Conservation Music Galvanizes Mambanje, Zimbabwe to Support Conservation
In early September, Conservation Music (CM) headed to the Mambanje village of Zimbabwe for the next leg of Expedition #K2K. We were invited by the African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF) to build awareness and conversation within the community by focusing on deforestation, poaching, and ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiativethroughout the creation of this month’s eco-educational music production, “Hayilondo Teni Nyika Yedu” meaning “Let’s Conserve Our Nature.” As the project developed, we integrated the musical talent of several local villagers and students from the primary school’s marimba band. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
The immersion into the small, isolated community of Mambanje was a sure change from our previous month spent in Livingstone, Zambia. Our travels in between took us over the iconic Victoria Falls bridge, into forests of Baobabs and through the gateway town of Dete, leading us to Mambanje and the Main Camp of Hwange National Park. Without stores, petrol stations or grocers in sight, we settled into the small community of which we called home for the next month. We were housed in teachers’ cottages at the Mambanje Primary School, allowing the crew to rest off the journey and prepare for the next day’s village council meeting.
The following morning the community welcomed CM as we introduced the movement and detailed our specific plans in the village. Many intrigued musicians connected with us, stimulating the process of finding collaborators for this month’s eco-educational music production. We first linked with a local singer named Tatenda, who also goes by Tormeta. He then introduced us to his grandfather, Machaingwe, who hadn’t picked up a stringed instrument in years, yet was able to surprise the crew with his highly skilled talent once we handed him a guitar. The engagement we were seeing already was extremely positive and free-flowing, all good signs for this month’s production.
That afternoon, the village Lion Guardian Polite showed us the mobile bomas, which are movable shelter systems used to prevent cattle hunting by lions and hinder the ensuing human-wildlife conflict. The mobile bomas hide cattle from being in plain sight of predators, while also reflecting moonlight to discourage the predators’ approach. Since the animals are kept inside the bomas, their concentrated presence benefits the land by breaking up compacted soil and fertilizing it with their urine and feces while restricting grazing to one area at a time. The bomas are systematically relocated throughout the land, leaving behind fertile plots while tending to new ones. After Polite showed us the bomas, he lead us to a nearby kraal, a traditional wooden shelter system. These are unfortunately more transparent and accessible to predators. Without local grocers, the community relies heavily on their livestock and local food sources, making these shelter systems a very important life aspect. Unfortunately, cattle attacks from large predators lead to reactions of poaching, which is an issue that we are trying to highlight and further develop solutions to. Learn more about the importance and effectiveness of ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiative.
Connecting with Mambanje’s Primary School
Before heading back to the village to write the song, we headed to Main Camp Primary School in Hwange National Park to visit the student marimba band. To our surprise, the five youths in the band had already started composing a rhythm and melody, which we used to form the skeleton of our eco-song. The Marimba band played their parts individually, allowing us to record pieces to bring back to the village to compose further. Before heading back, we gave a short presentation to explain the CM movement and the power that music has to help change the world.
Developing an Eco-educational Song with Local Musicians
Back in Mambanje, we started piecing together the song’s structure with Machaingwe on guitar and bass, then conducted a series of meetings where we further composed the lyrics with Tormeta. Local teacher Rebecca helped us with lyrical translations so that Tormeta could hit every major theme of the song, allowing him to develop very memorable and relatable lyrics. In no time, we had tracked the rhythm, lead, bass guitars, a Zim dancehall riff, and drums played by Polite’s wife Zanele. The song was naturally developing into a high-energy, locally styled composition.
As we moved into the recording phases of the production, we worked with Machaingwe on both the guitar and bass pieces. Despite his 20-year absence from stringed instruments, writing and recording with him was a breeze. Tormeta joined his efforts as they collaboratively worked out the keyboard recordings for the Zim dancehall bridge. Zim dancehall is a popular local style of music that utilizes upbeat percussive elements and synthesized leads, with heavily auto-tuned vocals. With the music flowing, it was finally time to record Tormeta’s vocals. A local family graciously shared their homestead with us, so that we could record in a quiet setting. The peaceful experience was followed up with sharing some tea and bread.
Over the next few days, we continued to meet with other community members, who contributed backing vocals to the track. A few students added vocals for the chorus and an exciting dance performance, which we filmed for the music video. We prepared for the next coming days, which were set to be full of location video shoots throughout the village and surrounding areas.
Filming Location Shoots to Highlight Local Environmental Issues & Solutions
We kicked off the location shoots with Tormeta by heading to a nearby dried river bed within a heavily deforested area. We continued to film Tormeta’s parts in front of a few riverside gardens, which we included to highlight the illegal practice and how it leads to soil erosion. As we moved along, we captured more shots in the nearby mobile bomas. A few exciting final additions to the video were filmed during our visit to Hwange National Park, where we were able to shoot amazing footage of elephants, giraffes, baboons, kudu, wildebeests, and lions. Our focus for the day was on obtaining footage of lions, which we were graced with towards the end of our time in the park. On the way out we came across a pride of about fourteen lions lounging in the middle of the road. This wildlife footage is an essential aspect to our music video as key points in the lyrics pertain to pressing human-wildlife issues. We ended the location shoots on a high note and headed back to the village to wrap up our project so that we could screen it to the community prior to leaving.
Community Screening & Educational Discussions
With the song and video finalized, we held a community event consisting of several live performances of the song, integrated community discussions on the topics, and a debut screening of the music video. The crowd continued to expand throughout the night, as the music lured in members of the community and created a platform for conversation on conservation, health, and other sustainable development priorities. We were extremely pleased with the turnout and interaction from the villagers as they asked questions, learned, danced, and sang along.
Instead of leaving on the scheduled departure, we surprised the community by staying for an additional day. This impulsive decision led to a few amazing developments, as we recorded several more musical contributions from community drummers and a mbira player. Our additional time in the village also granted incredibly empowering interviews with Polite, Machaingwe, and Tormeta. The month spent in this village, and amongst these beautiful people, was a success as we brought together people from all over the world to learn, discuss, and take action on our shared environmental problems.
After our extended stay, we departed from the village and headed to the city of Maun in Botswana to visit with old friends and take part in the Okavango Delta Music Festival. Our time in Maun is set to be a week long, before heading off to start leg eight of Expedition #K2K in Harare, Zimbabwe with the one and only Oliver Mtukudzi.
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term fieldwork, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life, he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Conservation Music Galvanizes Mambanje, Zimbabwe to Support Conservation
In early September, Conservation Music (CM) headed to the Mambanje village of Zimbabwe for the next leg of Expedition #K2K. We were invited by the African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF) to build awareness and conversation within the community by focusing on deforestation, poaching, and ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiativethroughout the creation of this month’s eco-educational music production, “Hayilondo Teni Nyika Yedu” meaning “Let’s Conserve Our Nature.” As the project developed, we integrated the musical talent of several local villagers and students from the primary school’s marimba band. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
The immersion into the small, isolated community of Mambanje was a sure change from our previous month spent in Livingstone, Zambia. Our travels in between took us over the iconic Victoria Falls bridge, into forests of Baobabs and through the gateway town of Dete, leading us to Mambanje and the Main Camp of Hwange National Park. Without stores, petrol stations or grocers in sight, we settled into the small community of which we called home for the next month. We were housed in teachers’ cottages at the Mambanje Primary School, allowing the crew to rest off the journey and prepare for the next day’s village council meeting.
The following morning the community welcomed CM as we introduced the movement and detailed our specific plans in the village. Many intrigued musicians connected with us, stimulating the process of finding collaborators for this month’s eco-educational music production. We first linked with a local singer named Tatenda, who also goes by Tormeta. He then introduced us to his grandfather, Machaingwe, who hadn’t picked up a stringed instrument in years, yet was able to surprise the crew with his highly skilled talent once we handed him a guitar. The engagement we were seeing already was extremely positive and free-flowing, all good signs for this month’s production.
That afternoon, the village Lion Guardian Polite showed us the mobile bomas, which are movable shelter systems used to prevent cattle hunting by lions and hinder the ensuing human-wildlife conflict. The mobile bomas hide cattle from being in plain sight of predators, while also reflecting moonlight to discourage the predators’ approach. Since the animals are kept inside the bomas, their concentrated presence benefits the land by breaking up compacted soil and fertilizing it with their urine and feces while restricting grazing to one area at a time. The bomas are systematically relocated throughout the land, leaving behind fertile plots while tending to new ones. After Polite showed us the bomas, he lead us to a nearby kraal, a traditional wooden shelter system. These are unfortunately more transparent and accessible to predators. Without local grocers, the community relies heavily on their livestock and local food sources, making these shelter systems a very important life aspect. Unfortunately, cattle attacks from large predators lead to reactions of poaching, which is an issue that we are trying to highlight and further develop solutions to. Learn more about the importance and effectiveness of ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiative.
Connecting with Mambanje’s Primary School
Before heading back to the village to write the song, we headed to Main Camp Primary School in Hwange National Park to visit the student marimba band. To our surprise, the five youths in the band had already started composing a rhythm and melody, which we used to form the skeleton of our eco-song. The Marimba band played their parts individually, allowing us to record pieces to bring back to the village to compose further. Before heading back, we gave a short presentation to explain the CM movement and the power that music has to help change the world.
Developing an Eco-educational Song with Local Musicians
Back in Mambanje, we started piecing together the song’s structure with Machaingwe on guitar and bass, then conducted a series of meetings where we further composed the lyrics with Tormeta. Local teacher Rebecca helped us with lyrical translations so that Tormeta could hit every major theme of the song, allowing him to develop very memorable and relatable lyrics. In no time, we had tracked the rhythm, lead, bass guitars, a Zim dancehall riff, and drums played by Polite’s wife Zanele. The song was naturally developing into a high-energy, locally styled composition.
As we moved into the recording phases of the production, we worked with Machaingwe on both the guitar and bass pieces. Despite his 20-year absence from stringed instruments, writing and recording with him was a breeze. Tormeta joined his efforts as they collaboratively worked out the keyboard recordings for the Zim dancehall bridge. Zim dancehall is a popular local style of music that utilizes upbeat percussive elements and synthesized leads, with heavily auto-tuned vocals. With the music flowing, it was finally time to record Tormeta’s vocals. A local family graciously shared their homestead with us, so that we could record in a quiet setting. The peaceful experience was followed up with sharing some tea and bread.
Over the next few days, we continued to meet with other community members, who contributed backing vocals to the track. A few students added vocals for the chorus and an exciting dance performance, which we filmed for the music video. We prepared for the next coming days, which were set to be full of location video shoots throughout the village and surrounding areas.
Filming Location Shoots to Highlight Local Environmental Issues & Solutions
We kicked off the location shoots with Tormeta by heading to a nearby dried river bed within a heavily deforested area. We continued to film Tormeta’s parts in front of a few riverside gardens, which we included to highlight the illegal practice and how it leads to soil erosion. As we moved along, we captured more shots in the nearby mobile bomas. A few exciting final additions to the video were filmed during our visit to Hwange National Park, where we were able to shoot amazing footage of elephants, giraffes, baboons, kudu, wildebeests, and lions. Our focus for the day was on obtaining footage of lions, which we were graced with towards the end of our time in the park. On the way out we came across a pride of about fourteen lions lounging in the middle of the road. This wildlife footage is an essential aspect to our music video as key points in the lyrics pertain to pressing human-wildlife issues. We ended the location shoots on a high note and headed back to the village to wrap up our project so that we could screen it to the community prior to leaving.
