Musicians raise voices for Aids

HIV/Aids research and treatment was top of the agenda this week when popular musicians joined forces for a Cafe and Beach house party aimed at raising funds to help fight the scourge.

Kicking off the party early this week at The Grand in Granger Bay was multiawardwinning record producer and DJ Black Coffee, along with South Africa’s biggest-selling artist Nathi (Nomvula), award-winning singer Vusi Nova, social activist Nancy G and Cameroon rapper Ruff X.

The bash was hosted by the Sapinda Rainbow Foundation, with the event dedicated to raising funds for the Ndlovu Care Group in Limpopo, to finance its HIV/Aids research and development centre.

Dr Hugo Templeman, a Dutch doctor who founded the Ndlovu care group in 2014, said medicine was not the only way to combat HIV/Aids.

“Through concise research and development we will find better ways of tackling the disease, so partnerships and fund-raisers of this nature are very important.”

At Tuesday’s event, William Ward, chief executive of Clipper Ventures, along with English sailor Sir Robin KnoxJohnston, donated a hefty R250 000 to the cause.

Other donations are yet to be tallied.

Sapinda foundation chairman Dirk van Daele said they had planned the world’s biggest house party “by encouraging people to invite their friends around to join in via our live web stream”.

DJ Black Coffee told Weekend Argus that being part of the initiative meant he could finally practise what he had been “preaching to people since 2010”.

“I always tell people that helping others is not just about giving them money. You can volunteer your time.”

He said growing problems around the HIV/Aids pandemic stemmed from a shortage of platforms from which young boys in particular could speak freely, while also educating others in a manner to which they could relate.

“Currently we are sitting with a situation where girls are being empowered with all the necessary information while the boy child is left out. What then happens is that when the boy enters the picture he messes with everything the girl has been taught. We need platforms where we engage young boys about these issues.”

Nova and Mankayi said more artists needed to get vocal about the pandemic.

“We can’t as artists stand by any longer and watch youth abuse drugs and alcohol, which in many cases leads to actions which may result in HIV.

“We have a platform and a following and it is time we use it to attract people to engage in relevant conversations,” said Nova.

The second leg of the global house parties will be held next year in Seattle, in partnership with BET Africa.