Down NAMA memory lane

The Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMA) has grown from an evening marred by technical glitches and an infamous goodnight greeting during the first awards show almost six years ago, to a world-class event that celebrates local music, and it has set the stage for what has become an evening of fashion and style.
We take a look at some of our favourite NAMA moments and the ones that had us cringing.

2012 was Tequila, Tequila and more Tequila
Tequila’s rise is definitely the most heartwarming story of the 2012 NAMAs. She’s always been regarded as one of Namibia’s most gifted female vocalists, but just never seemed to get her dues.
Then, after releasing her album ‘Golden Sunset’, everything started to fall into place and at the NAMAs in 2012, she received five of the six awards she was nominated for.
The woman with a vocal range to die for walked away with Best Female Artist of the Year for Party Tonight, Best Instrumental/Jazz for her song Kaveshishi, Best House for Party Tonight, Best Afro Pop for Ngodula and Best Album of the Year for the album ‘Golden Sunset’. While she has had her ups and downs in recent times, Tequila demonstrated a rare staying power and longevity that night as she crept into our hearts.

Female Donkey
fires warning shots
While there were many amazing moments during last year’s NAMAs, from Oteya coming from the sky, to Gazza and Lady May’s presenting debut, it’s no secret that the show was stolen by a completely unsuspecting surprise.
We didn’t believe Female Donkey when she said she intends on being remembered.
Almost a year later, we still can’t get enough of the Damara Punchie girl’s crazy jumping and undeniable commanding of that stage. The performance was a defining moment in Donkey’s career, it marked not only her arrival, but it cemented a place among Namibia’s best.

Gazza and The Dogg
bury the hatchet
The Dogg and Gazza’s performance at the Namibian Annual Music Awards was by far the biggest surprise on the entertainment scene in 2013.
The two have been arch-rivals for almost a decade and their fans have been at each other’s throats. Then, come NAMAs 2013, they reminded us just how far they’ve come, demonstrating maturity and growth when they performed together.
Their performance together created a buzz on social networks, with many describing it as a new leaf in the entertainment industry and arguing that if the two Kwaito giants can show such admirable maturity, then others can do the same.

Tswazis wins big
Like Female Donkey, boy duo Tswazis too was a surprise package and stunned everyone when they won the Best Album of the Year award. Perhaps inspired by their Best Album of the Year win before their performance, Tswazis did what many other artists struggled to do: Dance and sing at the same time.

NAMA moments that had us cringing
While there have been many not so a-ha moments, we can never forget Lady May’s infamous goodnight greeting.
While accepting her award in 2011, Lady May took to the show and shocked a live television audience when she flashed her middle finger before her controversial night greeting.
She would eventually be stripped of her award, and subsequently offered an apology. Since, she has managed to creep back into the hearts of Namibians and offered a stellar performance at the 2014 awards and even hosted last year’s awards. Singing has had its not so pitch-perfect moments on the NAMA stage, but none like that of singer Lonette last year.
Singing with no rhythm, no direction, and struggling to move in her super-high heels, there was a deafening silence when the songstress finished her performance, with the crowd not knowing what had hit them.
Also failing to impress were Dixon and Mr Makoya, who wore a thick, white puffer jacket, the kind people wear when they go ice skating.
And then there was little known rapper LaShwan who tried to pull a Kanye West and failed dismally.
Determined to have his moment, he took to the stage and a visibly angry LeShwan shouted at the audience, but most either didn’t hear or weren’t interested in what he had to say.
Sadly, a few giggles were all the rapper got for his little stunt. Also, we can’t forget the hosting of Slick the Dick and Maria Nepembe a few years ago that just seemed to go from bad to worse as the evening went on. We also can’t forget Lettie’s Green Cross ‘plakkies as she performed in 2014.
Tonight’s show starts with the blue carpet at 19:30 until 20:15 while the awards go live at 20:30 until 22:30. Tomorrow night, the blue carpet starts at 18:30 until 19:30 while the awards goes live at 20:00 until 23:00.
Both the Friday industry awards and the main show will be streamed live across the world taking the NAMAs to the lounge of any interested viewer in the world. “After five years of hosting the awards, we now want to market the NAMAs across Africa and the world to give our artists the much-needed exposure, but also to expose Namibia as a tourist destination to the rest of the world,” MTC’s Tim Ekandjo said recently.
GORDON JOSEPH