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Stolen Moments

Stolen Moments – Namibian Music History Untold is a celebration of the stories of Namibia’s unsung musical heroes. It revives Namibian underground pop culture from the 1950s to the late 1980s—a period that marks some of the harshest years of racial discrimination under the South African apartheid regime that followed German colonialism. The exhibition reveals what back then remained almost unheard by a large part of the population due to censorship and segregation. This is the story of those who, despite the propagated oppression, formed bands, resisted this cultural imposition, followed global trends, experimented with traditional sounds, played every weekend in backdoor ballrooms and danced their way through decades of extreme racial injustice. The Stolen Moments project started in 2010 as a national treasure hunt for Namibia‘s disregarded popular music. The exhibition shines a spotlight on bands such as The Dead Wood, The Rocking Kwela Boys, Children of Pluto, #Kharixurob, Otto Kampari, Strike Vilakazi, Warmgat, and The Dakotas—all musicians who, under different circumstances, probably would have enjoyed celebrated pop careers across borders.

A 2019 grant from the Cultures of Resistance Network supported the 2019 exhibition at SOAS, University of London.

Website: www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/stolen-moments

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