Community Screening & Educational Discussions
With the song and video finalized, we held a community event consisting of several live performances of the song, integrated community discussions on the topics, and a debut screening of the music video. The crowd continued to expand throughout the night, as the music lured in members of the community and created a platform for conversation on conservation, health, and other sustainable development priorities. We were extremely pleased with the turnout and interaction from the villagers as they asked questions, learned, danced, and sang along.
Instead of leaving on the scheduled departure, we surprised the community by staying for an additional day. This impulsive decision led to a few amazing developments, as we recorded several more musical contributions from community drummers and a mbira player. Our additional time in the village also granted incredibly empowering interviews with Polite, Machaingwe, and Tormeta. The month spent in this village, and amongst these beautiful people, was a success as we brought together people from all over the world to learn, discuss, and take action on our shared environmental problems.
After our extended stay, we departed from the village and headed to the city of Maun in Botswana to visit with old friends and take part in the Okavango Delta Music Festival. Our time in Maun is set to be a week long, before heading off to start leg eight of Expedition #K2K in Harare, Zimbabwe with the one and only Oliver Mtukudzi.
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term fieldwork, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life, he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Conservation Music Galvanizes Mambanje, Zimbabwe to Support Conservation
In early September, Conservation Music (CM) headed to the Mambanje village of Zimbabwe for the next leg of Expedition #K2K. We were invited by the African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF) to build awareness and conversation within the community by focusing on deforestation, poaching, and ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiativethroughout the creation of this month’s eco-educational music production, “Hayilondo Teni Nyika Yedu” meaning “Let’s Conserve Our Nature.” As the project developed, we integrated the musical talent of several local villagers and students from the primary school’s marimba band. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
The immersion into the small, isolated community of Mambanje was a sure change from our previous month spent in Livingstone, Zambia. Our travels in between took us over the iconic Victoria Falls bridge, into forests of Baobabs and through the gateway town of Dete, leading us to Mambanje and the Main Camp of Hwange National Park. Without stores, petrol stations or grocers in sight, we settled into the small community of which we called home for the next month. We were housed in teachers’ cottages at the Mambanje Primary School, allowing the crew to rest off the journey and prepare for the next day’s village council meeting.
The following morning the community welcomed CM as we introduced the movement and detailed our specific plans in the village. Many intrigued musicians connected with us, stimulating the process of finding collaborators for this month’s eco-educational music production. We first linked with a local singer named Tatenda, who also goes by Tormeta. He then introduced us to his grandfather, Machaingwe, who hadn’t picked up a stringed instrument in years, yet was able to surprise the crew with his highly skilled talent once we handed him a guitar. The engagement we were seeing already was extremely positive and free-flowing, all good signs for this month’s production.
That afternoon, the village Lion Guardian Polite showed us the mobile bomas, which are movable shelter systems used to prevent cattle hunting by lions and hinder the ensuing human-wildlife conflict. The mobile bomas hide cattle from being in plain sight of predators, while also reflecting moonlight to discourage the predators’ approach. Since the animals are kept inside the bomas, their concentrated presence benefits the land by breaking up compacted soil and fertilizing it with their urine and feces while restricting grazing to one area at a time. The bomas are systematically relocated throughout the land, leaving behind fertile plots while tending to new ones. After Polite showed us the bomas, he lead us to a nearby kraal, a traditional wooden shelter system. These are unfortunately more transparent and accessible to predators. Without local grocers, the community relies heavily on their livestock and local food sources, making these shelter systems a very important life aspect. Unfortunately, cattle attacks from large predators lead to reactions of poaching, which is an issue that we are trying to highlight and further develop solutions to. Learn more about the importance and effectiveness of ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiative.
Connecting with Mambanje’s Primary School
Before heading back to the village to write the song, we headed to Main Camp Primary School in Hwange National Park to visit the student marimba band. To our surprise, the five youths in the band had already started composing a rhythm and melody, which we used to form the skeleton of our eco-song. The Marimba band played their parts individually, allowing us to record pieces to bring back to the village to compose further. Before heading back, we gave a short presentation to explain the CM movement and the power that music has to help change the world.
Developing an Eco-educational Song with Local Musicians
Back in Mambanje, we started piecing together the song’s structure with Machaingwe on guitar and bass, then conducted a series of meetings where we further composed the lyrics with Tormeta. Local teacher Rebecca helped us with lyrical translations so that Tormeta could hit every major theme of the song, allowing him to develop very memorable and relatable lyrics. In no time, we had tracked the rhythm, lead, bass guitars, a Zim dancehall riff, and drums played by Polite’s wife Zanele. The song was naturally developing into a high-energy, locally styled composition.
As we moved into the recording phases of the production, we worked with Machaingwe on both the guitar and bass pieces. Despite his 20-year absence from stringed instruments, writing and recording with him was a breeze. Tormeta joined his efforts as they collaboratively worked out the keyboard recordings for the Zim dancehall bridge. Zim dancehall is a popular local style of music that utilizes upbeat percussive elements and synthesized leads, with heavily auto-tuned vocals. With the music flowing, it was finally time to record Tormeta’s vocals. A local family graciously shared their homestead with us, so that we could record in a quiet setting. The peaceful experience was followed up with sharing some tea and bread.
Over the next few days, we continued to meet with other community members, who contributed backing vocals to the track. A few students added vocals for the chorus and an exciting dance performance, which we filmed for the music video. We prepared for the next coming days, which were set to be full of location video shoots throughout the village and surrounding areas.
Filming Location Shoots to Highlight Local Environmental Issues & Solutions
We kicked off the location shoots with Tormeta by heading to a nearby dried river bed within a heavily deforested area. We continued to film Tormeta’s parts in front of a few riverside gardens, which we included to highlight the illegal practice and how it leads to soil erosion. As we moved along, we captured more shots in the nearby mobile bomas. A few exciting final additions to the video were filmed during our visit to Hwange National Park, where we were able to shoot amazing footage of elephants, giraffes, baboons, kudu, wildebeests, and lions. Our focus for the day was on obtaining footage of lions, which we were graced with towards the end of our time in the park. On the way out we came across a pride of about fourteen lions lounging in the middle of the road. This wildlife footage is an essential aspect to our music video as key points in the lyrics pertain to pressing human-wildlife issues. We ended the location shoots on a high note and headed back to the village to wrap up our project so that we could screen it to the community prior to leaving.
Community Screening & Educational Discussions
With the song and video finalized, we held a community event consisting of several live performances of the song, integrated community discussions on the topics, and a debut screening of the music video. The crowd continued to expand throughout the night, as the music lured in members of the community and created a platform for conversation on conservation, health, and other sustainable development priorities. We were extremely pleased with the turnout and interaction from the villagers as they asked questions, learned, danced, and sang along.
Instead of leaving on the scheduled departure, we surprised the community by staying for an additional day. This impulsive decision led to a few amazing developments, as we recorded several more musical contributions from community drummers and a mbira player. Our additional time in the village also granted incredibly empowering interviews with Polite, Machaingwe, and Tormeta. The month spent in this village, and amongst these beautiful people, was a success as we brought together people from all over the world to learn, discuss, and take action on our shared environmental problems.
After our extended stay, we departed from the village and headed to the city of Maun in Botswana to visit with old friends and take part in the Okavango Delta Music Festival. Our time in Maun is set to be a week long, before heading off to start leg eight of Expedition #K2K in Harare, Zimbabwe with the one and only Oliver Mtukudzi.
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term fieldwork, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life, he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Conservation Music Galvanizes Mambanje, Zimbabwe to Support Conservation
In early September, Conservation Music (CM) headed to the Mambanje village of Zimbabwe for the next leg of Expedition #K2K. We were invited by the African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF) to build awareness and conversation within the community by focusing on deforestation, poaching, and ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiativethroughout the creation of this month’s eco-educational music production, “Hayilondo Teni Nyika Yedu” meaning “Let’s Conserve Our Nature.” As the project developed, we integrated the musical talent of several local villagers and students from the primary school’s marimba band. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
The immersion into the small, isolated community of Mambanje was a sure change from our previous month spent in Livingstone, Zambia. Our travels in between took us over the iconic Victoria Falls bridge, into forests of Baobabs and through the gateway town of Dete, leading us to Mambanje and the Main Camp of Hwange National Park. Without stores, petrol stations or grocers in sight, we settled into the small community of which we called home for the next month. We were housed in teachers’ cottages at the Mambanje Primary School, allowing the crew to rest off the journey and prepare for the next day’s village council meeting.
The following morning the community welcomed CM as we introduced the movement and detailed our specific plans in the village. Many intrigued musicians connected with us, stimulating the process of finding collaborators for this month’s eco-educational music production. We first linked with a local singer named Tatenda, who also goes by Tormeta. He then introduced us to his grandfather, Machaingwe, who hadn’t picked up a stringed instrument in years, yet was able to surprise the crew with his highly skilled talent once we handed him a guitar. The engagement we were seeing already was extremely positive and free-flowing, all good signs for this month’s production.
That afternoon, the village Lion Guardian Polite showed us the mobile bomas, which are movable shelter systems used to prevent cattle hunting by lions and hinder the ensuing human-wildlife conflict. The mobile bomas hide cattle from being in plain sight of predators, while also reflecting moonlight to discourage the predators’ approach. Since the animals are kept inside the bomas, their concentrated presence benefits the land by breaking up compacted soil and fertilizing it with their urine and feces while restricting grazing to one area at a time. The bomas are systematically relocated throughout the land, leaving behind fertile plots while tending to new ones. After Polite showed us the bomas, he lead us to a nearby kraal, a traditional wooden shelter system. These are unfortunately more transparent and accessible to predators. Without local grocers, the community relies heavily on their livestock and local food sources, making these shelter systems a very important life aspect. Unfortunately, cattle attacks from large predators lead to reactions of poaching, which is an issue that we are trying to highlight and further develop solutions to. Learn more about the importance and effectiveness of ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiative.
Connecting with Mambanje’s Primary School
Before heading back to the village to write the song, we headed to Main Camp Primary School in Hwange National Park to visit the student marimba band. To our surprise, the five youths in the band had already started composing a rhythm and melody, which we used to form the skeleton of our eco-song. The Marimba band played their parts individually, allowing us to record pieces to bring back to the village to compose further. Before heading back, we gave a short presentation to explain the CM movement and the power that music has to help change the world.
Developing an Eco-educational Song with Local Musicians
Back in Mambanje, we started piecing together the song’s structure with Machaingwe on guitar and bass, then conducted a series of meetings where we further composed the lyrics with Tormeta. Local teacher Rebecca helped us with lyrical translations so that Tormeta could hit every major theme of the song, allowing him to develop very memorable and relatable lyrics. In no time, we had tracked the rhythm, lead, bass guitars, a Zim dancehall riff, and drums played by Polite’s wife Zanele. The song was naturally developing into a high-energy, locally styled composition.
As we moved into the recording phases of the production, we worked with Machaingwe on both the guitar and bass pieces. Despite his 20-year absence from stringed instruments, writing and recording with him was a breeze. Tormeta joined his efforts as they collaboratively worked out the keyboard recordings for the Zim dancehall bridge. Zim dancehall is a popular local style of music that utilizes upbeat percussive elements and synthesized leads, with heavily auto-tuned vocals. With the music flowing, it was finally time to record Tormeta’s vocals. A local family graciously shared their homestead with us, so that we could record in a quiet setting. The peaceful experience was followed up with sharing some tea and bread.
Over the next few days, we continued to meet with other community members, who contributed backing vocals to the track. A few students added vocals for the chorus and an exciting dance performance, which we filmed for the music video. We prepared for the next coming days, which were set to be full of location video shoots throughout the village and surrounding areas.
