THE Windhoek Indie Music Festival, showcasing young, independent Namibian musicians, is set to take place this weekend.
The festival will be held from 11h00 until 22h00 at The Rare Smokey Mare beer garden in Windhoek.
The founders of the festival are the partners of Tribe One Productions, including the curator and creator of the festival, musician Riaan Smit, ADM fest South Africa, and Carnival of Dreams in Cape Town.
Production manager Zandri Scholtz says the festival will celebrate Namibian talent with live performances by Riaan Smit, The Yesterday, Janelle Botha, Lin-Mari, YD Fresh, Sagarias Tsam, Gloria Del Mar, Jessica Ashley and many more.
Tickets are available at webtickets.com.na for N$100 per person and Pick n Pay stores nationwide, or N$150 at the gate.
Scholtz says the festival was inspired by international music festivals.
She says they wanted to showcase talented Namibian musicians and foster a greater sense of community between artists of various backgrounds.
“Far too much is expected of local musicians in terms of filling a night of entertainment. Music venues tend to book one artist to fill three hours in Namibia, which is unheard of anywhere else.
“We want the artists to only perform for 45 minutes each, as per international festival standards, which means they can give their best, instead of being diluted and spreading a performance over multiple hours.
“This festival also gives artists a space to collaborate together and grow a sense of community,” Scholtz says.
“A festival event such as this has no corporate sponsor. We run completely on the support of every individual who attends. We hope the public will attend and help grow the Namibian entertainment industry together,” she says.
The festival is a first, but Scholtz is hopeful it will be a success.
“This festival is purely a music festival. We are not promoting anything beyond music and community. Every hour on the hour a new artist will perform their show.
“As an attendee you can see 10 shows, that’s less then N$15 per hour for the public to experience. Each artist is brilliant in their own right and will surely wow the crowd with their art and abilities.
“We hope the festival would encourage artists to further develop their talent and connect with new audiences. This festival will not only expose the artists to new audiences, but also connect audiences to new artists. We hope this event will help foster a deeper Namibian community,” Scholtz says.
