SONG TO HONOUR UYINENE |
MI CASA member J’Something has written a touching and poignant song as a tribute to Uyinene Mrwetyana, the 19-year-old
UCT student who was raped and murdered in August last year.
The song is a moving ode to the slain student whose death made headlines worldwide and sparked a movement in South Africa, highlighting SA’s problem of genderbased violence and femicide.
Posting a clip of the song to Twitter, the music producer and guitarist wrote: “A song I wrote for #UyineneMrwetyana last year… I hope it lands with the sincerity and love in which it was made.”
Starting off the song with the lyrics, “those are our daughters, our brothers. Those are our sisters, our mothers”, J’Something sings a haunting melody accompanied by guitar.
“Last year I wrote this song when a girl who I didn’t know tragically passed away and left all of us in shock and filled the nation with sadness.
“I had no idea what to do that day and the days following… then there were the xenophobic attacks around the same time and I felt so useless not knowing how to get involved and we tried to speak about it and post things, etc, which I knew wouldn’t really help the situation.
“One night, out of frustration and deep sadness, I got into the studio to express myself and did this song. I never released it last year out of fear of sharing… unsure of how it would land and worried about people’s opinions,” J’Something said.
“Today I would like to present to you with this song and pay tribute not only Uyinene, but so many others that are being killed daily.
“I know this song too doesn’t solve anything but I would like to use my gifts to shine light on something I believe should’ve never happened and something that as a South African really shattered my heart... #ripuyinenemrwetyana. I would also like to thank my goodness friend @tabzunderground for mixing and mastering this song and also to my friend @mot_micasa for playing trumpet.”
The song features a montage of photos, showing the daily struggles ordinary South African women have to contend with on a daily basis, pictures of Mrwetyana, and of the countrywide protests which took place after her death.
The video has already clocked up over 9.4K views with no doubt that it has struck a chord with many.