Filming Location Shoots to Highlight Local Environmental Issues & Solutions
We kicked off the location shoots with Tormeta by heading to a nearby dried river bed within a heavily deforested area. We continued to film Tormeta’s parts in front of a few riverside gardens, which we included to highlight the illegal practice and how it leads to soil erosion. As we moved along, we captured more shots in the nearby mobile bomas. A few exciting final additions to the video were filmed during our visit to Hwange National Park, where we were able to shoot amazing footage of elephants, giraffes, baboons, kudu, wildebeests, and lions. Our focus for the day was on obtaining footage of lions, which we were graced with towards the end of our time in the park. On the way out we came across a pride of about fourteen lions lounging in the middle of the road. This wildlife footage is an essential aspect to our music video as key points in the lyrics pertain to pressing human-wildlife issues. We ended the location shoots on a high note and headed back to the village to wrap up our project so that we could screen it to the community prior to leaving.
Community Screening & Educational Discussions
With the song and video finalized, we held a community event consisting of several live performances of the song, integrated community discussions on the topics, and a debut screening of the music video. The crowd continued to expand throughout the night, as the music lured in members of the community and created a platform for conversation on conservation, health, and other sustainable development priorities. We were extremely pleased with the turnout and interaction from the villagers as they asked questions, learned, danced, and sang along.
Instead of leaving on the scheduled departure, we surprised the community by staying for an additional day. This impulsive decision led to a few amazing developments, as we recorded several more musical contributions from community drummers and a mbira player. Our additional time in the village also granted incredibly empowering interviews with Polite, Machaingwe, and Tormeta. The month spent in this village, and amongst these beautiful people, was a success as we brought together people from all over the world to learn, discuss, and take action on our shared environmental problems.
After our extended stay, we departed from the village and headed to the city of Maun in Botswana to visit with old friends and take part in the Okavango Delta Music Festival. Our time in Maun is set to be a week long, before heading off to start leg eight of Expedition #K2K in Harare, Zimbabwe with the one and only Oliver Mtukudzi.
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term fieldwork, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life, he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Conservation Music Galvanizes Mambanje, Zimbabwe to Support Conservation
In early September, Conservation Music (CM) headed to the Mambanje village of Zimbabwe for the next leg of Expedition #K2K. We were invited by the African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF) to build awareness and conversation within the community by focusing on deforestation, poaching, and ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiativethroughout the creation of this month’s eco-educational music production, “Hayilondo Teni Nyika Yedu” meaning “Let’s Conserve Our Nature.” As the project developed, we integrated the musical talent of several local villagers and students from the primary school’s marimba band. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
The immersion into the small, isolated community of Mambanje was a sure change from our previous month spent in Livingstone, Zambia. Our travels in between took us over the iconic Victoria Falls bridge, into forests of Baobabs and through the gateway town of Dete, leading us to Mambanje and the Main Camp of Hwange National Park. Without stores, petrol stations or grocers in sight, we settled into the small community of which we called home for the next month. We were housed in teachers’ cottages at the Mambanje Primary School, allowing the crew to rest off the journey and prepare for the next day’s village council meeting.
The following morning the community welcomed CM as we introduced the movement and detailed our specific plans in the village. Many intrigued musicians connected with us, stimulating the process of finding collaborators for this month’s eco-educational music production. We first linked with a local singer named Tatenda, who also goes by Tormeta. He then introduced us to his grandfather, Machaingwe, who hadn’t picked up a stringed instrument in years, yet was able to surprise the crew with his highly skilled talent once we handed him a guitar. The engagement we were seeing already was extremely positive and free-flowing, all good signs for this month’s production.
That afternoon, the village Lion Guardian Polite showed us the mobile bomas, which are movable shelter systems used to prevent cattle hunting by lions and hinder the ensuing human-wildlife conflict. The mobile bomas hide cattle from being in plain sight of predators, while also reflecting moonlight to discourage the predators’ approach. Since the animals are kept inside the bomas, their concentrated presence benefits the land by breaking up compacted soil and fertilizing it with their urine and feces while restricting grazing to one area at a time. The bomas are systematically relocated throughout the land, leaving behind fertile plots while tending to new ones. After Polite showed us the bomas, he lead us to a nearby kraal, a traditional wooden shelter system. These are unfortunately more transparent and accessible to predators. Without local grocers, the community relies heavily on their livestock and local food sources, making these shelter systems a very important life aspect. Unfortunately, cattle attacks from large predators lead to reactions of poaching, which is an issue that we are trying to highlight and further develop solutions to. Learn more about the importance and effectiveness of ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiative.
Connecting with Mambanje’s Primary School
Before heading back to the village to write the song, we headed to Main Camp Primary School in Hwange National Park to visit the student marimba band. To our surprise, the five youths in the band had already started composing a rhythm and melody, which we used to form the skeleton of our eco-song. The Marimba band played their parts individually, allowing us to record pieces to bring back to the village to compose further. Before heading back, we gave a short presentation to explain the CM movement and the power that music has to help change the world.
Developing an Eco-educational Song with Local Musicians
Back in Mambanje, we started piecing together the song’s structure with Machaingwe on guitar and bass, then conducted a series of meetings where we further composed the lyrics with Tormeta. Local teacher Rebecca helped us with lyrical translations so that Tormeta could hit every major theme of the song, allowing him to develop very memorable and relatable lyrics. In no time, we had tracked the rhythm, lead, bass guitars, a Zim dancehall riff, and drums played by Polite’s wife Zanele. The song was naturally developing into a high-energy, locally styled composition.
As we moved into the recording phases of the production, we worked with Machaingwe on both the guitar and bass pieces. Despite his 20-year absence from stringed instruments, writing and recording with him was a breeze. Tormeta joined his efforts as they collaboratively worked out the keyboard recordings for the Zim dancehall bridge. Zim dancehall is a popular local style of music that utilizes upbeat percussive elements and synthesized leads, with heavily auto-tuned vocals. With the music flowing, it was finally time to record Tormeta’s vocals. A local family graciously shared their homestead with us, so that we could record in a quiet setting. The peaceful experience was followed up with sharing some tea and bread.
Over the next few days, we continued to meet with other community members, who contributed backing vocals to the track. A few students added vocals for the chorus and an exciting dance performance, which we filmed for the music video. We prepared for the next coming days, which were set to be full of location video shoots throughout the village and surrounding areas.
Filming Location Shoots to Highlight Local Environmental Issues & Solutions
We kicked off the location shoots with Tormeta by heading to a nearby dried river bed within a heavily deforested area. We continued to film Tormeta’s parts in front of a few riverside gardens, which we included to highlight the illegal practice and how it leads to soil erosion. As we moved along, we captured more shots in the nearby mobile bomas. A few exciting final additions to the video were filmed during our visit to Hwange National Park, where we were able to shoot amazing footage of elephants, giraffes, baboons, kudu, wildebeests, and lions. Our focus for the day was on obtaining footage of lions, which we were graced with towards the end of our time in the park. On the way out we came across a pride of about fourteen lions lounging in the middle of the road. This wildlife footage is an essential aspect to our music video as key points in the lyrics pertain to pressing human-wildlife issues. We ended the location shoots on a high note and headed back to the village to wrap up our project so that we could screen it to the community prior to leaving.
Community Screening & Educational Discussions
With the song and video finalized, we held a community event consisting of several live performances of the song, integrated community discussions on the topics, and a debut screening of the music video. The crowd continued to expand throughout the night, as the music lured in members of the community and created a platform for conversation on conservation, health, and other sustainable development priorities. We were extremely pleased with the turnout and interaction from the villagers as they asked questions, learned, danced, and sang along.
Instead of leaving on the scheduled departure, we surprised the community by staying for an additional day. This impulsive decision led to a few amazing developments, as we recorded several more musical contributions from community drummers and a mbira player. Our additional time in the village also granted incredibly empowering interviews with Polite, Machaingwe, and Tormeta. The month spent in this village, and amongst these beautiful people, was a success as we brought together people from all over the world to learn, discuss, and take action on our shared environmental problems.
After our extended stay, we departed from the village and headed to the city of Maun in Botswana to visit with old friends and take part in the Okavango Delta Music Festival. Our time in Maun is set to be a week long, before heading off to start leg eight of Expedition #K2K in Harare, Zimbabwe with the one and only Oliver Mtukudzi.
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term fieldwork, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life, he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
CM Highlights Transboundary Water Issues in the Okavango
Following a thriving month in Pretoria, South Africa, Conservation Music (CM) headed to Botswana to combat transboundary water issues in the Okavango Delta for Expedition #K2K. We gathered artists from Gaborone and then headed to Maun, where we set off in mekoro (traditional canoes) for a four day wilderness expedition. This deep immersion into the local environment and culture made for a great month of eco-production and education. Take a look at Episode 9 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path, which shares highlights from our field work, allowing you to trek with us throughout the entire experience! Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Redefining Music as an Educational Tool with Local Artists
In Gaborone, we linked up with our new friend Stan who hosted us for the first week. He commonly hosts backpackers and travelers alike, yet his hospitality served great purpose for CM, as it allowed us to ground into the community and establish a core group of local musicians for the eco-song collaboration. First, we met with Tomeletso Sereetsi, a big name in the local scene who revolutionized the four-string sound by incorporating unique jazz chords. Then Tom recommended Gaone Rantlhoiwa, a local female singer with an unbelievable voice and wide array of styles. With our two main artists on board, we moved smoothly into the composition phase. The production crew sounded the melodies and rhythms, while Tom and Gaone wrote the lyrics. Inspired by the Okavango Delta’s transboundary water issues, the lyrics naturally called to bordering countries to preserve the delta’s diverse presence of life.
“I believe music is a really powerful tool. It’s the one thing I know that really unites people. It makes it easier for people to be receptive to messages because we all don’t like great talkers, so people talk all the time but people don’t listen… With music it’s really great because people are bound to listen and bound to enjoy the message. So it’s a tool that really should be used for community mobilization and community education. I think we should be doing more and more of that; using the power of the arts to bring people around issues and talk about them. I’ve seen this happen even in my own music…people are more likely to discuss issues that are taboo when the issues are in a song. It can be a beautiful ice-breaker! Artists have this artistic license and they can say stuff that most people don’t usually say and listeners can then talk about it because it is in the context of a song. They don’t realize they are talking about issues, they think they are just discussing a song. So I think music is a really powerful vehicle that we should be using more than we are actually doing right now.” ~Tomeletso Sereetsi | Gaborone, Botswana
As we moved forward into tracking, Tom linked us with Leroy Nyoni, an amazing sound engineer at Village Sound Studios. Leroy not only helped us with recording the song, but also added a back beat with incredible drumming. Field crew members Jake Taylor and Chris Volosevich, rounded it out with a few of their own bass and electric guitar phases. As the crew finalized tracking, CM Founder Alex Paullin flew to Canada to participate in a Summit Series entitled “Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self” for a few days, where he discussed environmental sustainability with academics and practitioners from around the world.
With Alex back in the field, and production progressing, we geared up for the ten hour drive north to Maun, a city just outside the Okavango Delta. Upon arrival we settled into the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging, where we met with Matthew Merritt, CM’s Outreach Manager from the United States. Matthew spent two years in Lesotho with the Peace Corps, and now recruits for the Peace Corps, while volunteering for CM by inspiring stakeholders, sponsors, and partners to join the movement. Integrated into his six week backpacking trip through Southern Africa, Matt hopped aboard CM’s field crew for a few weeks to help with this month’s project. His experience in the field greatly benefited CM, and is one that he will carry back to the states. Connect with us to learn how to become a remote volunteer for CM.
