Award-winning artist Mushe was born as Albert Uulenga in the Angolan town Lubango in 1984.
He lived there for five years before moving to Namibia, his parents’ country of origin.
In 2000, Mushe moved to Windhoek and enrolled at Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School.
During his high school years, Mushe and his friends developed a love for music and started performing at school events.
Mushe eventually teamed up with Exit to form the popular kwaito duo Exit and Mushe.
In 2012 he had a solo hit with ‘I Thought It’s You’, which saw him named best male artist at the 2012 Namibia Annual Music Awards.
Apart from singing, Mushe is also known as an entrepreneur.
He says the past five years have been challenging.
CHALLENGES
“I like myself more nowadays, because I am more focused. The old Mushe relied too much on music.
“The new Mushe is more of an entrepreneur. I still do music now and then, but for now my main focus is my businesses.
“I had to find a new hobby which could put bread on the table,” he says.
He says life’s challenges have made him tougher and motivated to work harder.
Today, the artist says, he is venturing into logistics, poultry and printing.
He sells eggs, chickens, ducks and turkeys.
“While selling eggs, I fell in love with birds and grew my poultry business,” he recounts. “In the beginning, I went door to door. I had to personally deliver the eggs. From the eggs, I started growing chicks,” he says.
Mushe says growing the business was not easy, but today he is grateful that he kept going.
He says his poultry business has helped improve his career as a musician.
“It brought money in and I was able to go to the studio. It funded my music, and I am grateful for that,” he says.
Mushe says he started a logistics business to courier products and services.
He currently operates with only one truck, but plans to buy more vehicles as demand increases, he says.
His printing shop, Tira Shop, was launched after Mushe realised printing his own items was too costly.
“Everywhere I went, people would ask for a T-shirt, and this forced me to go to a printing shop. Later, I found this challenging because it was not cost-effective and was time consuming.
“I decided to buy my own printing machine. Currently I print my personal items, as well as for other people. This has allowed me to reduce my costs and make money from orders,” he says.
LETTING GO
Mushe says he is currently not focusing on releasing an album, but he has produced two new songs, ‘Salute’ and ‘Ndoongoloka’.
‘Salute’ is about confidence, he says, ‘Ndoongoloka’ about giving up.
“In life there is a time for everything. There is a certain time when you have to give up, especially on things that are not contributing to your growth and weighing you down,” he says.
“With albums, piracy is high. We artists spend so much money, but don’t get it back. People copy our music, and eventually we get hardly anything.
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