Willie Mbuende: One foot always remains in Namibia.
Translation of interview in Allgemeine Zeitung in Namibia, Friday Nov 26th, 2004

His suitcases are in Sweden. He spent the past few months mostly in Berlin. In between performances in London and other european cities, and also in Barbados, or wherever that traveling musician's life is bringing him. But one of his two feet, says Willie Mbuende, is firmly settled in Namibia.

End of October he represented Namibia the World Music Expo (Womex 2004) in Essen. In the past week this tall Herero made research of traditional music in the Kavango region. Wednesday the plane brought him back to Sweden. There he will perform this weekend with "Sandra the Soca Queen". His bass guitar will play riffs for Sandra's Calypso, Reggae and Latin dance music. Willie Mbuende, the jetsetter.

In Namibia, one has not heard about him for the past year-and-a-half. His music is not being played on the radio. But when Willie Mbuende is being mentioned, everyone agrees that this is one of the big names in the (not so big) Namibian music scene. He is known through his former band Rakotoka. He is known as producer of the NBC Music Makers Competition, as long-time music producer of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), as member of the group Sidadi - but especially as one of the best and most creative bass players that the land has produced until today.

Mbuende's career started in the 70's abroad, in Europe. He performed on many international stages, e.g. with musicians such as the late Johnny Dyani, Dudu Pukwana, Peps and Tony Ellis. In the 80's his band Bag Of Rhythm (with Lester Jackman) successfully toured Scandinavia for several years. Before his return to the independent Namibia he had a world music band called Melting Pot in Denmark, with instrumentalists from the whole world. Mbuende recorded albums with all groups.

Then Namibia became independent, and Mbuende, 43 years of age, returned to a homeland that he had left at the age of 15. "I belong to the group of the first 50 Namibians, who went in exile in 1962, the Aminuis-born remembers. When he was twelve, he witnessed a shooting at the "Old Location" (the black people's residence) in Windhoek. At the forced resettlement of non-whites from the "Old Location" to the new township Katutura, there were confrontations between the police and the demonstrating black citizens on 10 December 1959, and eleven persons were killed.

"After 1959 many persons wanted to leave the country", says Mbuende. His father assisted some persons to escape and among them sent his 15-year-old son across the border to Botswana along with an older cousin. Mbuende's odyssey took him through Tanzania to North Africa, Egypt, Hungary and eventually England. Many years later he landed in Scandinavia. In Denmark, and in Sweden, he eventually found a new home.

Back in independent Namibia, he became a music producer at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation. For Radio and TV, he produced countless transmissions of traditional and contemporary African music, as well as music videos and NBC Music Makers Competition. He also organized domestic bands, who represented Namibia on international stages in places like Cuba, England, Germany and Portugal. "Until I could not stand the stagnation at the NBC any more", says Mbuende. "The regular struggle with political appointees made me leave the job. I'm somebody who wants to get his job done. I believe in progress."

Progress is what Willie Mbuende is making now, back in Europe again. In Sweden he has a band that plays African fusion and contemporary African music. In Berlin he has a second band, along with South African saxophone player William Ramsay. They play African jazz: the keyboard player is Philippinian, the guitarist is Russian, the drummer is German and the percussionist Senegalese. At a world music competition in Berlin they recently won ten days of studio time. Mbuende and his colleague Ramsay used that to record their first album together. It should appear on the market in the near future, under the title "Groove Politics".

What brought him back to Namibia again, for this short visit? Sidadi. The group which under the motto "It's Ours" - it is our music, our culture - is performing every year with a new repertoir, at the Warehouse Theater in Windhoek. The Sidadi project started in 2001 under the production management of ex-NTN employee Nikola Hübsch. From a series of workshops for traditional music in a modern concept, held at the National Theater, some talented musicians came forth. Together with the Senegalese percussionist Pape Dieye the 2001 Sidadi, "It's Ours", was founded.

The sucessful concept of the band inspired to further projects of this type. The Hambana Sound Company is definitely one of them. But also groups like the reggae band Mighty Dread seems to have realized since then, that the traditional music of Namibia is not "out", that it's opening totally new possibilities when it's being mixed with contemporary styles and performed on modern instruments - and is appreciated very much by the audiences.

Now Mbuende has a new idea for Sidadi: he wants to produce a musical. A musical, that will make Namibia's music and culture known abroad. The story he has in mind is about a young man, who leaves his home village and gives up his traditional lifestyle, to try his luck in the city. First he takes a job as a taxi driver, then gets into trouble and eventually becomes a musician. A story about the problems to adjust, about the cultural shock, about the globalisation in a wide sense, but above all a story about music.

For the National Theatre, that is involved in the project, this is still far into the future. First it will raise funds for a new Sidadi album. Then there are plans to put the band on tour in Southern Africa, with the help of the Franco Namibian Cultural Center. With the support of the German-Namibian Society, a small European tour could also be arranged in 2006. And then maybe a musical.

Mbuende has in any case made his musician colleague William Ramsay enthusiastic about the idea. And he is meanwhile looking for a script writer for the musical. In general, he's acting with the motto "When you can't find a job, create one for yourself." An attitude which, according to his belief, would do a few other musicians good, considering the difficult domestic market.

Mbuende's life on the road, from one gig to the next, with the bass as his most faithful travel companion, has already cost him a few relationships, he admits. But "My health, my freedom, my peace and my music - for those I don't make compromises. They are priceless."

If he misses his native country in his voluntary exile in Europe? "Yes, of course", says Mbuende. "But I have the feeling that even though I'm always somewhere else with one of my feet, the other one is still in Namibia. That is home."