Poling Into the Delta’s Wilderness
Early the following morning, we loaded into safari vehicles, linked with our guides, and headed towards the delta for four days of video shooting, cultural exchange, and nature immersion. After a two hour drive, we arrived at the launch station and transferred into mekoro, which are traditional canoes that we used to travel to each campsite. With production gear, instruments, an off-grid solar studio, volunteers, and artists in tow, we loaded seven mekoro and set off for our journey. As we weaved through the narrow waterways, we encountered herds of elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, hornbills and many other bird species. After long days of poling deep into the bush, we set up camp, recorded delta-inspired vocals, and filmed location shoots for the music video. At night we filmed more vocals by the fire, which was intentionally built large to keep the animals away as we slept. We shared delicious food, stories, and various improv jam sessions with the guitar, ukulele, and djembe. Tom and Gaone even had the chance to debut their song in Setswana, a Bantu language closely related to Sesotho, to an audience of local guides who then provided feedback and stimulated further discussions on the future of the delta waterways. It is such a reward when the educational ability of music can be seen first hand.
“The conversations held around the fire following the song were groundbreaking. It was then that we discovered that while the guides and polers had spent their whole lives on the delta, they were unaware that the water originated in Angola. It wasn’t until they heard the song that they asked questions about where the water came from and what was happening to cause the waters to lower. This was the reason we were here; to bring environmental education to rural communities in need. It was iconic and something I will never forget.”
With each rising sun, we set out by foot on guided safaris to explore the area and seek out wildlife. We encountered mixed herds of giraffes, zebras, antelope, ostriches, and elephants. The elephants made for the most memorable experiences as we witnessed a herd of over fifty travelling together, as well as unknowingly trekking into the wrong territory and getting false charged by one from the side. Luckily, everyone walked away safely with a humbling reminder of nature’s power. We followed up with supplementary filming, including shots for Gaone’s location shoot and a few ad-libs from Tom. On the last day we set out for one last shoot to wrap up filming before heading back to Maun.
CM’s Lesotho Chapter Lands a Grant
Earlier this year, our first local chapter Conservation Music Lesotho was built by local volunteers. Led by four women, the chapter landed its first grant this month, which will directly support local screenings of CM content to further educate students and rural citizens around the country. This is a landmark achievement for both the local chapter and the CM movement at large. Each step further proves that our scalable vision for a global network of self-sustaining chapters and implemented partners is viable. We are very proud of our local chapter and excited to see what the future holds!
Spreading Awareness
We landed back at the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging and connected with our good friends Helene Forward and Stiger Sola Molefi. Helene is a multi-talented artist, who also owns the Old Bridge Backpackers. Stiger has been performing in and around Botswana for decades and it’s always an honor to spend time with him. Together, we composed and recorded the song’s finishing touches, as Helene added flute and fiddle and Stiger closed out the track with his four-string guitar. With the month coming to a close, Helene allowed us to perform at the Old Bridge Backpackers, where we were able to share our message and collect some gas money for the road to Zambia. The performance was a beautiful memory to end on as we jammed with Helene and other new friends beneath a fig tree on the Thamalakane River. This month was packed with fulfilling work, intense wilderness expeditions, and countless memories. After we said our goodbyes, we hit the road for Livingstone, Zambia, where we were set to take on leg six of Expedition #K2K. Stay tuned for more stories!
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Conservation Music Galvanizes Mambanje, Zimbabwe to Support Conservation
In early September, Conservation Music (CM) headed to the Mambanje village of Zimbabwe for the next leg of Expedition #K2K. We were invited by the African Bush Camps Foundation (ABCF) to build awareness and conversation within the community by focusing on deforestation, poaching, and ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiativethroughout the creation of this month’s eco-educational music production, “Hayilondo Teni Nyika Yedu” meaning “Let’s Conserve Our Nature.” As the project developed, we integrated the musical talent of several local villagers and students from the primary school’s marimba band. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
The immersion into the small, isolated community of Mambanje was a sure change from our previous month spent in Livingstone, Zambia. Our travels in between took us over the iconic Victoria Falls bridge, into forests of Baobabs and through the gateway town of Dete, leading us to Mambanje and the Main Camp of Hwange National Park. Without stores, petrol stations or grocers in sight, we settled into the small community of which we called home for the next month. We were housed in teachers’ cottages at the Mambanje Primary School, allowing the crew to rest off the journey and prepare for the next day’s village council meeting.
The following morning the community welcomed CM as we introduced the movement and detailed our specific plans in the village. Many intrigued musicians connected with us, stimulating the process of finding collaborators for this month’s eco-educational music production. We first linked with a local singer named Tatenda, who also goes by Tormeta. He then introduced us to his grandfather, Machaingwe, who hadn’t picked up a stringed instrument in years, yet was able to surprise the crew with his highly skilled talent once we handed him a guitar. The engagement we were seeing already was extremely positive and free-flowing, all good signs for this month’s production.
That afternoon, the village Lion Guardian Polite showed us the mobile bomas, which are movable shelter systems used to prevent cattle hunting by lions and hinder the ensuing human-wildlife conflict. The mobile bomas hide cattle from being in plain sight of predators, while also reflecting moonlight to discourage the predators’ approach. Since the animals are kept inside the bomas, their concentrated presence benefits the land by breaking up compacted soil and fertilizing it with their urine and feces while restricting grazing to one area at a time. The bomas are systematically relocated throughout the land, leaving behind fertile plots while tending to new ones. After Polite showed us the bomas, he lead us to a nearby kraal, a traditional wooden shelter system. These are unfortunately more transparent and accessible to predators. Without local grocers, the community relies heavily on their livestock and local food sources, making these shelter systems a very important life aspect. Unfortunately, cattle attacks from large predators lead to reactions of poaching, which is an issue that we are trying to highlight and further develop solutions to. Learn more about the importance and effectiveness of ABCF’s Mobile Cattle Boma Initiative.
Connecting with Mambanje’s Primary School
Before heading back to the village to write the song, we headed to Main Camp Primary School in Hwange National Park to visit the student marimba band. To our surprise, the five youths in the band had already started composing a rhythm and melody, which we used to form the skeleton of our eco-song. The Marimba band played their parts individually, allowing us to record pieces to bring back to the village to compose further. Before heading back, we gave a short presentation to explain the CM movement and the power that music has to help change the world.
Developing an Eco-educational Song with Local Musicians
Back in Mambanje, we started piecing together the song’s structure with Machaingwe on guitar and bass, then conducted a series of meetings where we further composed the lyrics with Tormeta. Local teacher Rebecca helped us with lyrical translations so that Tormeta could hit every major theme of the song, allowing him to develop very memorable and relatable lyrics. In no time, we had tracked the rhythm, lead, bass guitars, a Zim dancehall riff, and drums played by Polite’s wife Zanele. The song was naturally developing into a high-energy, locally styled composition.
As we moved into the recording phases of the production, we worked with Machaingwe on both the guitar and bass pieces. Despite his 20-year absence from stringed instruments, writing and recording with him was a breeze. Tormeta joined his efforts as they collaboratively worked out the keyboard recordings for the Zim dancehall bridge. Zim dancehall is a popular local style of music that utilizes upbeat percussive elements and synthesized leads, with heavily auto-tuned vocals. With the music flowing, it was finally time to record Tormeta’s vocals. A local family graciously shared their homestead with us, so that we could record in a quiet setting. The peaceful experience was followed up with sharing some tea and bread.
Over the next few days, we continued to meet with other community members, who contributed backing vocals to the track. A few students added vocals for the chorus and an exciting dance performance, which we filmed for the music video. We prepared for the next coming days, which were set to be full of location video shoots throughout the village and surrounding areas.
Filming Location Shoots to Highlight Local Environmental Issues & Solutions
We kicked off the location shoots with Tormeta by heading to a nearby dried river bed within a heavily deforested area. We continued to film Tormeta’s parts in front of a few riverside gardens, which we included to highlight the illegal practice and how it leads to soil erosion. As we moved along, we captured more shots in the nearby mobile bomas. A few exciting final additions to the video were filmed during our visit to Hwange National Park, where we were able to shoot amazing footage of elephants, giraffes, baboons, kudu, wildebeests, and lions. Our focus for the day was on obtaining footage of lions, which we were graced with towards the end of our time in the park. On the way out we came across a pride of about fourteen lions lounging in the middle of the road. This wildlife footage is an essential aspect to our music video as key points in the lyrics pertain to pressing human-wildlife issues. We ended the location shoots on a high note and headed back to the village to wrap up our project so that we could screen it to the community prior to leaving.
Community Screening & Educational Discussions
With the song and video finalized, we held a community event consisting of several live performances of the song, integrated community discussions on the topics, and a debut screening of the music video. The crowd continued to expand throughout the night, as the music lured in members of the community and created a platform for conversation on conservation, health, and other sustainable development priorities. We were extremely pleased with the turnout and interaction from the villagers as they asked questions, learned, danced, and sang along.
Instead of leaving on the scheduled departure, we surprised the community by staying for an additional day. This impulsive decision led to a few amazing developments, as we recorded several more musical contributions from community drummers and a mbira player. Our additional time in the village also granted incredibly empowering interviews with Polite, Machaingwe, and Tormeta. The month spent in this village, and amongst these beautiful people, was a success as we brought together people from all over the world to learn, discuss, and take action on our shared environmental problems.
After our extended stay, we departed from the village and headed to the city of Maun in Botswana to visit with old friends and take part in the Okavango Delta Music Festival. Our time in Maun is set to be a week long, before heading off to start leg eight of Expedition #K2K in Harare, Zimbabwe with the one and only Oliver Mtukudzi.
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term fieldwork, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life, he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Our Mission
Through the catalytic power of music, we confront environmental breakdown and humanitarian disaster in the developing world and beyond.
Our Vision
A global community that stewards the Earth, in which the memorable, emotional, and unifying power of music contributes to the balance between humankind, nature, and society.
CM Highlights Transboundary Water Issues in the Okavango
Following a thriving month in Pretoria, South Africa, Conservation Music (CM) headed to Botswana to combat transboundary water issues in the Okavango Delta for Expedition #K2K. We gathered artists from Gaborone and then headed to Maun, where we set off in mekoro (traditional canoes) for a four day wilderness expedition. This deep immersion into the local environment and culture made for a great month of eco-production and education. Take a look at Episode 9 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path, which shares highlights from our field work, allowing you to trek with us throughout the entire experience! Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Redefining Music as an Educational Tool with Local Artists
In Gaborone, we linked up with our new friend Stan who hosted us for the first week. He commonly hosts backpackers and travelers alike, yet his hospitality served great purpose for CM, as it allowed us to ground into the community and establish a core group of local musicians for the eco-song collaboration. First, we met with Tomeletso Sereetsi, a big name in the local scene who revolutionized the four-string sound by incorporating unique jazz chords. Then Tom recommended Gaone Rantlhoiwa, a local female singer with an unbelievable voice and wide array of styles. With our two main artists on board, we moved smoothly into the composition phase. The production crew sounded the melodies and rhythms, while Tom and Gaone wrote the lyrics. Inspired by the Okavango Delta’s transboundary water issues, the lyrics naturally called to bordering countries to preserve the delta’s diverse presence of life.
