Amy amazes with Damara opera
"In seventh grade, one of my friends said we should join the school choir and I was excited. We sang a song as a group and the teacher turned around, stopped the music and said to me: 'Your singing is false. You must never open your mouth to sing again'," says the opera singer Amy Afrikaner (29)."It broke me and I never sang again until the beginning of grade 10, not in church and not in front of family."
Amy had a friend in grade 10 with whom she listened to CDs.
"We always sang one song or another and when we got together we sang together. However, it was just a thing between the two of us. She then saw a poster looking for members for the school choir and she wanted to join. Of course, I didn't want to."
During break time, the friend told the conductor that Amy could sing better than him and he accepted the challenge and invited them to the classroom to sing.
"She pushed me into the classroom and said: 'Sing that song, the one we practised last time.'
"I did it and after finishing, the man said: 'Okay, you're part of the choir.' I don't know to this day why she never joined herself. She pushed me into the room and disappeared."
Amy also had her first solo performance in grade 10.
"When I was a child, I didn't sing much either because my nephews told me I sounded like a goat. In grade 10, Magdalena Stoffels was murdered and the school choir performed in her memory. They decided I should do the solo. I was very nervous, but people liked it."
After school, Amy joined the Namibian College of the Arts (Cota) youth choir. After five years with the choir, she started taking classes with Hermien Coetzee.
"A friend invited me to a Baroque concert and I saw the lively, incredible woman on stage who introduced them. I never thought I would do classical music, even though I grew up doing it. After Cota, I went to her for classes and she started working with me. At first, I was like a mouse and she brought out the confident lion. In 2021 I sang my first opera at a Baroque concert and I fell in love. The bug bit me and it bit well. He is like a tick, he doesn't want to let go. I never knew I could love something so much."
Amy recently performed the opera piece The Love of God composed by Osmond Owoseb in Damara.
"I know Osmond from the school choir where he was the second conductor. He is always composing and creating. He came to me with the piece and we started working on it. It was challenging because of the cliques [of the Damara language]. When the clicks were on a high note, I had to keep the vowel, otherwise the word could mean something completely different. It was challenging, but I think I mastered it."
Osmond has composed many other pieces and Amy will also collaborate on them.
"The hope is when I have my concert, I will be able to sing some of the pieces in Damara. To be able to sing opera pieces in our Namibian languages for the people would be just wonderful." - [email protected]