Namibian-based musician and arts educator Tapuwanashe Munyayi, popularly known as Tapz, told unwrap.online this past week that music education can play a powerful role in shaping young people and preserving culture in Namibia.
The artist, who has spent years teaching and mentoring young musicians, believes music should be taken more seriously within the country’s education system. According to him, music is more than just entertainment and can help learners in many areas of their development.“Music is a combination of math and science and can be understood by anyone, it makes it a very good instrument to use in upbringing our young people.” He said.
Through his work as an arts educator, Tapz has worked with many learners, including young people with special needs. He explained that music can help learners cope better with everyday school work and improve their overall learning experience.
However, he believes there are still major barriers for young people who want to pursue music seriously. One of the biggest challenges, he says, is that music is not widely adopted in the school curriculum.“Most of the challenges come from the fact that music is not yet adopted into our school curriculum, Musical instruments are expensive and can only be affordable to the elite people in the society, which makes it hard for a child raised in the kasi (Lower Income Locations) to actually take music as a profession.”
He added that stronger policies are needed to support arts education and to help the creative sector grow into a stronger contributor to the economy. In many countries, the music industry generates billions of dollars because proper systems and structures are in place.
Beyond modern music, Tapz is also passionate about teaching traditional African instruments such as the mbira and marimba and emphasized that learning these instruments helps young artists stay connected to their cultural identity.
“Music is a form of identity and learning traditional instruments helps us stay connected to our culture and heritage despite western influences,” he said.Tapz hopes his work in music education will help preserve African heritage and restore pride in local cultural traditions.“We need to safeguard the heritage that was left for us by our forefathers,” he said,
Adding that he hopes future generations will better understand African identity and values through music.Looking ahead, he hopes to see music being recognised as an important subject within Namibia’s education system.
He believes this could also help grow the country’s creative economy and create more opportunities for young people.“My vision is to see music being taught in schools like any other subject, so we can create more jobs via creative education because we have a high unemployment rate.” he ended.
