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Ponti - a rising Namibian star

June 16, 2019
Ponti started singing at the very young age of 5 years. His exquisite singing talent was discovered by a conductor of a Namibian local youth choir. Ponti sang in various choirs over the years and not only did he perform as soloist in these choirs, but he has also composed many of the songs that choirs performed in Namibia and abroad. Ponti’s love for composition and music production started through this choral experience. In 2007 he enrolled at the College for the Arts in Windhoek, Namibia where he received classical vocal training. Ponti performed as vocal soloist with the Namibian National Symphony Orchestra from 2008 – 2011. He received his First Concert Certificate in 2009 and his Advanced Certificate in Music in 2010. In 2009 he was invited to perform as soloist with the world-renowned Kokopelli Youth Choir in Canada. In 2010 he was invited by the Namibian embassy in Berlin, Germany to perform as main artist at their Independence Celebration Concert. Ponti is the founder and leader of the vocal ensemble called Collective.
Ponti started producing for Namibian artists back in 2009. What made him different was his vocal ability. He made his mark with his first hit in Namibia, ‘Let’s get together’, in collaboration with the prominent Namibian artist, Gazza. People started noticing his talent and more and more artists wanted to collaborate with him. In the meantime, he continued to work on his production skills. With no formal training on production, he relied on the melodies in his head to guide him. In 2010 Ponti got married and by 2013 the couple was 2 beautiful kids richer. To keep the lights on, Ponti performed at corporate events. His wife, also a musician, would join in at times and over the years the couple performed at various events, including, amongst others, weddings, corporate events and showcases. As his popularity grew as a performing artist, the more he invested in recording studio equipment, hardware and software. He started producing his own songs and started becoming known among Namibian artists for his productions. Clients started rolling in and in 2017 Ponti was contracted to produce the soundtrack to a local movie, Salut. This was the first project of its kind and a breakthrough for him and catapulted his career into a whole new dimension. The second and third movie soundtracks, Kukuri and The White Line, followed soon after in 2018. Early in 2019 Ponti was contracted to produce the music for a dance production, Well wish ya. This project was the first of its kind for Ponti and by far the most challenging. It further pushed his creativity into new dimensions and out of his comfort zone. He had to create his own sounds to capture the spirit of the futuristic elements that was required, in addition to the distinctive African melodies and vocals that made this soundtrack so unique.
Since the age of 16, Ponti dreamed of releasing his own album. Back then he focussed mostly on R&B music. His warm and sensuous voice complemented the rhythm and blues that he loved so much. But over the years he ventured into other genres, specifically house music with a distinct African feel. In 2017 he was noticed  by DJ Helio in Angola and their collaborative songs, The Sound and Benguella, rose to number 1 hits on the Angolan charts in 2018. Over the years Ponti built up a whole collection of his own music and in November 2018, at the age of 32, he released his debut album. He aptly called the album Finally.
From humble beginnings in the small town of Walvis Bay in Namibia, Ponti built his career from nothing to where he is today. His biggest future goal is to obtain a formal qualification in sound engineering or film scoring and, of course, promoting his album and hitting the international stage with a bang. His unique blend of vocal ability and creative music production skills makes him an artist to keep an eye on.

He was featured in recently released Lifoti's June 2019 influencer issue, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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