Wash up nice and sanitize – South African Music Week launches first multi-national musical collaboration to sing the home-grown song, “Corona” to encourage people of the world to help prevent the spread of COVID-19
Johannesburg, 30 December 2020 – Underpinning South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosas’s words during his ‘family’ meeting on 28th December, the organisers of South African Music Week (SAMW), have today launched a music video – entitled ‘Corona’ – which is a collaboration by a number of international music artists who have used their craft to create an educational song and video, to encourage citizens of the world to ‘wash up nice and sanitize,’ in order to combat the spread of COVID-19. It also helps that the tune is the right kind of catchy and spreads a positive message.
South African Music Week (SAMW), is an annual cross-border music industry event that provides a showcase of talent in each country and fosters collaborative working relationships between countries. The idea originated from a visit Moeti paid to Canada along with Mr Vuzumuzi Mkhize, DG of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, who led a South African music industry delegation to Canadian Music Week in 2019. This was ratified in January 2020, by Ms. Mbali Hlophe, MEC for Gauteng Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, with Johannesburg becoming the host city for the event.
A three-day jam-packed programme that includes a series of panel discussions and presentations led by industry professionals, with a number of artist performances, an exhibition component and all-important B2B networking. In 2021, the event will focus on building a strong partnership with Canada and will predominantly take place online. It is FREE to attend and a must for anyone looking to take advantage of Music in the 4IR (the theme for the inaugural event).
COVID-19 is a serious pandemic, a fact that still does not seem to be understood by scores of people, hence second and third waves and ongoing lockdowns. So, in a similar vein to artist collaborations such as ‘Do they Know It’s Christmas’ and Live Aid, ‘We Are the World’ etc, organiser and CEO of SAMW, Michael Moeti, saw an opportunity to create a platform for all the artists whom he had signed on as part of the SAMW event, to help educate citizens as to how they can play their part in preventing the spread of the virus.
‘Corona’ song was born. Written by trap hip-hop artist ANADATRAP STORY, is performed by:
• Ryana – French Algerian
• Khanyo – South African
• Sauceman – South African
• Rama – Tanzanian – Australian
• Nga – Congo Brazzaville/French
• Dirty RAY – Japanese
• Joe Gez – DRC/Canadian
• Vibeby Melo -Canadian
• Spitten Image – Canadian
‘Corona’ is a song of hope, collaboration and the understanding that no matter where you are in the world, music is the universal language spoken by all.
Ahead of New Year’s Eve, organisers of SAMW are requesting everyone to spread the message far and wide – for all our sakes.
The South African Music Week is in proud partnership with the Department of Sports Arts and Culture, Gauteng Dept of Sports, Arts, Culture & Recreation and BrandSA.
To register for the SAMW conference and to watch performances, please visit www.samw.co.za
To view the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksQat2x42EI&feature=youtu.be
Social Media handles:
Instagram – @samusicweek
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFrkgvhq8JRd-scvXD5AiiA?view_as=subscriber
Twitter – @SAmusicweek2021
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/South-African-Music-Week-109333754258077/?view_public_for=109333754258077
Hashtags: #SAMW2021 #Music4IR
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