“I believe music is a really powerful tool. It’s the one thing I know that really unites people. It makes it easier for people to be receptive to messages because we all don’t like great talkers, so people talk all the time but people don’t listen… With music it’s really great because people are bound to listen and bound to enjoy the message. So it’s a tool that really should be used for community mobilization and community education. I think we should be doing more and more of that; using the power of the arts to bring people around issues and talk about them. I’ve seen this happen even in my own music…people are more likely to discuss issues that are taboo when the issues are in a song. It can be a beautiful ice-breaker! Artists have this artistic license and they can say stuff that most people don’t usually say and listeners can then talk about it because it is in the context of a song. They don’t realize they are talking about issues, they think they are just discussing a song. So I think music is a really powerful vehicle that we should be using more than we are actually doing right now.” ~Tomeletso Sereetsi | Gaborone, Botswana
As we moved forward into tracking, Tom linked us with Leroy Nyoni, an amazing sound engineer at Village Sound Studios. Leroy not only helped us with recording the song, but also added a back beat with incredible drumming. Field crew members Jake Taylor and Chris Volosevich, rounded it out with a few of their own bass and electric guitar phases. As the crew finalized tracking, CM Founder Alex Paullin flew to Canada to participate in a Summit Series entitled “Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self” for a few days, where he discussed environmental sustainability with academics and practitioners from around the world.
With Alex back in the field, and production progressing, we geared up for the ten hour drive north to Maun, a city just outside the Okavango Delta. Upon arrival we settled into the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging, where we met with Matthew Merritt, CM’s Outreach Manager from the United States. Matthew spent two years in Lesotho with the Peace Corps, and now recruits for the Peace Corps, while volunteering for CM by inspiring stakeholders, sponsors, and partners to join the movement. Integrated into his six week backpacking trip through Southern Africa, Matt hopped aboard CM’s field crew for a few weeks to help with this month’s project. His experience in the field greatly benefited CM, and is one that he will carry back to the states. Connect with us to learn how to become a remote volunteer for CM.
Poling Into the Delta’s Wilderness
Early the following morning, we loaded into safari vehicles, linked with our guides, and headed towards the delta for four days of video shooting, cultural exchange, and nature immersion. After a two hour drive, we arrived at the launch station and transferred into mekoro, which are traditional canoes that we used to travel to each campsite. With production gear, instruments, an off-grid solar studio, volunteers, and artists in tow, we loaded seven mekoro and set off for our journey. As we weaved through the narrow waterways, we encountered herds of elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, hornbills and many other bird species. After long days of poling deep into the bush, we set up camp, recorded delta-inspired vocals, and filmed location shoots for the music video. At night we filmed more vocals by the fire, which was intentionally built large to keep the animals away as we slept. We shared delicious food, stories, and various improv jam sessions with the guitar, ukulele, and djembe. Tom and Gaone even had the chance to debut their song in Setswana, a Bantu language closely related to Sesotho, to an audience of local guides who then provided feedback and stimulated further discussions on the future of the delta waterways. It is such a reward when the educational ability of music can be seen first hand.
“The conversations held around the fire following the song were groundbreaking. It was then that we discovered that while the guides and polers had spent their whole lives on the delta, they were unaware that the water originated in Angola. It wasn’t until they heard the song that they asked questions about where the water came from and what was happening to cause the waters to lower. This was the reason we were here; to bring environmental education to rural communities in need. It was iconic and something I will never forget.”
With each rising sun, we set out by foot on guided safaris to explore the area and seek out wildlife. We encountered mixed herds of giraffes, zebras, antelope, ostriches, and elephants. The elephants made for the most memorable experiences as we witnessed a herd of over fifty travelling together, as well as unknowingly trekking into the wrong territory and getting false charged by one from the side. Luckily, everyone walked away safely with a humbling reminder of nature’s power. We followed up with supplementary filming, including shots for Gaone’s location shoot and a few ad-libs from Tom. On the last day we set out for one last shoot to wrap up filming before heading back to Maun.
CM’s Lesotho Chapter Lands a Grant
Earlier this year, our first local chapter Conservation Music Lesotho was built by local volunteers. Led by four women, the chapter landed its first grant this month, which will directly support local screenings of CM content to further educate students and rural citizens around the country. This is a landmark achievement for both the local chapter and the CM movement at large. Each step further proves that our scalable vision for a global network of self-sustaining chapters and implemented partners is viable. We are very proud of our local chapter and excited to see what the future holds!
Spreading Awareness
We landed back at the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging and connected with our good friends Helene Forward and Stiger Sola Molefi. Helene is a multi-talented artist, who also owns the Old Bridge Backpackers. Stiger has been performing in and around Botswana for decades and it’s always an honor to spend time with him. Together, we composed and recorded the song’s finishing touches, as Helene added flute and fiddle and Stiger closed out the track with his four-string guitar. With the month coming to a close, Helene allowed us to perform at the Old Bridge Backpackers, where we were able to share our message and collect some gas money for the road to Zambia. The performance was a beautiful memory to end on as we jammed with Helene and other new friends beneath a fig tree on the Thamalakane River. This month was packed with fulfilling work, intense wilderness expeditions, and countless memories. After we said our goodbyes, we hit the road for Livingstone, Zambia, where we were set to take on leg six of Expedition #K2K. Stay tuned for more stories!
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
CM Highlights Transboundary Water Issues in the Okavango
Following a thriving month in Pretoria, South Africa, Conservation Music (CM) headed to Botswana to combat transboundary water issues in the Okavango Delta for Expedition #K2K. We gathered artists from Gaborone and then headed to Maun, where we set off in mekoro (traditional canoes) for a four day wilderness expedition. This deep immersion into the local environment and culture made for a great month of eco-production and education. Take a look at Episode 9 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path, which shares highlights from our field work, allowing you to trek with us throughout the entire experience! Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Redefining Music as an Educational Tool with Local Artists
In Gaborone, we linked up with our new friend Stan who hosted us for the first week. He commonly hosts backpackers and travelers alike, yet his hospitality served great purpose for CM, as it allowed us to ground into the community and establish a core group of local musicians for the eco-song collaboration. First, we met with Tomeletso Sereetsi, a big name in the local scene who revolutionized the four-string sound by incorporating unique jazz chords. Then Tom recommended Gaone Rantlhoiwa, a local female singer with an unbelievable voice and wide array of styles. With our two main artists on board, we moved smoothly into the composition phase. The production crew sounded the melodies and rhythms, while Tom and Gaone wrote the lyrics. Inspired by the Okavango Delta’s transboundary water issues, the lyrics naturally called to bordering countries to preserve the delta’s diverse presence of life.
“I believe music is a really powerful tool. It’s the one thing I know that really unites people. It makes it easier for people to be receptive to messages because we all don’t like great talkers, so people talk all the time but people don’t listen… With music it’s really great because people are bound to listen and bound to enjoy the message. So it’s a tool that really should be used for community mobilization and community education. I think we should be doing more and more of that; using the power of the arts to bring people around issues and talk about them. I’ve seen this happen even in my own music…people are more likely to discuss issues that are taboo when the issues are in a song. It can be a beautiful ice-breaker! Artists have this artistic license and they can say stuff that most people don’t usually say and listeners can then talk about it because it is in the context of a song. They don’t realize they are talking about issues, they think they are just discussing a song. So I think music is a really powerful vehicle that we should be using more than we are actually doing right now.” ~Tomeletso Sereetsi | Gaborone, Botswana
As we moved forward into tracking, Tom linked us with Leroy Nyoni, an amazing sound engineer at Village Sound Studios. Leroy not only helped us with recording the song, but also added a back beat with incredible drumming. Field crew members Jake Taylor and Chris Volosevich, rounded it out with a few of their own bass and electric guitar phases. As the crew finalized tracking, CM Founder Alex Paullin flew to Canada to participate in a Summit Series entitled “Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self” for a few days, where he discussed environmental sustainability with academics and practitioners from around the world.
With Alex back in the field, and production progressing, we geared up for the ten hour drive north to Maun, a city just outside the Okavango Delta. Upon arrival we settled into the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging, where we met with Matthew Merritt, CM’s Outreach Manager from the United States. Matthew spent two years in Lesotho with the Peace Corps, and now recruits for the Peace Corps, while volunteering for CM by inspiring stakeholders, sponsors, and partners to join the movement. Integrated into his six week backpacking trip through Southern Africa, Matt hopped aboard CM’s field crew for a few weeks to help with this month’s project. His experience in the field greatly benefited CM, and is one that he will carry back to the states. Connect with us to learn how to become a remote volunteer for CM.
Poling Into the Delta’s Wilderness
Early the following morning, we loaded into safari vehicles, linked with our guides, and headed towards the delta for four days of video shooting, cultural exchange, and nature immersion. After a two hour drive, we arrived at the launch station and transferred into mekoro, which are traditional canoes that we used to travel to each campsite. With production gear, instruments, an off-grid solar studio, volunteers, and artists in tow, we loaded seven mekoro and set off for our journey. As we weaved through the narrow waterways, we encountered herds of elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, hornbills and many other bird species. After long days of poling deep into the bush, we set up camp, recorded delta-inspired vocals, and filmed location shoots for the music video. At night we filmed more vocals by the fire, which was intentionally built large to keep the animals away as we slept. We shared delicious food, stories, and various improv jam sessions with the guitar, ukulele, and djembe. Tom and Gaone even had the chance to debut their song in Setswana, a Bantu language closely related to Sesotho, to an audience of local guides who then provided feedback and stimulated further discussions on the future of the delta waterways. It is such a reward when the educational ability of music can be seen first hand.
“The conversations held around the fire following the song were groundbreaking. It was then that we discovered that while the guides and polers had spent their whole lives on the delta, they were unaware that the water originated in Angola. It wasn’t until they heard the song that they asked questions about where the water came from and what was happening to cause the waters to lower. This was the reason we were here; to bring environmental education to rural communities in need. It was iconic and something I will never forget.”
With each rising sun, we set out by foot on guided safaris to explore the area and seek out wildlife. We encountered mixed herds of giraffes, zebras, antelope, ostriches, and elephants. The elephants made for the most memorable experiences as we witnessed a herd of over fifty travelling together, as well as unknowingly trekking into the wrong territory and getting false charged by one from the side. Luckily, everyone walked away safely with a humbling reminder of nature’s power. We followed up with supplementary filming, including shots for Gaone’s location shoot and a few ad-libs from Tom. On the last day we set out for one last shoot to wrap up filming before heading back to Maun.
CM’s Lesotho Chapter Lands a Grant
Earlier this year, our first local chapter Conservation Music Lesotho was built by local volunteers. Led by four women, the chapter landed its first grant this month, which will directly support local screenings of CM content to further educate students and rural citizens around the country. This is a landmark achievement for both the local chapter and the CM movement at large. Each step further proves that our scalable vision for a global network of self-sustaining chapters and implemented partners is viable. We are very proud of our local chapter and excited to see what the future holds!
Spreading Awareness
We landed back at the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging and connected with our good friends Helene Forward and Stiger Sola Molefi. Helene is a multi-talented artist, who also owns the Old Bridge Backpackers. Stiger has been performing in and around Botswana for decades and it’s always an honor to spend time with him. Together, we composed and recorded the song’s finishing touches, as Helene added flute and fiddle and Stiger closed out the track with his four-string guitar. With the month coming to a close, Helene allowed us to perform at the Old Bridge Backpackers, where we were able to share our message and collect some gas money for the road to Zambia. The performance was a beautiful memory to end on as we jammed with Helene and other new friends beneath a fig tree on the Thamalakane River. This month was packed with fulfilling work, intense wilderness expeditions, and countless memories. After we said our goodbyes, we hit the road for Livingstone, Zambia, where we were set to take on leg six of Expedition #K2K. Stay tuned for more stories!
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Okavango, Okavango, Okavango… The Conservation Music Project glided into August aboard a mokoro, a week after launching from its birthplace of Seronga with the Cross Okavango Delta Expedition (CODE) on July 25th. It was a scramble to reset and repack in Johannesburg after arriving from Zambia July 21st! (The Zambia project, Tushange Isamu, was done alongside Greenpop, a Cape Town-based environmental education and tree planting group. More on that in another post!)
