"HERWIN":LOCAL ALBUM TO PROMOTE RECYCLING
The preservation of the environment is a matter which Jean Marais, owner of the music company Tunes Studio in Stellenbosch, has held dear since an early age. A few months ago, and to his utter dismay, he discovered that his hometown sports a severe lack of recycling infrastructure.
After a few phone calls to the local municipality and recycling companies in Stellenbosch, Jean was assured that tenders have been granted to create these infrastructures within the next few months. However, Jean still felt that he could make a larger contribution to the matter than a couple of phone calls.
That was when the idea of collaborative music project, focussed on the importance of nature preservation, dawned upon him. A project like this, however, cannot realise without the necessary funds. Jean was brought into contact with a South African historian,who has already been involved in the preservation of Afrikaans for many years, and who is the project’s first benefactor, provided that its contents be in Afrikaans.
The nature of the project Jean’s love for his language and connections with various Afrikaans artists has coerced him to combine the theme of recycling with the Afrikaans language. The idea is to focus on Afrikaans, not only as the vehicle by means of which knowledge of recycling is spread, but also for the language itself to be recycled. Afrikaans is a young language, fashioned only by a great few people in the world: thus, recycling through recycling.
Society needs to understand that the environment is fragile and fading due to years of destruction, and that we need to take action today, because tomorrow might be too late. Tunes Studio have partnered with Valve House Studios, who is supporting the project and will help bring it to its full potential. Valve House’s infrastructure allows for the entire studio to be run on a generator. We are planning to fill the generator with bio diesel in order to lessen our carbon footprint during the recording of the album. To our knowledge, this will be the first album of its kind in the country. The album cover will be manufactured from recycled materials and will also contain seeds of indigenous trees, so the entire packaging can be returned to the soil. Just another way in which this album will contribute to a greener environment.
Schalk Joubert will act as producer and also spearhead the group of musicians. The musicians and writers who have been approached and confirmed, are: Arthur Dennis, Rudi Dennis, Piet Botha, Anton Goosen, Riku Lätti, Gian Groen, Willim Welsyn, Ryno Velvet, Valiant Swart, Albert Meintjes, Herman Kleinhans, Churchil Naude, Riaan Nieuwenhuis, Sima Mashazi, Hilandi Du Toit, Albert Frost, Auriol Hays, Frazier Barry, Brain Cloete, Francois Marais, Bacchus Nel and Kobus de Kock Jnr.
To find out more or get to involved contact Jean Marais at tunesstudio@gmail.com
