronted with traditional art forms which continue to evolve. But more often traditional forms fossilised, were systematicly supressed or disappeared, when large parts of the local population were either killed or relocated. And their hardship isn't over - yet. In 2003 a team of the UNESCO traveld the country, especially the northern part, to learn about the living conditions of the San communities. Those UN experts describe Namibia's San as 'the most dispossed and ignored people'. "The death knell for those unfortunate people came in the Seventies. Many were enlisted by the South-African's security forces and were introduced to Namibias number one evil (and German heritage), liquor." Windhoek Observer The most famous San, N!xau, charmed millions of cinema-goers with his performaneces in The Gods Must be Crazy. He was paid in cattle, but then traveled the world to do some movies in HongKong. South African film maker Jamie Uys was quoted in The Guradian's orbiturary for N!xau, who died in 2003, being out in the bush, collecting fire wood: "He was a natural actor, but thewhite man's ways had two corrupting influences on N!xau: he learned to drink alcohol and smoked." Music in Namibia today You will find all kinds of music played by radio stations in Namibia. The owner of a commercial station told me: "We play everything that's sold a million copies". Farry of the upcoming band Midi D'Afrique' complains: "Namibians have not realised that time has come for them to stop living in South Africa's shadow and embrace their own culture. Namibian broadcasters have to change their attitude and play more local music on the air-waves." When I visited Namibia in 2003, the head of the Namibian music department of the NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation) had just died - and he was the only one who knew all the hidden treasures of the old recordings of traditional music in the radio-archives. I gave an interview to the German NBC station, and on air ased the listeners for tapes of real Namibian music - what I got was an offer from the Deutsche Gesangsverein Swakopmund 1902. They just recorded a CD celebrating their anniversery with africanised old German folksongs sung 'Under the cactus-tree'. Not really what I was looking for. Even today more South-African than Namibian music is played on the radio and in discos, mainly because there is a South-African music-market. Namibia is a huge country by european standarts, with almost 1000 miles of beach and a population of only 1.8 Million. Because of the dozens of different ethnicities with their own languages - they simply cannot develop a music-market' which is able to compete locally and internationally with professionally produced South-Africa or Western Pop-music. Young local musicians seem more concerned with talking & dreaming of the 'imusic industry', which probably means being able to make a living through music, than with the music itself. I asked quite a few people in Windhoek about the subject of Namibian music, here are a few typical answers: Erica Gebhardt, cultural journalist of The Namibian daily newspaper: "Why we don't have our own music? In my time, like the 80s, we only knew South-African music". The old priest Pauli: "When namibian men, who had to work the mines in SA, came back, they brought transistor-radios with them. That killed the last handmade music in families and communities". A Damara from Brandberg: "Traditional music? That's music played on a Farfisa-organ". The German researcher Minette Mans: "City people prefer to listen to preproduced music in clubs and at parties. I noticed something: The more important a person is, the less he will take part in singing or dancing. It looks like todays musicians belong to an under-class." The Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (NASCAM), responsible for collecting royalties on behalf of the musicians, has 600 registered members. Their combinded annual turnover amounts to just 11.000 US-$ - which they share with composers and authors. Most of the Namibian music that is recorded, is not published. But the NBC is changing, playing more and more local music. In the autumn of 2003 they changed their policy. Instead of broadcasting just 30% of their time on regional news and music, they will reach a quote of 80% soon. Uazuva Kaumbi, now boss of the NBC says: "We have to get rid of those chains of mental slavery. Those chains, that made us sing foreign songs in our own country. It is about time for us to sing our own songs in our own country." And the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Buddy Wentworth added: "Without us Namibians demanding to hear our own musicians on the radio and going put and buying their CDs and paying to see them perform, they cannot develop their talent and we cannot have our own Namibian music to be proud of". Live-Music? Today you may find concerts in Windhoek - but it may be easier to hear a live band playing old German drinking-songs (Schunkelmusik') in the German Brauhaus (beer-brewery-pub) than a band playing traditional songs or local pop-music. The best place for local music is the Warehouse Theatre, right next to the wonderful Namibian Craft Centre that serves music, food & local art in Talstraße, downtown Windhoek. The best place for recorded music in Windhoek ist Universal Sounds - you can mail them at unisound@iafrica.com.na - their address: Post Street Mall, Windhoek (PO Box 40210, Windhoek), tel +264 227 037 or fax +264 227 044. They are particularly good