Cover music video of Toto’s ‘Africa’ showcases SA’s beauty and top artists
Seven local Afrikaans singers have merged their talents to create an outstanding cover version of Toto’s iconic song, “Africa”.
It’s a beautiful, catchy song that encapsulates the spirit of the continent and South Africa and includes a music video that showcases the Kruger National Park in all it’s glory.
Juanita du Plessis, Franja du Plessis, Liezel Pieters, Ruan Josh and the musical band, Jan Jan Jan, were brought together by production company Boerboel Tunes to make it happen.
Co-owner of Boerboel Tunes, Stephan Hugo Botha, who came up with the initial idea of the cover version said that it stemmed from his love for the legendary song.
“It’s one of my top 10 songs and I was born in the same year that the original song was release, so I’ll always be as old as the song is, but also, I have twin daughters, and one of them loves the song, so I started looking at whether another South African artist had covered ‘Africa’, and I couldn’t find a version,” said Hugo Botha.
He went on to think about artists that he had worked with before and, not long after reaching out to them, the project was full steam ahead.
“When Juanita agreed that’s when it became real, she’s such a legendary artist. I am not taking away from any of the other artists, but we have a lot of respect for her.
“It was one of those things that went so smoothly and I believe it was just meant to be. I was very lucky, it was an honour to work with people with so much talent,” he said.
The song was released on Wednesday, July 31, followed by the accompanying music video a few days later.
So far the song has gained over 50k views across multiple streaming platforms.
“We are overwhelmed with the response, in a few days after launching it, it’s already over 50k views and when I look at the comments, it’s 99 percent positive. Expats are longing for South Africa and complimenting the song and the collaboration.
“There are a few people who are not in favour of doing a cover of a classic but you know what, you can’t please everyone.
“The response is very heart-warming for me, because it’s such a legendary song, and when you cover it, you really need to make sure that you do it well.
“You’ll never really know until it hits the market, so I am really overwhelmed because it’s such a personal song for me, and to see people enjoying it to this extent, it’s just amazing,” Botha said.
He continued to share that the music video was aimed at showcasing South Africa’s wildlife and landscapes, because that is a big part of what tourists who visit the country want to see.
“We decided to feature our animals on the music video because most international visitors want to see our wildlife. That is what SA has to offer the international audience.
“While researching where to shoot the music video, we stumbled across a camp at the Kruger National Park. It is only at the park for four to five months, during the winter months, next to a dry river bed and then they remove the camp entirely.
“They are very environmentally conscience, they make sure that every last thing is removed so that the next year, when they return, they can’t see where everything was. They do it in such a sustainable way, and it’s right in the midst of all the animals, it just felt right to shoot there.”
Botha said that during the shoot, security was hired to make sure they were not attacked by the animals.
“We couldn’t get more wild than what we did. I think it was very much showcasing the richness of our animal kingdom and the Kruger National Park.”
The entire project took about three months to complete. Botha said that aside from lending her amazing vocals to the track, “Meer as Net Vriende”, hitmaker Liezel Pieters also assisted in the background.
“Liezel has such a good ear so she assisted with making sure that everything was perfect.
“When you are so professional, you hear things in a song that other people may not, but once it’s sorted out, it makes such a huge difference, so it was very helpful to have such a musical and talented person right my side to steer the project.”
He said while this specific project did not include diversity, he would definitely collaborate with artists of colour when the time is right.
“It was just a case of having worked with these artists previously, so it was more like ‘Boerboel and friends’ doing this project.
“I didn’t want to approach a group song like this with people I personally do not know and have worked with. I needed everyone to be happy and that their craft is being respected, so I just decided to work with people that I know.
“I also noticed that all of these artists have a big international following and a lot of the time their fans are asking for English subtitles, or want them to do more English music, so I just thought that this is the perfect opportunity to showcase them.
“I love collaborations and I really hope that I can collaborate with a diverse group of artists on future projects,” he ended.
Watch the “Africa” music video below.