While in the shade of Table Mountain politicians started to stitch together the rainbow nation at the first sitting of the seventh administration, youth shouted out from atop the mountain, “Wake Up, Africa!”
“Wake Up Africa” is the latest song from Join Bands, Not Gangs, a non-profit organisation from Cape Town, which uses music programmes to prevent gang recruitment among children from high-risk areas.
The song was officially launched on Friday with a performance on Table Mountain by the organisation’s own band and Zolani Youth Choir.
“If ever there was a song for this nation in this moment, this is it. It is based on what is written in Isaiah 60:13 and speaks of awakening and enlightenment,” says Karien de Waal, founder of Join Bands Not Gangs.
De Waal, who hails from Durbanville, wrote the song in 2021 assisted with some of the lyrics by Lebohang Kgapola and Allou April.
“I was sitting by the piano one evening and the music and words just started to flow. Covid happened and a lot had to be put on ice, but we were fortunate enough to now release the song,” she says.
With a grant from Sony Music’s Global Justice Fund and funding from the Southern African Music Rights Organisation and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport the song was recorded earlier this year and a music video shot featuring 70 singers. The music video was released on Saturday morning ahead of another performance at the V&A Waterfront.
Free music lessons
Join Bands Not Gangs was established in 2018 with the objective to replace gangsterism with music.
The non-profit supports 25 schools across the province, but mainly work in gang-hotspots of Kraaifontein and Delft.
“By starting free music lessons in the community we put instruments in the hands of children, so they never take up guns and growing up they can instead of looking up to gangsters, rather look up to music,” says De Waal.
Through its various music programmes many gangsters have found new perspectives and turned their lives around. In 2021 alone, eight gang members were rehabilitated through the programme.
De Waal says their focus is two-fold.
“One the one side we encourage schools to commit to music projects by donating instruments and assist with funds to pay music tutors to train the children, not only in schools but in their local communities. Then, we assist youth involved in gangsterism to get into drug rehabilitation programmes and to find jobs afterwards,” she says.
The song is available on all musica streaming platforms and the video can be seen on the organisation’s Youtube channel.
