Gloria del Mar’s ‘Enchantee’ features on Netflix’s ‘Blood and Water’

The fourth season of the South African teen drama series ‘Blood and Water’ is out and episode two features the song ‘Enchanteé’ by Namibian singer Gloria del Mar.

It is an upbeat pop song which shows off the versatility of the artist’s voice and incorporates some interesting use of string instruments.

The artist says the process of being selected to feature on the Netflix production was a long one, which included submitting the song, hoping it would be accepted, and then eventually waiting for it to appear on screen.

This spanned close to a year and kept her on the edge of her seat.

Being someone who is superstitious, she says she was only able to fully process that it was really happening once she heard it featured on the show.

“I’ve been brought to tears a lot. It’s just been really lovely. It’s just very cool to see my song on Netflix in a show that I love. It’s a song I wrote in my bedroom two years ago, like very randomly, and made the demo.”

She says people have been very supportive of her since the release of the series on 1 March.

‘Enchanteé’ was produced by Cape Town-based beatmaker Dorin Braun, and is available on the artist’s YouTube channel.

Gloria del Mar is 26 years old and from Windhoek. She is signed to Gallo Music Publishers, who facilitates the licensing of her music, though she refers to her mother as her “momager”.

She has been making music her entire life, she says, but only entered the music industry recently as a professional artist.

Her debut EP, a seven-track ensemble titled, ‘This Was Meant To Be Brief’, is a gentle soul and neo-R&B collection of intimate songs with elements of jazz and pop. It is about life, love, loss and longing.

There’s something calming and nostalgic about the music she makes. It’s quite poetic and something not typical for local artists.

She says more music is on the way.

“I’ve been working to release a very good quality second EP this year. I’m also hoping to release some fun singles this year because the second EP is kind of sad you know, it’s full of heartbreak songs.

“I’m really excited to put out some new stuff because I feel like I’ve been singing my stuff, for long now and I’d like to sing some new things and share some new music,” she says.

She performed as part of her own theatre production titled, ‘The Wasp’ by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, earlier this month (first performed at Hampstead Theatre in London in 2015), as well as in the ‘Baroque Concerto’ with the Namibian National Symphonic Orchestra over the weekend.

• Anne Hambuda is a poet, writer and social commentator. Follow her online or email her annehambuda@gmail.com for more.