Namibia: Elemotho announces European tour dates

The singer, whose tour will be financed by Air Namibia, will perform at nine festivals in countries including France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

“I am pretty excited about touring France as I have only played one or two shows there in the past,” Elemotho told Music In Africa. “I am coming with my band The Modern Nomads and a lot of new songs. We are currently getting ready to drop a single called ‘Home’ in mid-July.

“This will be my first official single from my upcoming fifth album, to be titled Mogotsi [loosely translated to 'fire-maker']. We hope to get it out before end of June with a powerful video, because the question that lingers in my mind as we try to adapt to the information age is: What is home? And where is home in this borrowed life?”

Elemotho and his band will make their first stop in Belfort, France for the International University Music Festival (FIMU) from 6 to 10 June.

“We will first perform at FIMU in Belfort, where we have four shows in different venues around this beautiful University town,” he said. “Last year [the organisers] managed to pull a crowd of 150,000 festival goers, among them many young university students. It is one of the biggest world and global music festivals with participants from all corners of the world with over 50 countries represented. In between these four shows, we have been invited to perform at Festival de Musiques Métisses de Colmar, among well-established artists such as Cape Verdian songstress Carmen Souza.”

Elemotho deplored the bureaucracy involved in processing travelling documents for African artists.

“What most people don’t know is that the international music circuit is a big business and has a lot of genres. So, visas, tickets and passports all come with the business. In our more than ten years of touring Europe and the African continent, paperwork has always been a major challenge to me and most of my peers worldwide.

“A lot of festivals don’t cover all expenses, so a lot of the paperwork ends up on the artists. Passports get revoked while festivals have already been confirmed. Airplane tickets are no small feat, with the costs from Namibia to anywhere in the world, and thus I would like to thank again Air Namibia for coming on board to support our cultural heritage and in helping to get our stories to places where people don’t even know Namibia exists. It has always been one of my dreams that passports and visas for African and Caribbean artists will get easier with time in terms of global travelling as many of us have lost shows and opportunities due to the red tape pulled on some African passports.”

The ‘My Africa’ singer paid tribute to Air Namibia for partnering with his band.

“We give a heartfelt token of appreciation to Air Namibia for being our carrier to Europe and back. These types of initiatives are shining examples of art and commercial industries joining hands in telling our stories and sharing our cultural heritage with the rest of the world.

“I have partnered with our local flight carrier with the main idea to have a permanent partnership as I am touring every year. In this regard, through my music career and exposure, Air Namibia gets to reach out to many festivals, music and arts lovers. Together through this partnership, Air Namibia and Elemotho will be putting this small country in the Global Map of many as true Ambassadors for Namibia.”

Asked where else he wishes to perform, Elemotho said: “I have always wanted to tour the Asian continent, all the way from India to China. Australia and America are still in planning for future projects, although I have already had the opportunity to perform in the USA. I would love to explore Canada and South America, as well.”

Below is the complete list of festivals and dates where Elemotho and The Modern Nomads will perform:

• FIMU Festival (Belfort, France) – 6 to 10 June
• Festival de Musiques Métisses (Colmar, France) – 8 June
• Afrika Festival (Mamling, Austria) – 6 July
• Forchheim Afrika Festival (Forchheim, Germany) – 7 July
• Stoffel Festival (Frankfurt, Germany) – 9 July
• Heidelberg Afrika Festival (Heidelberg, Germany) – 10 July
• Afrika Festival Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany) – 12 July
• Landshut Afrika Festival (Landshut, Germany) – 13 July
• Pachamama Festival (Märstetten, Switzerland) – 17 July