Yo Music Video Count Down vs. Beats Per Minute/Afro Connection 

By Annelien P. van Wyk 

annelien@exposenewspaper.com

Yo Music Video Count Down on One Africa Television and Afro Connection on Namibian Broadcasting Corporation are both music shows which run Friday evenings and feature the uniqueness of local talent.

Both shows are extremely useful, because that is where most people see new and identify new and upcoming artists. It is a place where music lovers can relax, appreciate and relate to their own genre.

To most viewers that’s where the similarity ends. On one of the websites one viewer comment as follows:

“…being one of the unfortunate not owning DSTV and no connection for one Africa, I have to endure the boring and outdated Afro Connection. I really don’t know why they don’t play all music as they are released, they keep playing songs over and over again….there was a time when it was cool to watch but now it has no flavor”.

Another comment in one of the daily newspaper sms’s of the day:

“NBC TV, why are programs such as Afro Connection being repeated?  We want to see new videos rather than watching something we watched in 2008”.

A different viewer raised concern about the violent videos shown on NBC’s Afro Connection. He expressed his understanding for the artist in having to make money, but according to that viewer, the scenes in that particular music video was so explicitly violent and he was concerned that it might happen to a woman, teen girl or young child, because so many young people have the tendency of imitating what they see on television. According to that viewer Namibia already has a high rate of violence and therefore violent videos should not be presented on national television. After all, a lost life can never be replaced. 
 

On the other side, viewers of the Yo Music Video Countdown have expressed the show as being fresh and exciting.

The following comments were taken from one of the social networking site pages on Yo Music Video countdown:

“The show is great, I love it. Bring more video in, so far there’s nothing to improve”.

“Personally, I love the show, can’t wait for tonight (referring to Friday night)”.

“Yo Music Video countdown is the best”.

According to the initiators of the Yo Music Video Countdown show, it was created to offer the local artists in the Namibian Music Industry a chance to showcase their music videos and compete alongside others.

Namibians are music lovers, although different people have different taste in music, the love for music connects all Namibians and although both shows should be judged on it’s individual merits, one cannot help but wonder if the Afro Connections Show needs a face-lift in order to serves its purpose of entertaining the masses while exposing Namibian talent.