The Creative Crossing
CODE 2016 marked the first official “Creative Crossing” of the Okavango Delta, in hopes of supplementing research efforts to understand and conserve the place with poetic and musical messages to bring more Batswana (people of Botswana) on board, as well as to inspire a global audience. As many of you know, the Conservation Music movement was crystalized in Angola, en route to the Delta, aboard a mokoro in 2015 with Dr. Steve Boyes’ Okavango Wilderness Project (OWP). At the time of this writing, the OWP crew is pulling their boats through the deep, muddy wilderness as the water that carried our crossing continues to drop during theirs. You can follow along with live updates at www.intotheokavango.org.
The CODE 2016 crossing was quite special… a group of 15 Batswana was joined by just a single foreign member, Conservation Music founder Alex. In general, the Delta is visited and run by either foreigners or white Botswana nationals, and one intention of CODE is to inspire more Batswana to visit and invest in this incredible national heritage site. Needless to say, it was an honor to be made the exception and join the team of creative celebrities, media professionals, and polers from Botswana to produce a song and music video throughout the two-week crossing.
The song is entitled, “Okavango Oa Moxa,” which means “Okavango You Are Beautiful” in seYei, the mother tongue of famous four-string guitarist Stiger Sola, who was born into the lineage of the baYei, also known as the “Watshara,” or “The River People.” This tribe is said to have been the first to break into the Delta long ago, bringing 6-meter long wooden mekoro (mokoros) to enter the deep, wild paradise that the land-based KhoiSan bushmen in the region left alone.
Indeed, Stiger Sola himself was born inside that very wilderness… his aunt assisting his young mother to deliver him on an island, as his uncle waited aboard the mokoro, long ngashe pole in hand. They were still far from the village of Sharobe, the place where he was meant to be delivered, which would soon become his home. Thus a legend of Botswana was born in the heart of the same inspiration that our expedition was seeking…. We brought him back into the wild with a guitar.
The other musical celebrity on board was HT Tautona, a Maun-born rapper who grew up on the cattle post but made his claim to fame in Gaborone, Botswana’s capitol. For HT this trip was like returning home, but finally seeing the Delta he grew on the edge of the right way… by mokoro, in the depth of its wilderness. His lyrics describe the overflow of emotions upon returning to this place “like a pen without ink” and being filled with inspiration to write. HT was a major team player and was easy to find helping in the kitchen.
Last but not least, as a surprise addition to the music team, multi-talented poet Leshie Lovesong spoke up during a fireside brainstorming jam session with a poem she had written, which now serves as a deeply emotional opening to the song. Once she was brought aboard the music team, she also lent her voice to the chorus, responding to Stiger’s calls of “Okavango, Okavango, Okavango” with Stiger’s own declarations to his mother, the Delta, of her lovable, everlasting, beautiful nature, and her role in his existence as “a way of life.” Leshie’s own way of life took quite a shock in the wilderness… prior the expedition she had never even been camping.
Conservation Music is extremely excited to be part of Botswana’s 50th anniversary celebrations. As we speak, the new song “Okavango O Moxa” is being registered with the Copyright Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) so that the artists involved can earn their royalties and protect their rights when this song hits the radio in September. The music video shot in the Delta is soon to follow, and will we broadcast on Botswana Television (BTV) and on Youtube and Vimeo. The song and video will also be made available on iTunes and Google Play soon! Overall the Cross Okavango song project has been a resounding success. The tune is set to be a hit, the video will be made up of some incredible moments with people and wildlife out in the deep wilderness, and new opportunities are coming up rapidly as this project gains attention. We cannot wait to release this song and video, and hopefully do it all over again next year.
What’s Next On the Horizon?
In the meantime, lots of other things are happening too! For example:
Conservation Music Presents Sotho Sounds @ Rocking the Daisies
For instance, Conservation Music is preparing to bring our old friends the Sotho Sounds from Lesotho down to Cape Town for the massive Rocking the Daisies* music festival! The festival runs from the 7th-9th of October, and we’ll be rocking the Hemp Stage in the Green Village area on Saturday from 2-2:45pm. The Sotho Sounds are a group of rural musicians with enormous heart and talent, and we are extremely excited to give them the chance to perform for such an audience, and hopefully to sell some of their handcrafted merchandise!
FYI, preceding the festival opportunity, we are discussing a collaboration in Lesotho with an American celebrity musician. More on that soon!
Zambian Tree Song “Tushange Isamu” Release with Greenpop
Quite close to the release date for “Okavango O Moxa” in Botswana, we look forward to releasing the tree planting song and music video recorded in Livingstone, Zambia alongside Greenpop. In July, the song was composed and performed by the Mosi Oa Tunya band, alongside members of the Golden Leaf band as well as Conservation Music’s own Alex Paullin. September is Arbor Month, so this release is very relevant!
Return to Angola with The Okavango Wilderness Project
Conservation Music looks forward to returning to Angola in October, following Rocking the Daisies festival in Cape Town. The Okavango Wilderness Project (OWP) is bringing several research teams to survey the Angolan catchments of the Okavango watershed. We are grateful for their continued enthusiasm regarding the power of music to foster conservation ethics in the minds of the people living in the region, where decades of aggression have scarred both the people and the landscape. The beauty and importance of the landscape there are something to be proud of, and we look forward to encouraging that pride alongside OWP and National Geographic.
As soon as we beached on this island I named it the elephants’ playground… Dozens of tall, regal, royal fan palms dot the place, evermore dotting the ground with their fruit. I tasted this palm fruit today, which lived its life high off the ground, tucked away between its crunchy outer shell and the large ball of vegetable ivory within. As I write this, the trees that surround me are shaking the as elephants ram them to bring down these bittersweet morsels.
Two nights in a row now we’ve slept with the elephants near. Today I ate their fruit. Tonight I ponder if they will come visit me here. Last night they had already past when my head hit the pillow… but before my tent was up I had been with them like never before.
The images are clear in my mind… I will never forget, thus yet again I can relate to my elephant friends. The herd of fifteen-odd adults and adolescents with their two wobbly-trunked younglings in tow had just passed by our camp as the light became golden. I found a perch atop a standalone turret, a sandcastle built up by termites for years. I was hoping to watch the herd crossing the river en route to the flats near Jao Village, Djedibe, the place that made me think this afternoon that we would not see any wildlife this evening. From upon my tower I watched them turn towards me.
An elephant’s moment is longer than others, but to them it must have felt like an instant as I slowly felt my heartbeat picking up as they grew closer, tree by tree. Through the zoom lens of my camera I had watched from afar as they brought down a tree for the babies to eat from. At this point the naked eye was plenty to capture this larger-than-life moment… they were standing right in front of me.
The matriarch had given me her blessing. We had been making frequent eye contact as I focused my intention on peace, love, and respect for the herd. These emotions undeniably mingled with fear… what if the villagers nearby had been in conflict with these animals? Or if a young male in the herd had been spited that day? Or a mother grew defensive, or her mate had a toothache? But consciously I focused on peace, love, and respect. Any negative visualizations must pass by as glimpses, not to be focused on.
But even when a youngling stood less than two meters below me, it’s trunk reaching up for a leaf near my dangling foot, and was startled to find me there, spreading its ears out and stumbling back, the mothers that surrounded me stayed calm. A significant look here and there, a bit of a head shake, perhaps a raised trunk. We were sharing the space. I was granted a point on the plane. For a moment, even less than an elephant’s instant, I could feel like a part of the herd. As the sky became dim, they moved on. Their wind tunnel breathing and near-silent footsteps that were filling up my ears had grown distant the moment the matriarch pointed her trunk in the direction they had come from. Only two of the herd were nearby when she pointed, but as one they all departed. An ultrasonic rumble of the stomach was the real cue. The herd had moved on through the trees, but our mother remained there with me, locking eyes for an eternity. I raised my hand. She raised her trunk and went.
On assignment for The Conservation Music Project and Cross Okavango Delta Expedition. Follow @crossokavango and @intotheokavango for more stories like these.
CM Highlights Transboundary Water Issues in the Okavango
Following a thriving month in Pretoria, South Africa, Conservation Music (CM) headed to Botswana to combat transboundary water issues in the Okavango Delta for Expedition #K2K. We gathered artists from Gaborone and then headed to Maun, where we set off in mekoro (traditional canoes) for a four day wilderness expedition. This deep immersion into the local environment and culture made for a great month of eco-production and education. Take a look at Episode 9 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path, which shares highlights from our field work, allowing you to trek with us throughout the entire experience! Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Redefining Music as an Educational Tool with Local Artists
In Gaborone, we linked up with our new friend Stan who hosted us for the first week. He commonly hosts backpackers and travelers alike, yet his hospitality served great purpose for CM, as it allowed us to ground into the community and establish a core group of local musicians for the eco-song collaboration. First, we met with Tomeletso Sereetsi, a big name in the local scene who revolutionized the four-string sound by incorporating unique jazz chords. Then Tom recommended Gaone Rantlhoiwa, a local female singer with an unbelievable voice and wide array of styles. With our two main artists on board, we moved smoothly into the composition phase. The production crew sounded the melodies and rhythms, while Tom and Gaone wrote the lyrics. Inspired by the Okavango Delta’s transboundary water issues, the lyrics naturally called to bordering countries to preserve the delta’s diverse presence of life.
“I believe music is a really powerful tool. It’s the one thing I know that really unites people. It makes it easier for people to be receptive to messages because we all don’t like great talkers, so people talk all the time but people don’t listen… With music it’s really great because people are bound to listen and bound to enjoy the message. So it’s a tool that really should be used for community mobilization and community education. I think we should be doing more and more of that; using the power of the arts to bring people around issues and talk about them. I’ve seen this happen even in my own music…people are more likely to discuss issues that are taboo when the issues are in a song. It can be a beautiful ice-breaker! Artists have this artistic license and they can say stuff that most people don’t usually say and listeners can then talk about it because it is in the context of a song. They don’t realize they are talking about issues, they think they are just discussing a song. So I think music is a really powerful vehicle that we should be using more than we are actually doing right now.” ~Tomeletso Sereetsi | Gaborone, Botswana
As we moved forward into tracking, Tom linked us with Leroy Nyoni, an amazing sound engineer at Village Sound Studios. Leroy not only helped us with recording the song, but also added a back beat with incredible drumming. Field crew members Jake Taylor and Chris Volosevich, rounded it out with a few of their own bass and electric guitar phases. As the crew finalized tracking, CM Founder Alex Paullin flew to Canada to participate in a Summit Series entitled “Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self” for a few days, where he discussed environmental sustainability with academics and practitioners from around the world.
With Alex back in the field, and production progressing, we geared up for the ten hour drive north to Maun, a city just outside the Okavango Delta. Upon arrival we settled into the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging, where we met with Matthew Merritt, CM’s Outreach Manager from the United States. Matthew spent two years in Lesotho with the Peace Corps, and now recruits for the Peace Corps, while volunteering for CM by inspiring stakeholders, sponsors, and partners to join the movement. Integrated into his six week backpacking trip through Southern Africa, Matt hopped aboard CM’s field crew for a few weeks to help with this month’s project. His experience in the field greatly benefited CM, and is one that he will carry back to the states. Connect with us to learn how to become a remote volunteer for CM.
