A Namibian songstress who is based in Germany reached a milestone in her music career recently when she launched four albums on the same day.
Genesa Handrick recently took the exclusively selected audience through her music journey at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Studio 7, as she introduced her new music to Namibia for the first time.
Also known by her stage name, Genesa Experience, the fast-rising star of Swakopmund-based San-Welwitschia Music Productions (WMP) also shared insights into her musical endeavours overseas.
Backed up by a band of powerful session musicians like Fernando ‘Pio’ Paulus (drums), Kali Kasinda (keyboard), Tayo Kasinda (bass) and the founder of WMP Steven Alvin !Naruseb (keyboard), Genesa dished out a classic show-stopping performance.
Known as the female voice on late King of Ma /Gaisa Phura Duwe’s monster hit ‘Ti Hanatsa Xu E’, Genesa effortlessly belted out songs from her new albums.
The German-based artist also treated the audience to a rendition of ‘Ti Hanatsa Xu E’.
She reassured guests that there is definitely a market for Ma /Gaisa music in Germany.
“People like myself are keeping the genre alive with regular shows in pubs and small music festivals around our suburb. There is a large community of Namibian expatriates in our city Bad Schwartau.
“Apart from the shows I am staging with the other Namibian musicians, I have a very quiet life with my family. My husband is a daredevil who is more into challenging sport. He loves jumping from aeroplanes for fun, which is completely different from music,” she said.
Genesa started off as a back-up singer for other established artists of the WMP record label, like Phura, Ou Stakes and Killa B, before she carved out a career as a singer for herself.
She was just about to take off as an artist when she moved to Germany, but she never stopped singing as she continued to record and became one of the most esteemed recording artists of the WMP label.
One album, ‘Booba’ is completely in German, the other, ‘Voorspoed’ is in Afrikaans.
The third album, ‘On The Mountain Top’, is a collection of gospel songs, while the fourth, ‘Aio’, is a Ma /Gaisa album.
Genesa also has a fifth album, titled ‘Sa Du !Aroma’, which is a single.
The album launch coincided with the shooting of a documentary about the beginning of Genesa’s music career before she left Namibia and her present life as an artist in Germany.
“My stay in Germany does not revolve around my family only. I want to use my popularity to also attract more German tourists to Namibia. I want to influence the people there through my music,” she says.
“The people will only believe I am from Namibia through something like a documentary depicting the Namibian landscape. We are not only living away from home, but we are also proud Namibians, and this is the best way to give back to our country of birth.”
The albums are available on all digital platforms.
Fans can also contact Welwitschia Music Productions on +264 64 461 196, 081 325 3959 and 081 707 6838, or at www.wmp.productions
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