Swart Baster unleashes

The man who rose to fame with the melodic Afrikaans tune Ding Dong is back with a bang. With his latest offering, Chimbweto style, the artist (real name Allen Jonathan) introduces a revamped image, focusing more on songs released in his native Chokwe language.

tjil! caught up with the self-styled musician, as he took a break from the recording studios on the heels of what he hopes to be a signature album to his own unique brand of music.

Chimbweto style, loosely translated as ‘waist dance’ – moves with what has become synonymous with Swart Baster. He said he got the name from a friend at his home village of Kaisosi, from whom he also learnt some of the moves.

Swart Baster featured prominent duo, Gal Level, famously known for the chart breaker Shake it, while Mr. Simple Datt, Kamasutra, Ricardo and little known Brumelda also added flavour to Chimbweto style.

Although the album is already on the shelves at leading music retailers across the country, Swart Baster told tjil! that the album would only be officially launched towards the end of March.

“I have put in extra effort in this album to make sure my loyal fans are rewarded with only the best and nothing less,” the man said.

Fans of his Afrikaans tunes, reminiscent of South Africa’s Cape flats or the former ‘Distrik Ses’, would equally not be disappointed with Chimbweto style, as the artist has stuck to the highly popular beat on half of the songs on the album.

“I realised that many of my fans still prefer the Afrikaans beat, and it would be unfair to leave them out,” he said.

Swart Baster burst onto the Namibian music scene in 1996, but it was only in 2004 that Namibia took notice of him with the release of his popular Good Combination album, effectively mastered by Welwitchia Music Production (WMP) boss Steven Alvin !Naruseb.

Chimbweto style is his second offering since breaking away from WMP in 2006 to embark on a solo career. The first album released as solo artist, Let’s Unite, came towards the end of 2006.

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