Recording the awarenet Peace Songs at Rhodes University

After the great success of the awarenet Peace Day Concert, Sonic Art Studio and us started to organise the recording of the five different awarenet Peace Songs in the Rhodes University’s recording studios. The use of the facilities was a donation of the Department of Music and Musicology to the awarenet Peace and Music Project.

During November, all learners from CM Vellem HPS, Good Shepherd PS, Khutliso Daniels SS, Ntaba Maria PS and Victoria Girls HS got their slot, independently of whether they won the competition or not. They were very excited and spent the waiting time singing and dancing in the lovely garden of the Department. As we entered the recording studio, tensions went up due to the fact that it was the first time for all of them being in a professional music studio. Corinne Cooper, the owner of Sonic Art Studio and lecturer of Sound Technology, gave some instructions before they were ready to start.

First, we recorded the different rappers followed by the chorus. Because most of the children were really nervous, we needed a couple of attempts before their confidence along with a strong singing voice was regained. On average, it took us two and a half hours to record a whole song, which was less than I expected. Finally, we took the learners back home and started editing the song recordings. During the regular awarenet sessions, the learners wrote blogs about their experiences.

We would like to thank Sonic Art Studio as well as Rhodes University for a great collaboration in the awarenet Peace and Music Project! Without them, the project would have never been possible, never mind so successful!

The songs will be linked here as soon as they are finished.