Gonny Klazen: He Taught Me to See Music - Namibia's Godfathers Bedtime Series Episode 6



My mother was a teacher — and a singer, pianist, dancer, a woman who could move between instruments the way some people move between breaths. Piano, organ, flute, harmonica, penny whistle… and she could imitate every Elvis Presley dance move with a smile that filled a room.

When she passed away and I was only five, the music went quiet.

I went to live with my grandmother. She understood that music helped me remember, so she taught herself the pan flute, the instrument made famous by Gheorghe Zamfir. I enjoyed it, but I still couldn’t hear the passion. The notes were there, but the feeling was missing — like reading a book without understanding the story.

Fast‑forward to 2004. 
I’m in Rehoboth. 
And then comes Gonny Klazen.



He had heard I was a “computer nerd,” so he called me over to look at his system. I expected guitars, keyboards, microphones — a room full of instruments.

But no. 
Just a computer. 
One musician recorded at a time. 
Layer by layer. 
Track by track. 
Emotion by emotion.

And then it happened.

For the first time in my life, I found music I could hear — because I could see it. 
On the screen I saw the flow, the feeling, the sadness, the hope. 
All of it reduced into numbers… yet somehow more meaningful than ever.

Gonny Klazen didn’t just record music. 
He translated it. 
He made emotion visible. 
He gave me back the thing I thought I had lost with my mother.

Tomorrow, he will have one last tribute. 
And I will tell you more then.

Sleep well, Milton.


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