Poling Into the Delta’s Wilderness
Early the following morning, we loaded into safari vehicles, linked with our guides, and headed towards the delta for four days of video shooting, cultural exchange, and nature immersion. After a two hour drive, we arrived at the launch station and transferred into mekoro, which are traditional canoes that we used to travel to each campsite. With production gear, instruments, an off-grid solar studio, volunteers, and artists in tow, we loaded seven mekoro and set off for our journey. As we weaved through the narrow waterways, we encountered herds of elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, hornbills and many other bird species. After long days of poling deep into the bush, we set up camp, recorded delta-inspired vocals, and filmed location shoots for the music video. At night we filmed more vocals by the fire, which was intentionally built large to keep the animals away as we slept. We shared delicious food, stories, and various improv jam sessions with the guitar, ukulele, and djembe. Tom and Gaone even had the chance to debut their song in Setswana, a Bantu language closely related to Sesotho, to an audience of local guides who then provided feedback and stimulated further discussions on the future of the delta waterways. It is such a reward when the educational ability of music can be seen first hand.
“The conversations held around the fire following the song were groundbreaking. It was then that we discovered that while the guides and polers had spent their whole lives on the delta, they were unaware that the water originated in Angola. It wasn’t until they heard the song that they asked questions about where the water came from and what was happening to cause the waters to lower. This was the reason we were here; to bring environmental education to rural communities in need. It was iconic and something I will never forget.”
With each rising sun, we set out by foot on guided safaris to explore the area and seek out wildlife. We encountered mixed herds of giraffes, zebras, antelope, ostriches, and elephants. The elephants made for the most memorable experiences as we witnessed a herd of over fifty travelling together, as well as unknowingly trekking into the wrong territory and getting false charged by one from the side. Luckily, everyone walked away safely with a humbling reminder of nature’s power. We followed up with supplementary filming, including shots for Gaone’s location shoot and a few ad-libs from Tom. On the last day we set out for one last shoot to wrap up filming before heading back to Maun.
CM’s Lesotho Chapter Lands a Grant
Earlier this year, our first local chapter Conservation Music Lesotho was built by local volunteers. Led by four women, the chapter landed its first grant this month, which will directly support local screenings of CM content to further educate students and rural citizens around the country. This is a landmark achievement for both the local chapter and the CM movement at large. Each step further proves that our scalable vision for a global network of self-sustaining chapters and implemented partners is viable. We are very proud of our local chapter and excited to see what the future holds!
Spreading Awareness
We landed back at the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging and connected with our good friends Helene Forward and Stiger Sola Molefi. Helene is a multi-talented artist, who also owns the Old Bridge Backpackers. Stiger has been performing in and around Botswana for decades and it’s always an honor to spend time with him. Together, we composed and recorded the song’s finishing touches, as Helene added flute and fiddle and Stiger closed out the track with his four-string guitar. With the month coming to a close, Helene allowed us to perform at the Old Bridge Backpackers, where we were able to share our message and collect some gas money for the road to Zambia. The performance was a beautiful memory to end on as we jammed with Helene and other new friends beneath a fig tree on the Thamalakane River. This month was packed with fulfilling work, intense wilderness expeditions, and countless memories. After we said our goodbyes, we hit the road for Livingstone, Zambia, where we were set to take on leg six of Expedition #K2K. Stay tuned for more stories!
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Okavango, Okavango, Okavango… The Conservation Music Project glided into August aboard a mokoro, a week after launching from its birthplace of Seronga with the Cross Okavango Delta Expedition (CODE) on July 25th. It was a scramble to reset and repack in Johannesburg after arriving from Zambia July 21st! (The Zambia project, Tushange Isamu, was done alongside Greenpop, a Cape Town-based environmental education and tree planting group. More on that in another post!)
The Creative Crossing
CODE 2016 marked the first official “Creative Crossing” of the Okavango Delta, in hopes of supplementing research efforts to understand and conserve the place with poetic and musical messages to bring more Batswana (people of Botswana) on board, as well as to inspire a global audience. As many of you know, the Conservation Music movement was crystalized in Angola, en route to the Delta, aboard a mokoro in 2015 with Dr. Steve Boyes’ Okavango Wilderness Project (OWP). At the time of this writing, the OWP crew is pulling their boats through the deep, muddy wilderness as the water that carried our crossing continues to drop during theirs. You can follow along with live updates at www.intotheokavango.org.
The CODE 2016 crossing was quite special… a group of 15 Batswana was joined by just a single foreign member, Conservation Music founder Alex. In general, the Delta is visited and run by either foreigners or white Botswana nationals, and one intention of CODE is to inspire more Batswana to visit and invest in this incredible national heritage site. Needless to say, it was an honor to be made the exception and join the team of creative celebrities, media professionals, and polers from Botswana to produce a song and music video throughout the two-week crossing.
The song is entitled, “Okavango Oa Moxa,” which means “Okavango You Are Beautiful” in seYei, the mother tongue of famous four-string guitarist Stiger Sola, who was born into the lineage of the baYei, also known as the “Watshara,” or “The River People.” This tribe is said to have been the first to break into the Delta long ago, bringing 6-meter long wooden mekoro (mokoros) to enter the deep, wild paradise that the land-based KhoiSan bushmen in the region left alone.
Indeed, Stiger Sola himself was born inside that very wilderness… his aunt assisting his young mother to deliver him on an island, as his uncle waited aboard the mokoro, long ngashe pole in hand. They were still far from the village of Sharobe, the place where he was meant to be delivered, which would soon become his home. Thus a legend of Botswana was born in the heart of the same inspiration that our expedition was seeking…. We brought him back into the wild with a guitar.
The other musical celebrity on board was HT Tautona, a Maun-born rapper who grew up on the cattle post but made his claim to fame in Gaborone, Botswana’s capitol. For HT this trip was like returning home, but finally seeing the Delta he grew on the edge of the right way… by mokoro, in the depth of its wilderness. His lyrics describe the overflow of emotions upon returning to this place “like a pen without ink” and being filled with inspiration to write. HT was a major team player and was easy to find helping in the kitchen.
Last but not least, as a surprise addition to the music team, multi-talented poet Leshie Lovesong spoke up during a fireside brainstorming jam session with a poem she had written, which now serves as a deeply emotional opening to the song. Once she was brought aboard the music team, she also lent her voice to the chorus, responding to Stiger’s calls of “Okavango, Okavango, Okavango” with Stiger’s own declarations to his mother, the Delta, of her lovable, everlasting, beautiful nature, and her role in his existence as “a way of life.” Leshie’s own way of life took quite a shock in the wilderness… prior the expedition she had never even been camping.
Conservation Music is extremely excited to be part of Botswana’s 50th anniversary celebrations. As we speak, the new song “Okavango O Moxa” is being registered with the Copyright Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) so that the artists involved can earn their royalties and protect their rights when this song hits the radio in September. The music video shot in the Delta is soon to follow, and will we broadcast on Botswana Television (BTV) and on Youtube and Vimeo. The song and video will also be made available on iTunes and Google Play soon! Overall the Cross Okavango song project has been a resounding success. The tune is set to be a hit, the video will be made up of some incredible moments with people and wildlife out in the deep wilderness, and new opportunities are coming up rapidly as this project gains attention. We cannot wait to release this song and video, and hopefully do it all over again next year.
What’s Next On the Horizon?
In the meantime, lots of other things are happening too! For example:
Conservation Music Presents Sotho Sounds @ Rocking the Daisies
For instance, Conservation Music is preparing to bring our old friends the Sotho Sounds from Lesotho down to Cape Town for the massive Rocking the Daisies* music festival! The festival runs from the 7th-9th of October, and we’ll be rocking the Hemp Stage in the Green Village area on Saturday from 2-2:45pm. The Sotho Sounds are a group of rural musicians with enormous heart and talent, and we are extremely excited to give them the chance to perform for such an audience, and hopefully to sell some of their handcrafted merchandise!
FYI, preceding the festival opportunity, we are discussing a collaboration in Lesotho with an American celebrity musician. More on that soon!
Zambian Tree Song “Tushange Isamu” Release with Greenpop
Quite close to the release date for “Okavango O Moxa” in Botswana, we look forward to releasing the tree planting song and music video recorded in Livingstone, Zambia alongside Greenpop. In July, the song was composed and performed by the Mosi Oa Tunya band, alongside members of the Golden Leaf band as well as Conservation Music’s own Alex Paullin. September is Arbor Month, so this release is very relevant!
Return to Angola with The Okavango Wilderness Project
Conservation Music looks forward to returning to Angola in October, following Rocking the Daisies festival in Cape Town. The Okavango Wilderness Project (OWP) is bringing several research teams to survey the Angolan catchments of the Okavango watershed. We are grateful for their continued enthusiasm regarding the power of music to foster conservation ethics in the minds of the people living in the region, where decades of aggression have scarred both the people and the landscape. The beauty and importance of the landscape there are something to be proud of, and we look forward to encouraging that pride alongside OWP and National Geographic.
As soon as we beached on this island I named it the elephants’ playground… Dozens of tall, regal, royal fan palms dot the place, evermore dotting the ground with their fruit. I tasted this palm fruit today, which lived its life high off the ground, tucked away between its crunchy outer shell and the large ball of vegetable ivory within. As I write this, the trees that surround me are shaking the as elephants ram them to bring down these bittersweet morsels.
Two nights in a row now we’ve slept with the elephants near. Today I ate their fruit. Tonight I ponder if they will come visit me here. Last night they had already past when my head hit the pillow… but before my tent was up I had been with them like never before.
The images are clear in my mind… I will never forget, thus yet again I can relate to my elephant friends. The herd of fifteen-odd adults and adolescents with their two wobbly-trunked younglings in tow had just passed by our camp as the light became golden. I found a perch atop a standalone turret, a sandcastle built up by termites for years. I was hoping to watch the herd crossing the river en route to the flats near Jao Village, Djedibe, the place that made me think this afternoon that we would not see any wildlife this evening. From upon my tower I watched them turn towards me.
An elephant’s moment is longer than others, but to them it must have felt like an instant as I slowly felt my heartbeat picking up as they grew closer, tree by tree. Through the zoom lens of my camera I had watched from afar as they brought down a tree for the babies to eat from. At this point the naked eye was plenty to capture this larger-than-life moment… they were standing right in front of me.
The matriarch had given me her blessing. We had been making frequent eye contact as I focused my intention on peace, love, and respect for the herd. These emotions undeniably mingled with fear… what if the villagers nearby had been in conflict with these animals? Or if a young male in the herd had been spited that day? Or a mother grew defensive, or her mate had a toothache? But consciously I focused on peace, love, and respect. Any negative visualizations must pass by as glimpses, not to be focused on.
But even when a youngling stood less than two meters below me, it’s trunk reaching up for a leaf near my dangling foot, and was startled to find me there, spreading its ears out and stumbling back, the mothers that surrounded me stayed calm. A significant look here and there, a bit of a head shake, perhaps a raised trunk. We were sharing the space. I was granted a point on the plane. For a moment, even less than an elephant’s instant, I could feel like a part of the herd. As the sky became dim, they moved on. Their wind tunnel breathing and near-silent footsteps that were filling up my ears had grown distant the moment the matriarch pointed her trunk in the direction they had come from. Only two of the herd were nearby when she pointed, but as one they all departed. An ultrasonic rumble of the stomach was the real cue. The herd had moved on through the trees, but our mother remained there with me, locking eyes for an eternity. I raised my hand. She raised her trunk and went.
On assignment for The Conservation Music Project and Cross Okavango Delta Expedition. Follow @crossokavango and @intotheokavango for more stories like these.
