It may seem an unlikely match, but it’s all in the name of community development.
From their success in bringing sport back to the streets of Cape Town through sporting equipment donations, the Unchain the Plain Foundation (UTP) has now expanded to include a music project.
“The key focus of the Foundation is sporting development. We believe in the development and unifying power of sport and want to use this tool to bring about social cohesion and transformation in our communities,” says UTP chair Mark Skriker.
“UTP already has a footprint throughout the Western Cape with champions in various areas. We also manufacture our own range of bats and balls. We want to instil a love for sport and physical activity at an early age and use this platform to teach other important life lessons and attributes. Unfortunately, not all our children are interested in sport,” he continues.
This is where the foundation’s music project comes into play.
“For us as UTP to reach a broader audience of young people and to impact their lives, we have to venture into the area of arts. This has given rise to the UTP Music Project. Through this initiative we want to showcase the talents of young people in Mitchell’s Plain and beyond and allow them to record music and get it into the public domain via mainstream radio, social media platforms, streaming platforms, live performances and more,” says Skriker.
The UTP Music Project has already recorded a number of original songs, two of which – “Gods Children” and “Unchain the Plain Remix” – are currently playing on local radio stations CCFM and SmileFM.
“We are also negotiating with other radio stations to play these original songs as part of the promotion of local music. We want to use the platform of music to create awareness around the challenges faced by our communities and to spread positive messages to young people,” he says.
UTP is independently funded by locals and companies.
“We are dependent on the funding of individuals and companies. The recording, mastering and mixing of the first five songs have been sponsored by individuals and one company. We are hoping that more companies will buy into this concept and make funding available so that we can expose more young artists through this project,” he says.
“Following our two radio interviews and the playing of the songs, we have already received requests from local artists wanting to be part of the project. We are keen to showcase more music talent and to give more artists the opportunity to get airplay on radio and other platforms.”
All songs currently recorded have been written by Skriker.
Mario Josias is the project lead, with vocalists Chemon Kandan and Ebrecia van der Rheeder joined by rapper Conley McTavish as artists associated to the project.
“These artists previously performed at UTP initiatives free of charge and were asked to be part of the initial recordings,” says Skriker.
“We want to create our own recording studio that is fully equipped to allow for recording of quality music. We also want to send artists and musicians forming part of the Unchain the Plain Music Project for courses to master and mix music and to develop music so that we don’t have to outsource this work at exorbitant costs. This work should be done inhouse.”
They have already started the process to establish the UTP Music Festival.
“Here we will allow up and coming artists to share the stage with experienced performers. All proceeds made from these events will be used to pay artists and to grow the UTPMusic Project so that more artists can be given exposure and voice training. The royalties from radio airplay and streaming or downloading of songs will be used to cross-subsidize other UTP projects and to pay artists for work done,” he says.
For now, residents can support the project by requesting radio stations play their songs, or by downloading and streaming the songs on recognised platforms.
Monetary contributions are welcome, but music recording equipment and instruments is another need at this stage.
- Prospective artists can contact Mario Josias on 074 579 5040 or Juven Rittles on 081 234 9554. Also contact Juven for donations.
