FREERIDDIM's UNATHI NOPECE TALKS TO RAPP ABOUT MEETING ARCHBISHOP TUTU, GETTING DIRTY FOR CHARITY AND WELL....ABOUT JUSTIN HINES.

After a rather shaky journey (which included some car trouble), I finally arrived at the SABC Studios for my interview with Bronwen Nel and Polly Cordell. I could immediately sense how passionate they were about their project. Bronwen and Polly work for Radio Active Productions Publishing (RAPP) a company located at the SABC Studios at Conyngham Road in Port Elizabeth. Bronwen is a qualified sound engineer who is Justin Hines' South African manager.

Bronwen is the head of Marketing and PR.

Justin Hines is a Canadian singer-songwriter, whose music was described in the Herald as "back and forth between folk, jazz and country". Indeed, it is slightly reminiscent of contemporaries such as Will Young and Michael Bublé, but it’s certainly no replica. I suppose if you really had to slot his music in somewhere, you could call it adult contemporary or easy listening. He has released 2 albums to date (Sides and Chasing Silver available for downloading at: www.justinhines.com).

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Justin has Larsen’s disease, which is a rare genetic disease of the joints.

A gentle touch is enough to dislocate one of his joints entirely.
At times, I couldn’t help but feel that people placed more focus on his disease than his music.

Of course this disease has not hindered his passion for music, which started at an early age, where he would spend hours listening to his father’s jukebox (I’m sure some of the musicians reading this are nodding their heads and thinking of where their passions for music started).
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We spent about 2 hours just chatting in the studio and watched Justin Hines’ South African video twice.

How did the project come about and what is its purpose now?

In February of this year, Bronwen offered to produce a South African remix of Justin Hines’ single Say What You Will (from the Chasing Silver Album). The remix features an acapella group called Key Note (from Uitenhage) and some members of the Services Seta Siyaya Learner Choir from Port Elizabeth. Justin and Aubrey were so impressed by the remix that they agreed to send a crew to shoot a video in Port Elizabeth and surrounding areas in the Eastern Cape mid April and to then launch it globally. This project has since branched out into charity work, after Mike the leader of Key Note acapella group asked RAPP to help revamp his old school, Despatch Primary School. Various sponsors such as Maritime Motors, Nashua and City Paint and Tool donated resources and Lincoln Park Public School (a school in Canada) donated stationery from the money they made by selling cookies. Polly and Bronwen got their hands dirty as they helped scrub, clean and repaint the school along with many other volunteers.

Will there be a tour to promote the song?

RAPP is currently building Justin Hines’ profile in South Africa as well as working on him touring the country. Musically, RAPP’s plan is to bring more international acts to Port Elizabeth and to then market them nationally. So watch this space.

Are there any other similar projects with Justin Hines or any other artists in the pipeline?

I noticed that Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is in the video. How did that come about?
This is a story I find rather amusing and interesting. But I’ll keep it short. Basically, after a lot of persistence (or pestering) Arch Tutu’s right-hand gave RAPP a five minute slot with him. Considering the fact that they tried to make an appointment with him during Holy Week, it was a miracle that they were even given a slot. And we all know that Arch Desmond Tutu is a very busy man. So they drove down to Cape Town and managed to record him within their given five minutes. And the rest, as they say, is history. Zola Yeye (former Springbok team manager) is also in the video.

(For the non-Anglicans, Holy Week is the week of Good Friday. Services are conducted every day during that week and a lot more time is dedicated to prayer and meditation. So it’s a busy time for all clergy.)

When will the South African version of Say What You Will released?

The South African video has been launched online and is currently available on the RAPP website at www.rapp.co.za. You can listen to it online or download the single which will cost R10. The video is set to be aired on Mnet and SABC. Canada has purposefully held back on their releasing of the video to give South Africa a head start. Proceeds will go to charities such as APD and Services Seta Choir fund, The Justin Hines Foundation and Mpilo Ministries.

The way forward?

The charity work is going to be an on-going process. Both Polly and Bronwen are still involved with charity work and are privileged to be a part of this whole project. It was interesting to note that there have been no more break-ins since the school was fixed. As previous said, RAPP plans to bring in more international artists and market them nationally, starting of course within the Eastern Cape.

What stood out for me from listening to them was the fact that they took chances. Bronwen took a chance by offering to do a remix by an international artist and was given an opportunity to come up with something. So through word-of-mouth, she was able to get a choir together, lay down some vocals, play it to Justin Hines' record label and manager...and they totally loved it and that resulted in them coming back to shoot a video. So in my view, risk does pay off. The right kind of risk that is.

Also, Polly and Bronwen are among the warmest and most inviting people I have ever met. I am not just saying that. They were so receptive and friendly that I felt at ease throughout the entire interview. They are so passionate about this project, about Justin Hines and his foundation and the difference that has been made just by this one song. I’m normally sceptical when it comes to all things charity-related so I honestly expected the interview to be a little superficial. But the more I listened to them talk, the more I was able to feel what they were about.