for local music. But (Swiss) owner Arno complained, when I asked for typical Namibian music: "There is not much recorded local music, and when there's a new CD or Cassette, it will probably be sold out forever, when you finally hear about it". The best source of Namibian music information: The Big Issue Namibia; the best namibian magazine provides stories on local artists etc - back issues can be bought too. This monthly magazine is sold by the homeless and unemployed. Tel: (+264) 61 242 216. E-mail: edbigissue@iway.na Fax: +264 (0) 61 242 232. You might find some music-infos in the daily newspaper The Namibian as well. Too drunk to get stoned Having been to different african countries, I had so far never been in a place of drunken africans. Christians for generations, they were turned on to the christian drug as well. One of the first thing the missionaries did in the 1840s: destroying the local dagga-plants, the cannabis of the local chiefs - and getting them drunk. Drunk they 'sold' their communities land. The Whites drank to excess: 5001 alcohol pro year & soldier. 7000 men drank 35.000hl in one year. That heavy consumption even provoked a discussion in the Reichstag back home in Berlin. But in the words of Friedrich Engels (in 1876): "Schnaps ('spirits') are for Preussen, what iron and cotton-products are for the British: products for the world-market." In 1884 alcohol made 64% of the weight of all German things shipped to Africa. Even old Bismarck made money this way: he was co-owner of several destilleries who exported their stuff. Today the beer-breweries in Windhoek claim, to brew the traditional german way, going back to the bavarian beer-laws of 1516. In a so-called 'Bushmen Exhibition' in Windhoek I came across some marvelous oldwater-pipes, that spoke of an old history of a hemp & tobacco smoking-culture. Today some people still smoke dope, mainly dagga from South-Africa. It's still illegal, even a Rasta had to spend 90 days in jail for a matchbox cannabis. Nevertheless young people smoke it like their counterparts in our parts of the world. In Windhoek you can get LSD, Mandrax, XTC and Crack like in any other metropol of the world, and even in the country-side you might sniff something. When I passed some old guys near Brandberg and liked the smell of their smoke, I stopped to tell them: "Nice smell!" This old guy came up to me, drawing a terrible grimace and spat out: "Smells dangerous !" Those smiling eyes! It's harder to find african food in Windhoek-City. Lot's of german, chinese, italian and international restaurants - but only two places outside the townships, where you can eat african - not nessecarily namibian - food. The big problem, as we know it from Simbabwe, is the land-question. Maybe the new president, elected in late 2004, will find a peaceful way to solve it. The Herero, who lost up to 80% of their ancestors in the genocide under german occupation, and whose traditional land is still owend by Whites today, try to get some reparation from some companies and the German State, following the example of the Yews. They want their land back, but all they get are some lukewarm appologies. The Herero are a minority in their country. The Ovambo are the majority and rule. Their president put me (West-German) to shame when he declared: "We shouldn't ask Germany for reparations - they've helped us in our anti-colonial struggle." Well, he was talking of the former DDR, the communists, who did help the SWAPO, who invited namibian orphans to study in the DDR. The re-united Germany kicked those kids out & send them back to Namibia, where they knew nobody, not even the language ... More by Werner Pieper aka Toubab Pippa about Namibia is found in the (german only) book Von der Bosheit im Herzen der Menschen. (ISBN 978-3-922708-31-5). Here's a review by The Big Issue Windhoek: Some 120 years ago, Germany declared Süd-West Afrika its Schutzgebiet (protectorate). The Herero and Nama people resisted this occupation and the subsequent atrocities, which included thefirst German concentration camp. This book, written by German author Toubab Pippa, draws on the diary and letters of Nama Chief Hendrik Witbooi, dating from 1184 to 1894. It includes correspondence with Samuel Maharero, Goering, Jan Jonker Afrikane7; Kurt von Francois and Leutnant Leutwein, and is well worth reading for these perspectives, as well as for the photographs of the people under occupation. While putting these documents in a historical and modern context, the author is not at all scientific. He takes sides and shows his anger about German colonial policy and the historical cover-up which came later on. That‘s what I like about the book. When it comes to colonialism, occupation, war & apartheid there is no way to stay objective. From the point of view of an outsider; Pippa is able to comment on the problem of the descendants of both the victims and the perpetrators, coexisting in a land where the people are desperate to reconcile as a nation. Outsider views can be refreshing for insiders. Give it a try. The Contributor Werner Pieper lives near Heidelberg, Germany; wrote dozens of books and has been publishing hundreds of books, CDs, magazines on a wide variety of subjects since 1971, including German editions of books by Heathcote Williams, John Michell, Nicholas Albery, Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Bill Levy and more. He received the German Music-Critics award for compiling 6 Flashbacks-CDs (on Trikont) in 2001. www.gruenekraft.net