D-Naff is ‘Demon Proof’

Award-winning gospel spar and Kora Awards ambassador D-Naff, is back with a new album and a whole new zest for life. D-Naff speaks to tjil about finding his place in the local music industry with album number 10 and about growing stronger, wiser and unafraid. D-Naff has established himself as Namibia’s most celebrated gospel artist. He has managed to do what many have been struggling with; getting gospel to cross over to mainstream music, creating fun and energy filled sound. This has been a year of bliss for the musician whose other titles include husband, father and brother. In May, he won the Best Gospel Artist award for the umpteenth time and has also become one of the ambassadors for the upcoming Kora-All Africa Awards. Speaking about what he has been up to, D-Naff says he has been busy with his many social responsibility activities. “This year has also been a busy one for me as Kora ambassador helping out with the fight against Ebola, a mission which was successful. I have been busy with shows and have shared the stage with Rebecca Malope at the MTC Independence show and top gospel singers at the Hallelujah Namibia event,” he says. He says ‘Demon Proof’ is a mixture of great sounds that deal with the “Inability of the enemy to enter a soul such as mine due to the fact that my soul has already been taken, hence ‘Demon Proof’ in other words, means no entry.” On ‘Demon Proof’, D-Naff has worked with Arafath, Taz and Ben Blazer, both top producers from Zambia as well as Elvo V-Lo and Nasho. Some of the artists appearing on the album are his musical ally Tequila. This time around, D-Naff is also joined by Sunny Boy, who is considered as one of Namibia’s greatest lyricists, as well as Kwaito star The Dogg. Other artists are, Sabastian Magacha from Zimbabwe, Mark B3 and Mulenga from Zambia as well as Dyna and Shyman Shaizo also from Zambia. The jam-packed album also has appearances by Swart Baster, 4x4 Too Much Power, Young T and Agnes Arnat. The album will also include a tribute song to media personality and cancer awareness activist Nancy Muinjo, popularly known as Chi-Chi who passed away earlier this year, after a brave battle against cancer. Asked how that comes about, D-Naff said Chi-Chi always wanted to do a song with Sunny boy. “The song is a very deep and emotional song which was written by Sunny Boy and Tequila. It came from Sunny because Chi-Chi always wanted to do a song with him, but time didn’t permit. So they called me up and together we did just that for our girl Chi-Chi. May her beautiful soul rest in eternal peace,” he said. D-Naff is one of an elite circle of local artists with 10 albums. Asked how his career has changed over the last few years, D-Naff says he has been divinely favoured to live his passion. “I can really say my career has changed divinely. I am now getting calls and emails from all over the world something I could only have dreamt of. I was part of the biggest gospel event called Hallelujah Namibia, where I shared the stage and sang duets with South Africa’s top stars. Only God can do that,” he says. D-Naff, who has always been very vocal about the importance of protecting women and children, also spoke about the recent spate of violence that has engulfed the country. He called on Namibian men to treat every woman with the same love and respect they would treat their daughters, mothers and sisters. “Women are queens. One day if you fall in love with a woman; treat her as such because that is who they are - queens. Never put your hands on someone’s daughter if you would not want some man somewhere to put his hand on your daughter,” he said. Asked what 2016 holds for D-Naff, he says the coming year will include more shows and events. “The top is where I belong. There is no stopping. There will be more shows and I will be travelling and collaborating all over the world. Lots of music videos are coming up. Watch this space for more details,” he says with pride.