Artist Monica Pineas, commonly known as Top Cheri told VIBEZ! that her recent experience of performing on a boat during the shooting of Rock The Boat has so far been one of the most memorable experiences as the scenery and surrounding was therapeutic, giving a different feeling of live performance.
Rock The Boat is a music show, filmed at Samusitu Riverside Camp, a few kilometres west of Rundu featuring performances by Namibian artists which can be accessed by the general public for viewing on the Ngandu TV YouTube channel. The online TV series is a subsidiary project of Ngandu Events, the company responsible for the Ngandu Festival. “Performing on the boat was therapeutic, it’s singing on a moving boat, it doesn’t get any better than that. I have never performed live live live, it’s usually semi-live because most of the people say there are awards where I have performed live but those are semi-live. Rock The Boat was live live live. It was my voice and the band. The Rock The Boat team, the crew guided me through the whole journey,” said the overzealous Top Cheri.
She added that what made it more memorable was the audience looking and cheering on from another boat. “It was amazing and if I can do it again, I will not hesitate at all,” stated Top Cheri. The producer of the show Michael Kayunde said beyond live performances, the show is also a platform for individuals in the creative space to showcase and perform their art. Kayunde added: “We don’t like to give away the criteria but best believe we like to align ourselves with excellence.” “The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We are grateful for industry players and the fans have embraced our show and keep asking for more,” informed Kayunde. He said the aim is to give artists from various art forms a unique platform to showcase their art and entertain art enthusiasts. He stated that artists get to perform with a four-piece band lasting for 30 minutes. “But these are months and weeks of preparations that go into the 30 minutes that people end up seeing,” added Kayunde.
Kayunde also highlighted that anyone can contribute to the show through various means, as some artists are multi-faceted and have plenty of hidden artistic talents other than music.
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