Award-winning soprano Emma Nuule, from Norwich, is staging a major charity concert in Namibia in September, teaming up with the talented Namibian baritone Paul-William Shipanga, to raise funds to help disadvantaged children in the country. Jenny Seal reports.
Emma Nuule, 32, an award-winning cross-over soprano from Norwich has, for several years, dreamed of setting up a performing arts school in Namibia to benefit disadvantaged children.
In September Emma, who is part of Alive Church in Norwich, is moving one step closer to this dream, by staging a charity concert with Namibian musical talent, Paul-William Shipanga.
Emma’s husband, Josef, is originally from Namibia and the couple own a piece of land in the capital city of Windhoek. Emma and her family regularly visit Namibia and Emma, who won the global ‘Serco’s Got Talent’ competition in 2014, believes God has called her to open a performing arts school, the Praise and Perform school, on this piece of land.
Now she has teamed up with Paul-William Shipanga, a Namibian baritone who uses his talent to help disadvantaged people within the same community.
Emma first became aware of singer Paul-William Shipanga by watching him perform on YouTube. Emma said: “I saw the video of Paul singing both parts of The Prayer by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. He is a baritone, but he sings cross-over like me. It sounded amazing and I thought I’d love to sing that song with him.
“My family were going to Namibia in August so I contacted him on social media. Once he saw my videos he was interested in doing a concert.”
The concert will take place at the UNAM, the University of Namibia, on September 7. The national TV station has also been approached and is positive about coming on board.
Last year Paul-William Shipanga set up a registered charity, the Reach One Serve One Foundation, to serve the disadvantaged people of Windhoek. All the profits from the ticket sales of the concert will go to the Reach One Serve One Foundation, which, with a dedicated team, serves hospitals, orphanages, elderly people and disadvantaged communities within Windhoek.
Emma said: “Paul uses his voice for raising money so he was completely on the same page as me. I find it completely amazing that I just heard him, thought I want to sing with this man, contacted him and it turns out he has a registered charity with the same mission I have.”
The fundraising idea came from a concert Emma did with Anna Mudeka at the Norwich Assembly House in October, which raised money to give disadvantaged children access to education in Zimbabwe. Emma said: “After doing that and seeing how much it raised, it gave me the idea to contact Paul-William. It’s really exciting.”
Emma has had a busy year. In early 2019 she gave birth to her third child, a daughter called Faith, and in May she released a new album, The Passion featuring uplifting anthems, like ‘You Raise Me Up’.
On July 28 Emma will perform on the mainstage of the Gorleston Clifftop Festival.
Emma’s album, The Passion, is available to buy for £10 by emailing [email protected] or from the Aladdin’s Cave shop on Magdalene Street in Norwich.
Please contact Emma if you would like to book her to perform, or can help her with her Namibian dream.
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