What do you get when you mix a bunch of South Africa’s top musicians, with Cape Town’s Academy of Sound Engineering, and the DHL Stormers rugby team, celebrating the late, great Johnny Clegg’s seminal song The Crossing/ Osiyeza? The kind of goose-bump-inducing, feel –good-during-the-pandemic performance that makes happy tears an inevitability.
It started with musician and vocal coach RJ Benjamin auditioning the entire DHL Stormers squad for what has become a classic reinterpretation of a quintessential anthem. With the finest of the DHL Stormers voices selected, the next step was to marry each of the selected players with a professional musician to complement the four-minute-long, goose-bumps-inducing chorus.
A good few more phone calls later, informed by Music Exchange founder Martin Myers, and dates were quickly confirmed for the first week of March, where RJ Benjamin (singer/songwriter and vocal coach on Idols and Voice SA), Heinrich Frans (lead and backing singer for the likes of Josh Groban, Jonathan Butler and Diana Ross), James Stewart (Emmy-nominated composer and lead singer of the 90s group The Usual), along with 12 Stormers players, joined Francois van Coke, Zolani (Freshly Ground), Paxton (2017 Idols winner), Amy Tjasink (2019 The Voice SA finalist), Amy Jones (singer/songwriter), Chantal Stanfield (Getroud met Rugby), Chad Saaiman (singer/songwriter), Josh Hawks (bass player), Dan Shout (saxophonist), Mornay Hofmeester (drummer) and comedian and actor Marc Lottering.
Finding common ground
Each sang two lines each from Osiyeza’s verses. Dan Shout, Johnny Clegg’s saxophonist for seven years, also added critical soprano sax parts to the final mix. Apart from RJ Benjamin, all the above are Capetonians. RJ, along with Peter Pearlson, produced the recording.
From Monday 3 March, through Thursday 6 March 2020, two very unlikely disciplines and groupings found immediate common ground in a song that’s original intention of celebrating solidarity was amplified in a way that no-one present could ever have thought possible.
As we navigate our new reality, which did not inform or motivate this recording, its overriding sentiment could not be more important than right now, its literal translation reading as: “We will cross over this dark time”.
“The melody and the vibe of the song has a moving South African essence to it,” explains Marc Lottering. “An essence that gets to your heart. A spirit that reminds us that we are one nation. I feel that that’s part of Johnny Clegg’s legacy.”
As to the motivation for the talent invited to participate, Amy Jones is quick to point out that she took the call because she wanted to be a part of something that was bigger than herself. “I strongly believe people are better together,” she confirms. “This song and video are such a perfect example of that.”
Beautiful alchemy
“I was so encouraged by Stormer’s coach Dobson’s willingness to embrace diversity,” recalls Heinrich Frans. “His ethos is one that transcends rugby because he believes in the power of unity. His sense of humanity should be an inspiration to us all.”
Chad Saaiman’s outtake from being a part of the beautiful alchemy created is no less telling. “My wish for anyone who watches the video is that they try and understand that we all have challenges and obstacles to overcome; and push to have a greater empathy for those who are less fortunate. That we all try and use what we have at our disposal to help each other just a little bit more.”
For Dan Shout, who walked a long road with the late, great musical orator, his leave behind is profound and powerful. “For me, the song is extremely apt, in that although we are in a difficult period right now, we too shall make our crossing to the next part of our journey after a period of mourning.”
WS
