enni.eventhalle
17 May 2024 at 16:45
WHUUUESCH! The young Namibian composer and baritone Eslon Hindundu had just fallen asleep at the wheel, since, on his trip from Windhoek to Kolmanskop, not even the WDR3 live gala to celebrate the German classical and cultural station's 60th birthday was capable of keeping drivers awake. YAWN! Why people build houses to imprison sand inside or why there is so much hatred, greed and corruption in the world – nothing mind-blowing basically, but he had dozed off pondering these questions. Paradoxically perhaps, he was indeed very interested in whether his opera "Chief Hijangua" (which, as the first ever Namibian opera, takes a courageous look at Namibia's forced association with Germany) had perhaps made it onto the playlists of German fans of the genre or into the classical music charts. In general, when Eslon falls asleep at the wheel of his self-built Hindundu e-motian, he possesses the superpower of dreaming music that is then available upon reaching his destination, in the form of printouts stacked in the trunk of his vehicle – with all of the individual voices, transposed and sorted according to pitch – DRR–ZYT–QUIKQUIK! Cool, right? This time the piece is about the disillusioned and ill-treated 27-year-old Maundjiro, who, flanked by a string quintet, flute and horn (in F), sings out (in Oshiwambo) against the villains of a corrupt world, his enchanting girlfriend (performed by Angelina Tashiya Akawa), oboe-like, at his side, representing love's power against the seemingly invincible. The two dream their way through a contemporary Namibia where the past coincides with the present, through polyrhythmic djembe opera-drums, technovisuals and ukulele pop. In the foothills of the Kalahari, they meet up with nine Ju’/Hoansi tribe members (this requires a little detour, but it's no problem for the self-driving Hindundu e-motian – unlike the stupid Tesla from Eslon's arch-rival Elon), to whom they relate their vision of "oumwe" around a campfire – CRACKLE! Up in the sky, a bit to the north of the Southern Cross they recognize a white ship shimmering in the firmament, from which an unfamiliar voice – W-HUESCH! – extends an invitation to the Lower Rhine to meet like-minded people:
"…an artistic-philosophical approach
A mixture of the religio-ironical-musical-miserable
Therefore suitable
to offer any and all counterparts
Platonic friendship"
Einheit - Unity - Oumwe
