‘People of Song’ to premiere in Windhoek

The Namibian and German musical theatre production, ‘People of Song’, will make its Namibian premiere this weekend at the National Theatre of Namibia (NTN). Under the theme, ‘Unpacking An Untold Story’, the production will be staged on Saturday and Sunday. According to the production’s press and marketing officer, Michael Pantz, the production is about a Namibian girl called Aniros, who has big dreams but is always facing opposition from her father. “Her relationship with ‘Ouma’ is loving, yet there is a secret between them. When a stranger enters her life, long-hidden secrets are revealed, shaking her family and community,” Pantz says, adding that the encounter forces her to confront the past and search for new paths forward. This transnational collective of German and Namibian artists created new work, integrating music, drama and singing in the choir into art. The production was created between 2023 and 2024. Its previous work, ‘Chief Hijangua,’ premiered in 2022 at the NTN and premiered in Europe in 2023 at the Haus des Rundfunks in Berlin, German. “The company travelled to northern Namibia in the fall of 2024, collecting songs and stories and collaborating directly with musicians of the country. “Traditional pieces were integrated into the performance along with new ones from Namibia and Germany,” says Pantz. He says the production combines elements of Namibian musical tradition such as chanting, choral singing, and body percussion to create a full-length musical theatre piece that stylistically falls halfway between musical and opera. According to Pantz, the orchestra, extended by traditional instruments such as ‘djembes’ and ‘marimbas’, joins the soloists and choir ensemble. “The result is somewhere between tradition and contemporary interpretation, a blend of newly composed music combined with compositions by different Namibian composers.” German co-producer and director Kim Meyer says the production was designed in a collaborative process between Namibian and German artists. “It is not a recreation of earlier successes. It’s a reimagining of form, story and tone,” says Meyer.