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Meet The Afro-pop Band ‘MIG’ Hoisting Namibia’s Flag

By The Guardian Life

19 February 2021   |   10:23 am

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The six-man supergroup just released a new single dubbed ‘Tingolo’, a glittery pop anthem, melding their signature emotiveness with the kind of prosaic songwriting that has won them acclaim in Namibia and beyond. The latest release is the group’s first artistic declaration of 2021 but their story spans years. The group’s debut album, Unkurungu, came…

MIG

The six-man supergroup just released a new single dubbed ‘Tingolo’, a glittery pop anthem, melding their signature emotiveness with the kind of prosaic songwriting that has won them acclaim in Namibia and beyond. The latest release is the group’s first artistic declaration of 2021 but their story spans years.

The group’s debut album, Unkurungu, came out in 2017, helping to define their sound for audiences not used to such genre-bending music predicated on hip-hop’s tonality with the sounds of their home city with the latest trends driving pop music. The sextet has already navigated the waters of the Namibian music industry and is turning its attention to making an impact on the wider continent through their newly-found partnership in US-based music executive and producer, Donald ‘Jefe’ Jackson who discovered them off the back of Unkurungu.

Speaking of how they all met, Jimmy, a rapper and songwriter, says,

“Some of us met at early stages in life. Callous, Slim-D & I met in Primary school. Rockid & Chuwee are cousins, and P-star grew up in the same neighborhood as Chuwee so basically, we grew up together.

“We all finally got to meet each other in senior high school at Elcin Nkurenkuru high school in the Kavango-West region and we’ve been kicking it since.”

What started as a friendship eventually evolved into a musical relationship between them as their diverse musical tastes began to bounce off each other.

“We came up listening to different kinds of music,” band member, Slim-D, remembers. “Growing up in the southern part of Africa we would heavily listen to genres like Afro-pop, Kwaito, Kizomba, Dancehall, Reggae, and also our native traditional songs.”

MIG

Despite all the success M.I,G. enjoyed, it was hard to deal with not being able to perform shows due to the disruptions of the pandemic.

“It was a little bit challenging for us because we couldn’t go out there to perform for a physical audience,” P-Star says. “That made us feel like we were robbed emotionally. Other than expressing ourselves, music is a way of living for us. On the bright side, the same year gave us more time to reflect and work on new material.”

The release of a new M.I.G album is underway and their latest single titled “TINGOLO,” is leading the project. The new single harkens back to the joyous, extemporaneous music of African childhood; but Rockid says the song was more inspired by the group’s appreciation of beautiful women.