Afro-pop and shambo artist Jackson Wahengo is Namibian and based in Geneva, Switzerland since 2008. His story however begins in Ndola (Zambia) where he was born in 1978 as an exile-Namibian. He spent his childhood years in Angola and Congo (Brazzaville) until Namibia gained independence in 1990. He grew up in a musical family with an early passion for song and harmony, guided by the freedom songs he sung for his country in the refugee camps of Angola. He started strumming the guitar as a teenager and later schooled as a jazz guitarist, honing his skills at the University of Cape Town. Jackson has played with numerous prominent bands in Namibia and South Africa and at a number of prominent festivals and venues as the Montreux Jazz Festival, Stockholm Pride and special gigs at Nalen (Stockholm), PH Caféen (Copenhagen), Dokkehuset (Trondheim) and Alhambra (Geneva) to name a few.
Jackson Wahengo’s music has its very own sense of rhythm expressed in strong harmonies and skilful guitar riffs, typical for southern Africa and yet blended with ultra-contemporary sounds and flavour of jazz, rumba, zouk, reggae and traditional rhythms and song. The result is an infectious and groovy mix of contemporary Afropop and Folk.
The songs are performed in Oshikwanyama, Jackson’s mother tongue, and the lyrics are poetically telling stories about contemporary and traditional Namibian society and politics, building on old Owambo proverbs.
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