Axali Doëseb to be honoured as a lifetime achiever at the NAMAs

Namibia first post-independence black conductor of the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra and the author of the Namibian national anthem –

‘Namibia, Land of the Brave’, Axali Doëseb, will be this year’s recipient of the 2014 Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMA) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Announcing this year’s recipient for the Lifetime Achievement Award, NAMA Executive Committee Chair Tim Ekandjo described Axali Doëseb as a musical beacon and guiding light of Namibian music. “Doëseb’s flourishing career and deep roots in contemporary, modern, traditional and fusion music is unmatched, his artistic mark and influence is evident in almost all music genres in our country.”

Doëseb was born in Okahandja and came into contact with music when he started piano lessons for the first time at his alma mater, Martin Luther High School in Okombahe, during his teenage years. He went on to compose the liturgy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia. Doëseb is a graduate of the Hochschule für Musik at Herford in Westfalen, Germany, and the Marlborough University in the United Kingdom.

He represented Namibia and chaired the committee that was tasked with composing the AU anthem in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In addition to having served on the panel that was entrusted to compose the SADC anthem, he is one of the founders of the band ‘Ugly Creatures’, a pre-independence Pop, Soul and Gospel band. The group found a measure of success during the years leading up to independence as the only recognisable face of Namibian music.

The band folded in 1981, following clampdowns by authorities, and only re-emerged in the twilight of the band members’ lives in 2007.

As a sought-after composer of note, Doëseb has helped compose various school anthems around the country.

His vast musical knowledge and experience led to him becoming the first black Namibian music producer manning the then NBC Music Makers Competition – the predecessor to the NAMAs – and he produced tracks for some of Namibia’s greatest artists, like Ras Sheehama, the late Jackson Kaujeua, Eric Mundjua, Sharon van Rooi and the legendary Pieter Josef !Auxab.

“After so many years of independence, many young people still do not know who the composer of Namibia’s national anthem is, and we therefore want to recognise this man for all his musical contributions, especially for the song that unites us all as Namibians,” said Ekandjo.

Doëseb will be honoured at the NAMA Awards taking place on Friday, 2 May, in Swakopmund.