Concert of hope
…as he announces final album
ot one to sit idle and do the same type of shows over and over again, Lazarus Shiimi, better known by many as Gazza, is taking it up a notch by hosting a two-day symphonic concert.
Set for 2 and 3 June at the National Theatre of Namibia (NTN), the concert will see approximately 100 people contributing to the large-scale musical production.
“It’s gonna be a fusion of my music with an orchestra, backing vocalists and a 40-person choir, all in all. We will be about 100 plus on stage,” he told VIBEZ!
“I’m a lover of classical music and have been listening and drawing inspiration from the four tenors especially Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli (my favourite) so the idea has been long coming. It came to reality when I told Ronaldo Kandume about it and he introduced me to the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra (NNSO). They then introduced me to the world of classical music players around the world who are now part of this project.”
The collaborative effort is made possible by his record label GMP, the NNSO and Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) a public, tuition-free middle and high school located in downtown Birmingham in Alabama, United States of America.
The ‘Brandewyn’ hitmaker will be working closely with American conductor Alex Fokkens, as well as arrangers Dr Henry Panion III, also from the USA, Osmond Owoseb from
Namibia and Jan-Hendrik Harley from South Africa.
Last album
Gazza, who has 13 albums under his belt, also revealed to this publication that he will be releasing his last album titled ‘Legacy’. “The ‘Legacy’ album is going to be my last. I will continue to make music for fun and therapy but not as a source of income. We will also drop the collaboration album by Blacksheep and me, another one by Petu and me, and then my final album to be released on the day of Milli 2.0 which will be announced at the symphonic concert.”
The artist of the decade said this will not just be a concert, “it will be a peaceful demonstration to show the youth that there can be more creative ways of getting their messages across without disrupting the already struggling economy”.
“This concert aims to communicate to the government and private sector to humbly request them to meet the creative industry halfway in order to set up the much-needed platforms, structures and infrastructure for the youth to be able to thrive off their talents and gifts,” he said.
“Creative thinking has always been the epitome of any thriving nation. Therefore, arts should be recognised as an industry not only for what it can give but also for what it can receive and to be recognised as an equal contributor to any GDP and a creator of employment. With good structure and mechanisms in place, the young can thrive.”
New management
Elsewhere in the GMP camp, the label will have a new management in place going forward that will focus on bringing up new young acts and guiding and grooming them. Currently, artists like Jeiyo are working on a project, while Shoza and Pex just released their fire Rupertz project. - slunyangwe@nepc.com.na