Singers from Keetmanshoop amassed for what is being seen as the most heartwarming and beautiful rendition of the ever-popular We Are The World ballad – to be in solidarity with the rest of the world during these tough times brought forth by the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We Are the World is a charity single originally recorded by a group of famous or well-known celebrities in the USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World.
The song, remade by a supergroup from Keetmanshoop which was uploaded on 30 May on YouTube, has since garnered close to 20 000 views with positive acclaim from viewers.
Bessie McKay, who serves on the executive committee of the Keetmanshoop Agricultural, Industrial and Tourism Expo, came up with the idea and liaised with singers to pull it off.
“I am usually in charge of gathering artists to perform at the expo and due to Covid-19 the expo won’t be happening this year, so I came up with the idea of getting artists together and singing a solidarity song to comfort the world through these tough times,” McKay told Entertainment Now!
McKay said: “We are not essential workers but we care and that’s why we teamed up and made this song happen.”
She managed to get singers together with the assistance of Innocent Mathys and Bernard Isaaks from #Voice_Note acapella group.
“They worked tirelessly around the clock to get people together. Initially, we were 57 members on the WhatsApp group created for this purpose but reduced to 30 due to issues surrounding social distance and other inconveniencies around that, ” recalls McKay.
She said the group rehearsed for two days with singers being allowed to choose their verses they were comfortable with. “We rehearsed for about two days and recorded it in one day with the amazing work of Earl Goliath’s production,” she said.
Earl Goliath, eminently known as DJ Early in Keetmanshoop, said it was a pleasure working on the project as a producer and directing the video. “Upon being informed of the project, I remade the instrumental and tweaked it a little bit without making it lose the essential part of the song, ” said DJ Early.
He further said music is a powerful tool that has always been used to send messages across. “It’s these basic little things which count,” mentioned DJ Early. The mastermind behind Virtual Music Production (VMP) Studio further said: “My aim has and will always be to boost entertainment in Keetmanshoop and that’s why I was eager to be part of this project.”
The devastation caused by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 led to the remake of the song by another all-star cast of singers which was recorded on 1 February 2010. Entitled “We Are the World 25 for Haiti”, it was released as a single on 12 February 2010 and proceeds from the record aided survivors in the impoverished country.
Earlier this year, Lionel Richie suggested a third remake to communicate a message of global solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic and raise funds for aid efforts.
– psiririka@nepc.com.na