Saving the environment through song

As the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic begins to impact every fibre of our daily lives, artists and the music industry are being especially hard-hit.

With numerous concerts and shows already postponed and cancelled due to the rapidly spreading virus, some local musicians are proving that despite losing much of their royalties, their sense of humanity remains unaffected.

Among these charitable crooners are South African husband and wife duo, Bottomless Coffee Band, who are using their latest single, Wilderness, to help raise funds for the Community Conservation Fund Africa (CCFA).

The band’s members, Lourens and Esté Rabé, told The Citizen that even during periods such as the global lockdown, it’s business as usual for poachers.

Speaking to the duo on these very concerns, Adrian Gardiner, CEO and Chairman the CCFA said: “We certainly believe that poaching will be on the rise in these times. People will lose their jobs and income will be scarce, therefore people will be more easily tempted into poaching.”

However, Gardiner stressed that the CCFA is taking extra precautions to look after our rhinos by employing more guards who are considered an essential service, as well as installing Flir cameras, which are state of the art thermal cameras with a 24 hours control room to receive alerts if any humans approach the area.

All of these are measure are a costly exercise and this is the reason why a collaboration with Bottomless Coffee Band is such a timely one.

Using their own marriage and successful musical partnership as an example of the power of collaborative efforts, the band said: “Marriage is two individuals joining forces with different ideas and unique abilities to build something even stronger and more powerful as a result.

“A collaboration is exactly that, and we’ve seen that the strength of joint forces is powerful and leads to unique endeavours.”

And now, together with the CCFA, the duo is inviting their fans and music lovers everywhere be part of this marriage.

By simply streaming the band’s single, Wilderness, fans help raise funds for the CCFA who will use it to uplift communities and conserve wildlife.

Thanks to the group’s additional partnership with South African wine and cheese producer, Fairview, every time that someone streams or shares the track, Fairview will donate R1 towards the cause.

“I think music is the best global means of communication and, if anything needs to be communicated right now, on a world stage, it is conservation,” said Fairview owner, Charles Back, in a statement.

Lourens and Esté say that with this pandemic, they see even more that we must all look after the environment, and they believe that that is the message of their song and video.

“The song, which was inspired by a poem, tells the story of a rhino calf being separated from his mother after she is shot for her horn. This as a metaphor for the greater environmental and conservation crisis; we are all created to live in harmony and synergy on this planet – to protect all the natural systems that we as humans can’t create once it’s gone.

“We believe that painting this picture will invite people into the reality and offer them the opportunity to also be involved with what they have in their hands.”

To stream and share the Wilderness video, click here.

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