By Moses Magadza, PhD
Seasoned Namibian scholar Professor William Heuva has published a thought-provoking journal article examining Namibia’s Oviritje popular music genre and its place within the modern capitalist music economy.
Entitled “Commodification of Music in the Digital Age: Locating Namibia’s Oviritje Popular Music Genre in the Capitalist Music Economy,” the article appears in Indigenous African Popular Music, Volume 2 (2022), published by Palgrave Macmillan.
The article documents and critically examines the influence of neoliberalism and digital capitalism on Oviritje music, a genre rooted in the cultural traditions of the Ovaherero people of Namibia. For Namibia, the publication represents one of the rare occasions on which the
Oviritje genre has received sustained scholarly attention at an advanced academic level.
In what constitutes Chapter 25 of the volume, Heuva arrives at a compelling conclusion: although Oviritje music has been absorbed into Namibia’s neoliberal capitalist economy and appears to thrive in terms of production and consumption, the primary beneficiaries are not necessarily the artists themselves.
Rather, the greatest gains accrue to Social Networking Sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp. According to the article, many artists continue to operate on shoestring budgets while digital platforms reap substantial benefits from the circulation and consumption of their creative work.
The study argues that the commodification of Oviritje music is fundamentally driven by capitalism, often at the expense of the very cultural producers who sustain the genre.
One of the article’s most significant observations is that the rise and commercialisation of Oviritje since the 1990s forms part of the broader neoliberal phase of global capitalism, including the emergence of digital capitalism.
Written from a critical theoretical perspective, the article engages extensively with major scholars in cultural and media studies, opening important debates about music, culture and power in the contemporary world. Heuva begins by unpacking the concept of “popular culture,” noting that Oviritje has firmly established itself as part of Namibia’s popular cultural landscape.
He explains that while “culture” refers to the way of life of a particular people, the term “popular” broadly denotes mass-mediated, youth-driven trends in entertainment, politics and leisure. Popular culture, therefore, refers to the commercial dimensions of culture such as music that appeal to mass audiences, particularly young people, with digital technology serving as a key catalyst.
The article provides valuable historical context. Following Namibia’s independence, the new government sought to revive and promote indigenous cultural heritage. However, this coincided with the expansion of globalisation, whose commercial imperatives often clash with the authentic preservation of local cultures.
Heuva argues that globalisation facilitates the creation of markets designed to stimulate conspicuous consumption, thereby intensifying the exploitation of artists rather than fostering genuine cultural revival.
Within this framework, the adoption of neoliberal economic policies in Namibia during the 1990s had a profound impact not only on the economy but also on the country’s cultural industries.
Oviritje music, situated within this neoliberal environment, became increasingly intertwined with new digital technologies designed to attract wider audiences and consumers.
Heuva observes that while this transformation expanded the reach and visibility of Oviritje music, it also produced negative consequences.
As Oviritje evolved into a widely consumed musical commodity, Internet-based Social Networking Sites effectively turned both artists and fans into providers of free digital labour for the benefit of major global technology corporations collectively known as GAFAM – Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.
The article also traces the historical evolution of Oviritje itself. Heuva explains that “Oviritje” is a Herero slang term for songs and that the genre emerged in the 1960s among school learners during sports and cultural events. Its roots in traditional Herero musical forms remain unmistakable.
Initially, Oviritje generated little income and existed largely as a non-profit cultural activity. However, under the influence of neoliberal capitalism, the genre gradually adopted electronic instrumentation and evolved into a mass-produced cultural commodity driven largely by urban youth audiences.
In the process, it eclipsed older Herero musical traditions such as Outjina, traditionally associated with women, and Omuhiva, traditionally associated with men.
The youth-oriented nature of Oviritje naturally attracted commercialisation and mass production, both central features of capitalist cultural production.
By contrast, Omuhiva and Outjina declined partly because they remained associated with older, more conservative Herero communities that were less integrated into capitalist modes of production and consumption.
Another fascinating observation advanced by Heuva is that although popular music often reflects issues affecting its audiences, it does not necessarily critique the capitalist structures underpinning those realities.
Oviritje, he argues, is no exception. In many cases, popular music outside the Western world is less overtly critical of capitalism than certain strands of Western popular music.
The broader volume, edited by Abiodun Salawu and Israel Fadipe, examines how indigenous African popular music is deployed in politics, democracy and social activism across the continent. The collection explores themes such as environmental health communication, gender empowerment, youth culture, digital media and the representation of Africa’s future through music.
Among the other notable contributions are “The Communicativeness of Select Nigerian Afro-Hip-Hop Lyrics and Sociological Perception of Women” by Umwana Samuel Akpan, “Promotion of Food Sovereignty in Africa Through Yoruba Indigenous Music” by Lere Amusan, and Ernest Jakaza’s “Singing Democracy and Politics in Post-Independence Zimbabwe: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Self-Censorship in Zimbabwean Indigenous Theological-Sungura Music.”
William Heuva has lectured in Media Studies at various universities. His research interests include the political economy of communication, media and telecommunications policy, sociology of the media, media literacy and media history. He holds BA, BA Honours and MA degrees in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University, as well as a PhD in Cultural and Media Studies from University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is also the author of Media and Resistance Politics: The Alternative Press in Namibia, 1960–1990 (Basel: P. Schlettwein Publishing, 2001).
• Moses Magadza is a teacher, journalist, author, songwriter, guitarist, singer and media and communications specialist. He holds a PhD in Media Studies and is the author of Without Fear or Favour: An Abridged Biography of Justice Key Dingake.
