piercing the silence

PIERCING THE SILENCE is a 10-track multi-genre compilation that features a selection of predominantly South African-based alternative artists such as Thammy Ndlovu, sonder the africanime, Farrah Khataza along with GLOR1A (UK) and Lover Buffet (GER). This project is merely our contribution to causes we believe in—a form of sonic mobilisation, rallying artists who stand in solidarity with oppressed communities in Palestine, Sudan, and Congo. We’ve had the pleasure to compile and release this project with the support of and in partnership with AAAA (African Artists Against Apartheid), with 100% of the proceeds directed towards Gift of the Givers, Friends of the Congo, and Sudan Solidarity Collective.

Imperialism has deeply influenced our daily lives through Western power monopolisation and colonial capitalism, with devastating effects on a humanitarian level, as genocide and slavery escalate in the aforementioned countries. The creative industry is a milder example of the impact these systems have on oppressed people, leaving artists in positions where their livelihoods are threatened and stifled by the very same capitalist organisations benefiting from their existence and creations. These imperial forces weave inequality and suffering across a plethora of industries at the cost of innocent lives in some cases, hence Nobody’s Free Until We Are All Free as our struggles interconnect and root from the same sources. As we mobilise for the humanitarian aid of innocent women, men, and children, we recognise our responsibility as artists and lovers of music to use our craft to uplift the voices of those who are voiceless.

As we continue PIERCING THE SILENCE, we face the limitations of the monetary value placed on digital music along with losses at the hands of taxes from major platforms such as Bandcamp, Spotify, etc. Hence, we have decided to design merch to supplement and provoke further support from creative communities and audiences at large.

Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), founded in 1991 by concerned humanitarians in the USA, provides free medical care to thousands of injured and ill children yearly who lack local access to care within the local health care system.

RaisING the consciousness of the world community on the challenge of the Congo and support Congolese institutions in bringing about a peaceful and lasting change.

The Sudan Solidarity Collective formed in response to the outbreak of a brutal war in Sudan. It seeks to resource grassroots civil society formations at the frontlines of relief efforts in those parts of Sudan that have been hardest hit by militarised state violence.