Esme Katjikuru: The Immaculate Songbird

Popularly known by her stage name, Esme Songbird, Esme Katjikuru is definitely not your average songstress.

Flawless and gifted with an angelic voice, the Maltahöhe-born and raised star is definitely the in thing on the Namibian music scene.

Whether it is choral, gospel, township pop or jazz music, Katjikuru will either make you want to jump and dance or she will make you sit down on the edge of your seat and listen to her immaculate voice.

“I am a passionate singer-songwriter from the dusty streets of Maltahöhe, 110 kilometres west of Mariental. I am known for my gospel music and dedication to uplifting others through my craft – a lover of beautiful things and a people’s person,” she says.

“I was born surrounded by beautiful music. I started singing way back when I was six or seven years old. It all started in Sunday school.

“I was basically singing church music. It started with Christmas plays, from there to talent shows at school, and then church choirs.”

Katjikuru says she was initially only into playing music and conducting choirs.

She decided that she wanted to be a career singer only after receiving compliments from people about her singing and when she started to realise the joy of singing to an audience.

“I was actually surprised at how comfortable I was singing, and, most importantly, I wasn’t trying to sound like someone else. I was just being myself and I love doing it,” she says.

GROWING UP IN CHURCH

“It was always gospel music then back home, now and then langarm and traditional music, but gospel was the genre I grew up listening to, because I virtually grew up in church.

“I was brought up by a single mother who introduced me to great gospel music,” she says.

“Singing with the girl quartet Essence was a whole lot of new experience to me. We came about after auditioning for ‘Sistah Thang’, which was a new production of the National Theatre of Namibia (NTN) in 2013. We performed old Motown classics, which was great fun.”

The group consisted of some of the most talented female singers in Namibia, like Avo, Johne, Shavon and Katjikuru, who blended the Motown sounds with a touch of African and contemporary musical expressions.

After singing their way into the hearts of an enthusiastic audience with a show-stopping gig at the old Warehouse Theatre, the group performed at the 2013 Miss Namibia pageant, a World Music Day 2013 event, and they were also the opening act at the Last Band Standing finals in 2023.

The last time Essence performed together as a group was during the electrifying Dr Victor & The Rasta Rebels Music Concert, during which they once again exhilarated the Windhoek Country Club & Resort crowd with their smooth harmonies in 2023.

Award-winning singer-songwriter Lize Ehlers was full of praise when asked about Katjikuru.

Says Ehlers: “To me Esme Songbird is one of the most consummate woman singers in Namibia. She has a perfect pitch. She also has the ability to work with other major stars and fit in with them.

‘WAKE UP TO HER TALENT’

“People must stop sleeping on Esme. With that I mean that people should wake up to her talent or magnitude, she’s gifted,” Ehlers says.

Apart from doing her customary gospel, jazz and soul thing, Katjikuru was recently seen leaving her comfort zone singing a remake of the popular hymn ‘/Hom!gagu’ opera style, backed by the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra as a tribute to former president Hage Geingob.

Apart from being one of the musicians who used to perform regularly for Geingob, Katjikuru says she was overwhelmed with gratitude when she performed at a state banquet in front of seven presidents from the Southern African Development Community.

When she is down, she says she listens to the song ‘You Are Alpha and Omega’ by Israel Houghton and New Breed, which is a song that was originally written by Zimbabwean songwriter Erasmus Mutambira.

She decries the lack of support from Namibians, including the government, adding that local musicians can only thrive with more support from their own people.

“We are Namibian artists spending our last cents to make music for our people, but our people have no or little interest in local music. The corporate businesses and event promoters would rather spend thousands on South African artists than on locals.

“It is very disheartening, because we spend money to make songs and rehearse with bands. We have to pay only to receive peanuts for our efforts.

“Sometimes the people hiring us for gigs expect us to perform for free. They want us to make their events enjoyable at our expense.”