Unfinished bridge ‘symbolises’ city
A MUSIC video inspired by a song that tries to bridge the gap of inequality has been shot at the unfinished bridge in the Cape Town CBD.
Country rock group, Rocking Horse, shot the video to their single,
their latest album with the same name, which took them five years to record.
The socially conscious album speaks about issues of integration, access, opportunity – issues that could unite Capetonians and the greater South Africa.
The song was written by bandmates and brothers, Clive and Tony Ridgway who will also be celebrating 30 years in the music industry.
“We believe in writing music that has a purpose and meaning. At its core is the message that we need to bridge the gap between people at the opposite extremes of the economic divide,” said Clive.
He added the concept behind the song had been central to his work as a songwriter and also in his professional life as a commercial radio programme director.
“People need to be mindful of their surroundings and what they say.”
The music video captured the band performing the song at the end of the unfinished highway.
“This footage will be interspersed with glimpses of the city’s material extremes as well as moving and detailed shots containing a mix of cultural symbols, branded artefacts, newspaper headline posters, graffiti, concrete, steel and glass”.
Clive said the song came about when he looked out his window and saw the unfinished bridge. He was struck by the “symbolism of the unfinished highways of Cape Town, the arms of concrete, veins of steel, reaching out to one another from opposite ends of the city, poised but not ready to slip into one accepting embrace”.
Tony said a little research revealed the cut-off bridge “suspended in the briny foreshore air” was built 40 years ago.
“It’s official name was the ‘Eastern Boulevard Highway’s Foreshore Freeway Bridge’.
There are many theories about how it came to be abandoned. An engineering error, a shop owner in its way refusing to budge, the City had run out of money.”