Rundu born, Luis Munana, is an International Model, Big Brother Africa Housemate, TV Presenter and more. Right now, he’s busy with a project to launch a Namibian children’s cartoon television show. 99FM’s MYD Art caught up with Luis, to talk about this new project, the logistics of it and the upcoming auditions for Namibian children to be a part of this show.
“I saw my nieces and nephews watching cartoons, they would always repeat the words spoken and sing along to whatever it is they were watching. So it hit me, these kids could be watching cartoons in their own language as well as in English. They could be learning about their history and culture through television.”
“I am obsessed with cartoons, I love kids, but so far all my projects have been for adults but nothing for kids.” Say Luis who goes on to say that the motivation for launching a Namibian children’s cartoon came from seeing that there was a need for such a program. “I saw my nieces and nephews watching cartoons, they would always repeat the words spoken and sing along to whatever it is they were watching. So it hit me, these kids could be watching cartoons in their own language as well as in English. They could be learning about their history and culture through television.”
Passionate about the Namibian narrative, Luis notes, “We need to tell our own stories, because the Namibian story is getting lost. As the years go by, our rich history gets lost and everything becomes about the western world. This is about preserving the Namibian story by making it relevant, fun and exciting.”
“The odds were against us but somehow my team won. The 40 million African viewers preferred to vote for my team and we won the task. The musical was called Waka Waka Moo. It stuck with me and I decided to develop it into a kids program.”
The show will be called Waka Waka Moo by Luis Munana. The concept came about when Luis was a Big Brother Africa housemate. “In 2014 while in the Big Brother Africa house, our very first task was to put together a musical. Our head of house selected all the musically gifted housemates to be part of her team and left me in a team with people who didn’t have a musical background. I took it upon myself to write the musical and script the play for everyone in my team. The odds were against us but somehow my team won. The 40 million African viewers preferred to vote for my team and we won the task. The musical was called Waka Waka Moo. It stuck with me and I decided to develop it into a kids program. I started to believe in my abilities more as a writer and creative producer, so I went with it.
Hoping to achieve, “a sense of originality, to start flipping the script by being a nation that creates versus a nation of consumers only,” Luis plans on creating a sense of Namibian pride with this show.
While some of the expertise on this show are being sourced elsewhere, Luis has plans of ensuring this show becomes fully Namibian. “There are certain elements of the show that cannot be done in Namibia because there aren’t skilled people who can do it yet. We are looking to bring a mentor to train Namibians so that in the long run it will definitely be a full Namibian team.”
“We tend to run overseas or cross borders to get things done without giving our people a chance. We took the chance, the puppets are locally made and they look beautiful.”
Talking the actually making of the puppets for the show, Luis says, “At first we honestly looked to foreign markets to create the puppets. Then we thought about giving Namibians a chance. We tend to run overseas or cross borders to get things done without giving our people a chance. We took the chance, the puppets are locally made and they look beautiful.”
“We are looking for a team of children who can host, act, sing and dance.”
Right now, the team of Waka Waka Moo are looking for children presenters and actors for the show, “we are looking for a team of children who can host, act, sing and dance. We are having auditions in Windhoek on the 8th of April 2017 in Hochland Park. 45 Rabenweg Street, which is near Spar. We are looking for talented children between ages 7-12 years old.”
If your child is talented in the performance arena, this could be a chance at the realisation of their performance-based dreams.
Written by Kirsty Watermeyer