Award-wining Namibian ma|gaisa star, actor, scriptwriter, director, and community activist Mervin Claasen, better known as Marvtown, is on a work tour in Germany.
Currently riding high on ‘!Kho !Kho’, his super hit with Dixon, the Windhoek-based artist has a busy schedule between teaching and performing in Stuttgart.
Marvtown hosted a workshop on gender-based violence with Keamogetsi Molapong last week.
Molapong is also a prominent Namibian, poet, writer, actor and arts activist.
It seems Germany can’t get enough of Marvtown as he is booked for more lessons in Stuttgart.
“I’m scheduled to teach performance art and the art of storytelling at Ludwigsburg University this week, before capping it off with a ma|gaisa show in Stuttgart on Saturday,” he says.
Marvtown, who gained popularity after winning season one of the annual Next Ma|Gaisa Star talent search competition in 2021, has since set the Namibian performing scene alight.
“I don’t know what else I could have done to impact the Namibian music scene the way I did by winning the Next Ma|Gaisa Star competition. I can’t thank Steven !Naruseb enough for his guidance during and after the competition,” he says.
“I loved Damara punch long before the genre was converted into modern-day ma|gaisa music. But I was also hooked on the slow jams and old old school R&B sounds of R Kelly and Michael Bolton.”
Marvtown has since dropped hits like ‘|Gurisen’ and ‘Ti Mas Ti |Gores’.
“I’m very fortunate because corporate Namibia and event managers have recognised my talent and hard work. I’m almost guaranteed a gig every second week,” he says.
The artist is a regular feature at the annual Ore-Aob Music ||Khoab Donkey Meat Festival series, staged at strategic towns countrywide.
He was also one of the biggest draw cards during the Ma |Gaisa Meets Oviritje concert that drew a large crowd at Bobby Sissing Stadium at Khomasdal.
Marvtown will feature prominently at the star-studded Rumble at the Coast concert at Swakopmund on 26 and 27 December.
The highly-anticipated event has enlisted the who’s who of the ma|gaisa genre, Tate Buti and township pop duo One Blood.
“I’m really happy with the direction my career is heading into. It really shows hard work pays off, because I work my socks off to be the near-perfect act I am.
“And don’t forget I’m also a scriptwriter, actor, and director, so I was known in the theatres on stage long before my music career,” he says.
Next week, Marvtown will show the stuff he is made off when he appears on stage.
“I’ll be part of a talk show with some theatre practitioners on ‘The Dungeons’, which I wrote,” he says.
The artist will also be performing at the Wissenburg Zentrum in Germany.
“I’ve actually prepared myself well for this moment. I want to sing myself into the hearts of the Germans, and they must ask for similar performances in future,” Marvtown says.
“Talk about a lasting legacy if you want, but I want to establish myself a new fan base here. Music is a universal language, and we all tend to sing in languages we hardly understand.”
Marvtown’s trip to Germany was made possible by Literature Haus in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg University.
It’s not the first time he travels to Europe.
In 2024, Marvtown shared his experience of what he described as “an amazing performance” in Helsinki, Finland.
He sais this trip was a complete eye-opener after he was invited to the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Suomi-Finland Society in Helsinki from 12 to 20 November.
“It was really a life-changing and exciting moment for me,” the ‘|Gurisen’ hitmaker says.
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