• September 12, 2008

Motivated by the work of organisations like 46664, Live 8 and Live Earth, Key Change Music officially launched its own exciting project, called Collaboration 4 Change (C4C), in partnership with 46664 recently at the Suncoast Casino in Durban.

According to the director of Key Change Music, Australian Nic Mackay, C4C aspires to achieve social change through music.

“We are a non-profit organisation which has brought artists together to use their musical power to educate and empower young people,” Mackay says. “This is going to be the start of the education and empowerment of thousands and thousands of people in South Africa.”

Margaret Canca, project manager of 46664, Nelson Mandela’s global HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, says 46664’s focus is on awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

“Ours is a message of hope and we’re saying to the youth, ‘it’s in your hands’,” she says.

Using music to talk to the youth is effective, says Canca, because, paraphrasing Nelson Mandela, “young people do not listen to politicians and they certainly do not listen to old men” (he happens to be both).

C4C is an international project which kicks off in South Africa with a tour in KwaZulu-Natal and moves to Australia at the end of the year.

“The first component includes writing a collaborative song which addresses three main issues: HIV/AIDS, women’s rights and political issues,” says Mackay.

The second component is a tour to about 20 schools in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, “where we’ll be running workshops with the artists and the students and where the 46664 play Khululeka: It’s In Our Hands will also be performed,” he explains.

The first collaborative song to be recorded, produced by Crighton Goodwill, is called Stand As One and involves the artists Loyiso, L’vovo, Ms Dawn, Pro, Zoe and the Connections Zulu Choir. The song is now available for purchase in South Africa only, via digital download from leading local cellphone retailers.

The proceeds from the song will go to organisations helping fight against the abuse of women and children, those working in HIV/AIDS, and to the education of people on issues related to politics.

The song’s theme is social justice and it calls on young people to have dreams and purpose in their lives and for them to rise above the challenges they face.

The artists are also ambassadors of C4C along with other personalities like Ukhozi FM radio DJ Linda Sibiya and Yfm radio DJ Dineo Ranaka.

Ranaka, who has now been with C4C for two months, says she had to meet the organisers after her producer spoke highly of them.

“My first meeting with Dawn Mlotshwa and Nic was arranged by my content producer JJ after he had met Dawn and fell in love with their work,” Ranaka says. “He was so impressed that he brought them into the studio for an interview.

“We just hung out – it wasn’t really an interview – and after speaking to them, I so badly wanted to be a part of what they were doing,” she adds.

Sponsors and companies have come on board to aid the C4C project, including Generations of Leaders Discovered (Gold).

Susannah Farr of Gold says it is an honour to be involved with C4C as the organisations share similar ideals.

“We are really privileged to be contributing to and partnering with Collaboration 4 Change,” says Farr. “At Gold we believe that it starts with the individual, but it doesn’t stop there. In KwaZulu-Natal we work intensively with 12 schools and have peer educators to address the issues facing young people.”

Farr adds, “We have to do it together and hopefully this is a seed of much more to come. This is not part of a quick fix, this is a long-term thing.”

This is also the view of 46664 who supports this initiative as a prime example of young people proving that “it’s in our hands” to initiate positive change in society by joining hands together to realise a similar vision.

Mackay’s friends from Australia, Rachel Lecouteur and Dinesha Perera, are also excited about the project, which they will be working on in Australia at the end of the year. They say it is a brilliant initiative and they are proud to be a part of it.

“We’re really proud of Nic and Dawn,” says Lecouteur. “Nic’s always wanted to do something with music.”

“It’s such a big programme to get off the ground,” Perera adds, “the whole idea of using music is a good initiative because music is universal and everyone connects with it.”