Namibian, Senegalese artists honoured for top albums

Shishani & the Namibian Tales won the Best Produced World Music Album in the Netherlands Award for the album Kalahari Encounters while Senegalese artists Mola Sylla and Bao Sissoko won the Best Produced World Music Album in Belgium Award alongside Belgian musician Wouter Vandenabeele for the album Tamala.

This is not the first time Shishani & the Namibian Tales have won an award in the Netherlands. In 2016, the group, which is based in Amsterdam, won in the same category for their debut album Itaala.

Kalahari Encounters, which was made possible through the support of Goethe-Institut Namibia, UNESCO Windhoek, the National Arts Council of Namibia and the Dutch Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, was recorded live at the Warehouse Theatre in Windhoek in June. This after the band travelled to the Kalahari Desert to collaborate with four female singers from the Ju/'hoansi San community.

Bandleader Shishani told Music In Africa that the recording of Kalahari Encounters took a fair amount of toil before it could be completed.

“The project has taken two years of hard work to put together, get the funding and then realise the ideas and dreams one has. Working together with the San ladies and bringing over the team from Europe to Namibia was very exciting,” she said.

“It’s been a beautiful experience all in all, with all its challenges, and we are still in the middle of the process as we are heading out to do field recordings with different San communities to store as archiving material with the Namibian Museum of Music and dance."

Shishani said the band was planning a European album tour together with the Ju/'hoansi ladies for July 2018.

Asked what winning the award means for the Namibian music industry, Shishani said: “The win offers exposure to Namibian music which is generally still quite unknown to most people. It gives recognition to our project as a way to pay homage to traditional music cultures from Namibia.

“This vast wealth of African music and creativity is undeniable, and through our collaboration with the San community, we wanted to highlight a rich musical culture that is generally overlooked.”