He had a Kombi, and now we had wheels. So we all piled in and drove all over the land of milk and yoghurt (that's Namibia for the un-initiated) doing gig's, sometimes also teaching other Lanys to play drums, which worked half the time. So we stopped passing our hat around because the Lanys actually paid jive ching for our shows. Then the Kombi broke and we had to make a plan to get to the gig's, 'coz the bookings came in all the time and people wanted to hear our sound. When the corner was calling we packed for WHK-city. Tuff tar here in the 'Tura - no join', plenty sharks and expensive taxi men. So we go around again with our drums and play them some bit and put out the hat - it was still about the music, ne? So we beat our drums wherever, whenever, it don't matter, 'coz it's all that really counts. Later we got some marimbas - it was about the music, see, singing our songs, African songs, just like that. And people liked it - some didn't - and when we passed our hat around, sometimes we'd make just enough to pay the taxi man home. Then this Lany come along just looking for some ouens to play drums.

ONELE YO MAPENDA (Place of the Warrior) (V. Röder) This is not about Whether or not We were warriors Once This is not about Spilling the blood Of them and us Now Refrain : Onele yo ma penda No fight is won Conflict resolved Without confrontation Without squaring up Looking it in the eye and knowing… This is never about The woos and woes Victors and vanquished Ever Refrain: Onele… Rap: There is no such thing as a time of reckoning There is no such thing as a time of justice Chant: Onele … Rap: Either there is joy or there is fear Either there is love or there is hate Mukurob: I & Eye (revisited) (V. Röder) Wistful wind wanders here Just like everyday Soothing mesa mountains as colosseum craters Whishing presences in this grainless dust plain Dance on the horizon it seems Endeavours of wind and rock Only touch and feel nothing But soothing swoops of patterns posed Textures terminated Fates forestalled Cropped yellow grass grows now Between the fragments of the toppled head: "Conceived in dry desert dominion Where earth yielded to time A seed germinated to a rocking shoot Caressed by wind and weather My shape took form And my form withheld Pointer of time immemorial My shadow heeded warnings innumerable I was the eye Focused on the flecked firmament I was mortal too To eternity's emptiness. "Witnessing puny history making man Shifting to and fro In this relentless expanse of time and space Beholding my raised pedestal They akin me in symbol and thought Granting power over and to me In book and sword Relating me Naming me The indignant index! "Relishing the contaminated power I got used to the lay of the land Inoculated against the lie of the situation - I forgot the past and idealised the future Deceit corroded my slender stem Toppling my heavy head That had known no truth "Mortal enemies they are Mortal enemies they were Will I always have to wait in lie?" Now in pained plain the pieces lie Like bones thrown sangoma's hand Heralding things here and now: Guilty by association The indignant index wastes space in its discomfort More permanent than any curse on the continent Nobody need pose now anymore for legends In this dusty thundering desolate teeming dry land - Our myths are already engraved/In the calligraphy of the weaving wind! This is the song of the rain… Sigh at the sight Of the lay of the land Sigh at the sight Of the longing of the land Wind on the plains Drive dust drums Set in a swirl Rhythms resolve Rain on the plains Walk like bright sunlight lances Fingered with amber beams And moisture materialises Earth nurtures then With your wander in the wind From one skyland to the next. The Natives Are Restless (O. Hoeney, N. De Wet, V. Röder) 1. The natives are restless The struggle is endless 18 Years ago It was nothing but sunshine 18 years ago The skies were so bright man Literally speaking we natives are victorious Literally speaking we natives were victorious 2. Our drums are speaking - hey my language is heard Give me your voice - now people let it be heard What have they promised us - Have you heard? Why are we lessened to parts of just one herd? 3. Now 18 years past its nothing but rain 18 years past the blue skies have gone grey The struggle is down the drain Was the blood that watered our freedom in vain? Are we part of our continent's curse? Do our leaders just rehearse? Give us answers we urge! 4. The natives are restless oh so possessed Silently silenced oh so oppressed Voices frozen to be forgotten untold Only our eyes weep for the ungodly cold 5. So many years ago So many promises were made But let's call a spade a spade Coz we're young and powerless 6. The natives are restless oh so strained Weak against a democracy now stained Dying in the midst of a foul storm Where are the leaders to take justice to form? 7. Lemme not state the obvious But this shit's pretty oblivious We don't mind the constipation of some Only the hunger of the verbal none. 8. 18 years ago (ehh) Promises were made Let's call a spade a spade Coz we're young and zestless The natives are restless (ehh) Criminals in suits Just fattening their pockets Young boys in the 'kasie Dodging the rockets Women not safe Children go to the grave When are we gonna break the chains of poverty (hey) When are we gonna break loose from corruption (hey) When will our eyes open to see the reality (hey) Where is the so-called liberty and unity (hey) Where is the so-called love, where is the trust Come on where did we plant our seeds Have we forgotten (What?) No we're not rebels (But you wanna know) But why we're restless No we're not rebels, But we just wanna know, No we're not rebels, We're just restless…. Contact Details: Volker Röder Tel/Fax: 061 - 303526 Mobile: 081 - 127 0880 Windhoek, Namibia info@ongoma.com "For sneak previews click here ..." Created by: Conny Kayser last update: 11.03.2008