When the copycats moan about the originals

The complaints by some Namibian musicians over the Balcony Mix Africa amapiano festival have exposed an uncomfortable truth about our music industry.

Many local artists have become so comfortable borrowing South African sounds, styles and identities that they now appear offended when the very people who popularised those sounds come to perform in Namibia.

There is something rather ironic about musicians who have embraced amapiano, adopted its beats and borrowed the mannerisms associated with South African performers complaining when the original artists arrive and Namibians turn up in their hundreds to watch them perform.

What exactly did they expect when the music they are selling to Namibian audiences is largely built around a sound those same audiences already associate with South Africa?

Amapiano did not originate in Windhoek, Walvis Bay or Oshakati, but emerged from South Africa, where musicians and producers developed a distinctive sound that has since travelled across Africa and beyond.

Namibia embraced it enthusiastically, just as we have embraced other South African musical trends over the years.

There is nothing inherently wrong with musical influence.

The problem begins when borrowing becomes imitation, and imitation gradually becomes an entire musical identity that offers audiences little they cannot already find elsewhere.

Listen carefully to some of our contemporary music and remove the artist's name, and you could easily mistake the song for something produced in Johannesburg or Pretoria.

The beat, vocal delivery, slang and even the image being promoted are so familiar that the only distinctly Namibian element is sometimes the artist's ID.

We have witnessed this pattern before, when kwaito dominated South African music and Namibia produced its own generation of performers, followed by another wave when house music became fashionable.

The issue is not whether Namibians should perform amapiano, but what they are bringing to the music that audiences cannot already get from the South African artists who popularised it.

The crowds at Balcony Mix Africa delivered a message that local musicians may find difficult to accept. They demonstrated that Namibians are prepared to spend money on entertainment that excites them, even when that means buying tickets and supporting performers from another country.

Perhaps the problem is not simply that Namibians refuse to support their own musicians, as we are so often told, but that audiences are increasingly unwilling to pay for an imitation when they can experience the original artists performing the same music.

That may sound harsh, but the entertainment industry cannot survive on appeals to patriotism alone. Musicians must understand that audiences are not under any obligation to purchase tickets merely because the person holding the microphone happens to share their nationality.

This does not mean that promoters, sponsors, radio stations and event organisers should escape scrutiny. Local musicians deserve opportunities, fair payment, professional promotion and platforms that allow them to reach larger audiences.

International festivals should also create meaningful opportunities for Namibian performers.

Imagine what could happen if our artists approached amapiano with the intention of giving it a genuinely Namibian flavour rather than simply reproducing what is already coming out of South Africa.