We Loose a Legend

It is with great sadness we heard that Jackson Kaujeua passed away on the 27 May 2010. Our sincere condolences go out to his family. It is a great honour to have his music and important message live on in Africa Shafted, that will be dedicated to his memory.

About Jackson Kaujeua Senior

Jackson Kaujeua a legend: Namibian musician, composer and gospel singer, and a veteran of the Namibian struggle for independence.

​ Jackson was born Jackson Muningandu Kaujeua, a member of the Herero ethnic group in !Huns, a village near Keetmanshoop. He ended his studies to become a priest when he was touched by gospels singers like Mahalia Jackson, whose human rights related lyrics inspired him. ​ In 1973 he started studying music at the Dorkay Art & Music College for talented Non-Whites in South Africa. However, he was soon expelled from the country for anti-apartheid activism, and went into exile in 1974. ​ After a short time in Botswana, the SWAPO resistance movement (with which he was associated with until his death) helped him to move to the UK, where he soon became the lead singer of the group Black Diamond. International success followed with songs such as "Winds of Change".

Jackson also worked as a teacher while living in an Angolan refugee camp for a short time in 1979, he returned to Namibia only after independence in 1990, where he celebrated great successes with his music, especially with !Gnubu !Nubus (Damara: 'short and round').

As of the late 1990s, he was still one of the best-known Namibian musicians.

Kaujeua died on 27 May 2010, after suffering from a kidney disorder for the last six months. He had lived poor and died poor. He was formally unemployed for most of his life, living off his performances and royalties. Calls for some sort of employment or empowerment for his role as "musical ambassador for the liberation struggle" were not heard by the authorities. Kaujeua had four children.

SOURCE: JHBlive