Call for support: Philip Miller MusoRelief SA campaign

As part of the ongoing campaign, Miller and his collaborator, Tshegofatso Moeng, released in late July 'iLand Act 1913', which was originally written by South African composer Reuben T Caluza (1895-1969). The new rendition involves a group of talented musicians across South Africa who recorded and filmed themselves in their own homes, supplying voice notes for Miller to assemble the final song.

This is the second song that Miller has released in support of the campaign MusoRelief SA. In May, the award-winning composer released a remake of Caluza's composition 'Influenza' to highlight the parallels between the current pandemic and the 1918 flu global outbreak. The song was written during the period when the Spanish flu affected many people in South Africa and around the world. Like with 'iLand Act 1913', Miller brought together a team of young vocalists with whom he has collaborated over the years. The song was sung in Zulu, with each vocalist recording in their own home.

Miller says that over the years his music has been enriched by the extraordinary talents of South African singers and musicians who have collaborated on many of his projects, such as film scores, multimedia installations and operas. He says that now is the time, more than ever before, for him to support many of these artists not just financially "but also to imagine new ways to create work with each other and reach new audiences via social media campaigns."

"The campaign is really a way of trying to empower musicians and singers, whether to have food on their table or data on their cellphones, so that they can get on with making music under these tough times of COVID-19," Miller told Music In Africa. "The ensemble of singers and musicians who have participated in the new arrangements of Reuben T Caluza’s songs continues to grow and expand with each new arrangement. Many of the singers were not that familiar with Caluza’s phenomenal songwriting and his popularity in the 1920s and 1930s. It's exciting to explore his repertoire, which really breaks out of the four-part harmony, Christian missionary tradition and starts to edge into ragtime, blues and is the beginning of the sounds of marabi.

Miller's campaign has already raised R150 000 (about $9 000) with 27 instrumentalists and singers receiving monetary assistance since its launch.

Anyone interested in supporting the Philip Miller Musorelief SA initiative can do so via the BUSQR platform or transfer funds to the bank account below:

PM MusoreliefSA (NPC)
Nedbank current account
Account no: 1204706042
Branch Code: 101297000