CM Highlights Transboundary Water Issues in the Okavango
Following a thriving month in Pretoria, South Africa, Conservation Music (CM) headed to Botswana to combat transboundary water issues in the Okavango Delta for Expedition #K2K. We gathered artists from Gaborone and then headed to Maun, where we set off in mekoro (traditional canoes) for a four day wilderness expedition. This deep immersion into the local environment and culture made for a great month of eco-production and education. Take a look at Episode 9 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path, which shares highlights from our field work, allowing you to trek with us throughout the entire experience! Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Redefining Music as an Educational Tool with Local Artists
In Gaborone, we linked up with our new friend Stan who hosted us for the first week. He commonly hosts backpackers and travelers alike, yet his hospitality served great purpose for CM, as it allowed us to ground into the community and establish a core group of local musicians for the eco-song collaboration. First, we met with Tomeletso Sereetsi, a big name in the local scene who revolutionized the four-string sound by incorporating unique jazz chords. Then Tom recommended Gaone Rantlhoiwa, a local female singer with an unbelievable voice and wide array of styles. With our two main artists on board, we moved smoothly into the composition phase. The production crew sounded the melodies and rhythms, while Tom and Gaone wrote the lyrics. Inspired by the Okavango Delta’s transboundary water issues, the lyrics naturally called to bordering countries to preserve the delta’s diverse presence of life.
“I believe music is a really powerful tool. It’s the one thing I know that really unites people. It makes it easier for people to be receptive to messages because we all don’t like great talkers, so people talk all the time but people don’t listen… With music it’s really great because people are bound to listen and bound to enjoy the message. So it’s a tool that really should be used for community mobilization and community education. I think we should be doing more and more of that; using the power of the arts to bring people around issues and talk about them. I’ve seen this happen even in my own music…people are more likely to discuss issues that are taboo when the issues are in a song. It can be a beautiful ice-breaker! Artists have this artistic license and they can say stuff that most people don’t usually say and listeners can then talk about it because it is in the context of a song. They don’t realize they are talking about issues, they think they are just discussing a song. So I think music is a really powerful vehicle that we should be using more than we are actually doing right now.” ~Tomeletso Sereetsi | Gaborone, Botswana
As we moved forward into tracking, Tom linked us with Leroy Nyoni, an amazing sound engineer at Village Sound Studios. Leroy not only helped us with recording the song, but also added a back beat with incredible drumming. Field crew members Jake Taylor and Chris Volosevich, rounded it out with a few of their own bass and electric guitar phases. As the crew finalized tracking, CM Founder Alex Paullin flew to Canada to participate in a Summit Series entitled “Cultivating the Globally Sustainable Self” for a few days, where he discussed environmental sustainability with academics and practitioners from around the world.
With Alex back in the field, and production progressing, we geared up for the ten hour drive north to Maun, a city just outside the Okavango Delta. Upon arrival we settled into the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging, where we met with Matthew Merritt, CM’s Outreach Manager from the United States. Matthew spent two years in Lesotho with the Peace Corps, and now recruits for the Peace Corps, while volunteering for CM by inspiring stakeholders, sponsors, and partners to join the movement. Integrated into his six week backpacking trip through Southern Africa, Matt hopped aboard CM’s field crew for a few weeks to help with this month’s project. His experience in the field greatly benefited CM, and is one that he will carry back to the states. Connect with us to learn how to become a remote volunteer for CM.
Poling Into the Delta’s Wilderness
Early the following morning, we loaded into safari vehicles, linked with our guides, and headed towards the delta for four days of video shooting, cultural exchange, and nature immersion. After a two hour drive, we arrived at the launch station and transferred into mekoro, which are traditional canoes that we used to travel to each campsite. With production gear, instruments, an off-grid solar studio, volunteers, and artists in tow, we loaded seven mekoro and set off for our journey. As we weaved through the narrow waterways, we encountered herds of elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, hornbills and many other bird species. After long days of poling deep into the bush, we set up camp, recorded delta-inspired vocals, and filmed location shoots for the music video. At night we filmed more vocals by the fire, which was intentionally built large to keep the animals away as we slept. We shared delicious food, stories, and various improv jam sessions with the guitar, ukulele, and djembe. Tom and Gaone even had the chance to debut their song in Setswana, a Bantu language closely related to Sesotho, to an audience of local guides who then provided feedback and stimulated further discussions on the future of the delta waterways. It is such a reward when the educational ability of music can be seen first hand.
“The conversations held around the fire following the song were groundbreaking. It was then that we discovered that while the guides and polers had spent their whole lives on the delta, they were unaware that the water originated in Angola. It wasn’t until they heard the song that they asked questions about where the water came from and what was happening to cause the waters to lower. This was the reason we were here; to bring environmental education to rural communities in need. It was iconic and something I will never forget.”
With each rising sun, we set out by foot on guided safaris to explore the area and seek out wildlife. We encountered mixed herds of giraffes, zebras, antelope, ostriches, and elephants. The elephants made for the most memorable experiences as we witnessed a herd of over fifty travelling together, as well as unknowingly trekking into the wrong territory and getting false charged by one from the side. Luckily, everyone walked away safely with a humbling reminder of nature’s power. We followed up with supplementary filming, including shots for Gaone’s location shoot and a few ad-libs from Tom. On the last day we set out for one last shoot to wrap up filming before heading back to Maun.
CM’s Lesotho Chapter Lands a Grant
Earlier this year, our first local chapter Conservation Music Lesotho was built by local volunteers. Led by four women, the chapter landed its first grant this month, which will directly support local screenings of CM content to further educate students and rural citizens around the country. This is a landmark achievement for both the local chapter and the CM movement at large. Each step further proves that our scalable vision for a global network of self-sustaining chapters and implemented partners is viable. We are very proud of our local chapter and excited to see what the future holds!
Spreading Awareness
We landed back at the Old Bridge Backpackers lodging and connected with our good friends Helene Forward and Stiger Sola Molefi. Helene is a multi-talented artist, who also owns the Old Bridge Backpackers. Stiger has been performing in and around Botswana for decades and it’s always an honor to spend time with him. Together, we composed and recorded the song’s finishing touches, as Helene added flute and fiddle and Stiger closed out the track with his four-string guitar. With the month coming to a close, Helene allowed us to perform at the Old Bridge Backpackers, where we were able to share our message and collect some gas money for the road to Zambia. The performance was a beautiful memory to end on as we jammed with Helene and other new friends beneath a fig tree on the Thamalakane River. This month was packed with fulfilling work, intense wilderness expeditions, and countless memories. After we said our goodbyes, we hit the road for Livingstone, Zambia, where we were set to take on leg six of Expedition #K2K. Stay tuned for more stories!
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journalism platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
As a global community, it is our responsibility to take care of one another and the planet that we all inhabit together. Over the past six months at Conservation Music (CM), we have continued to empower music as a tool to spread this message across the globe and radiate a sustainable beat from the motherland, Africa. Join us on Expedition #K2K, as we trek from Cape Town, South Africa to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, to create thirteen globally-inspiring eco-songs and music videos with local artists in local languages.
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journaling platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Expedition #K2K
Year after year, as we trek through Southern Africa’s environmentally threatened areas, our voice grows louder and our mission spreads further. Messages of climate change, land management, water scarcity, and tree planting spread from the hearts of local artists and NGO’s. Here are a few of our latest stories and eco-productions from 2018:
Cape Town, South Africa
In late February, we finalized administrative work in the United States and then flew to Cape Town, South Africa to kick off leg one of Expedition #K2K. Our first project aimed to raise awareness on Cape Town’s water crisis, an issue rapidly heading towards #DayZero. Learn more about the issue by heading to the Day Zero Dashboard. Throughout the production, we worked closely with local artists to record eco-song and music video, “Day Zero.” Our new friend and owner of Africa Sun Studios, Philip Pells, graciously shared his home, studio, and sound engineering expertise for the production of the track. Tune into Episode 5 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path, as we recap on March and take you through the drying Theewaterskloof Dam, a hopeful Philippi Township, and the rebounding Platbos Indigenous Forest. (Read More on Leg 1)
CM’s eco-production, “Day Zero,” featuring Jack Mantis Band, Gershan Lombard: KhoisanBoy.Man, and Chuma Preshy Mgcoyii, was recorded this past March to raise awareness on Cape Town’s water crisis. After three years of catastrophic drought conditions, Cape Town was hit by intense flash floods. As the conditions continued to get worse, Mmusi Maimane, of the Democratic Alliance political party, announced that #DayZero would be pushed past the end of 2018. Their plan is to desalinate ocean water, a practice which can cause significant environmental damage. CM encourages decentralized grassroots solutions to these issues. As Cape Town’s population continues to grow, the people will need to continue their grassroots action to ensure a better future.
Tlokoeng, Lesotho
In early April, CM kicked off leg two of Expedition #K2K with a 12-hour drive from Cape Town, South Africa to Maseru, Lesotho. A few weeks prior to our arrival, Lesotho’s climate swung from harsh droughts to historic rain and hail storms, highlighting exactly why we are here. Our focus for the month resided in the rural village of Tlokoeng, where our music theme was set to raise awareness on “Rural Water Challenges,” a project in partnership with Conservation Music Lesotho and Professor Tsepo Mokuku from the National University of Lesotho (NUL). The second leg concluded in the village, with a community screening of the eco-production and a brief impact evaluation to compare to the pre-evaluations taken earlier in the month. Our final days were filled with unity, as we all gathered to celebrate a successful song and music video, one that the Tlokoeng community can be proud to share with generations to come. Take a visual leap into CM’s fieldwork by checking out Episode 6 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path. (Read More on Leg 2)
CM’s eco-production, “Metsi A Rona” (“Our Water”), featuring members of the Tlokoeng village community in northern Lesotho, was produced to share true stories of Tlokoeng’s deep history of droughts and harsh storms. We were assisted by Conservation Music Lesotho, Professor Tsepo Mokuku from the NUL, and several local artists. In this production, people living in Tlokoeng tell their own stories in their own way, using Famo music to highlight their rural water challenges. The music video was shot atop a nearby mountain, once home to the Batlokoa people who lived inside its giant caves. We wrapped up the shoot in the valley below, surrounded by sorghum, maize, rivers, and dongas. We are so grateful to have spent such quality time in Tlokoeng, and are eager to return and continue our collaboration with the community!
Pretoria, South Africa
For the month of June, CM headed to Pretoria, South Africa, to complete Leg 4 of Expedition #K2K. Through the month, we worked with Greenpeace Africa and Projekt 23 – Greening Our Communities to spread environmental awareness throughout the cities, create eco-music, and educate the younger generations to build brighter future. In recent years, the water infrastructure in Pretoria has aged to the point of irreversible leakages and contamination. With growing stresses from population increases and mining activities, this issue has become more urgent than ever and poses a massive threat to the future of the northern communities of South Africa. Assisted by a wide-range of talented artists, we created the eco-song, “Protect Our Water,” to inspire action regarding socio-political disputes about the distribution and protection of dwindling clean water resources. Take a visual dive into our fieldwork by watching Episode 8 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path. (Read More on Leg 4)
CM’s latest eco-production, “Protect Our Water,” features the students of Tlakukani Primary School, Xolani “Haikuu” Mhlanga, Thabiso Thabethe, Tribute “Birdie” Mboweni, accompanied by instrumentalists Albert Craftsman, Taelo Mpatsi, Gally Ngoveni, and Thulani Sithela. The track was recorded at Haikuu’s house in Pretoria, South Africa, and the Oakfields College Lynnwood Campus Studio. The music video was shot on location at Haikuu’s house, Slovo Village, the #DefendWaterGreenpeace Africa mural in downtown Johannesburg, and Pretoria National Botanical Gardens. This song was produced to inspire action regarding issues surrounding clean water resources. In recent years, the water infrastructure in Pretoria has aged to the point of irreversible leakages and contamination. This is alarming, considering billions of Rand are required in order to curtail this crisis. The population in the Gauteng region is growing by the thousands each month, adding further stress to the infrastructure. Additionally, according to Greenpeace Africa, the major South African mining companies aim to utilize more of the already decreasing water supply for their new mining initiatives. The need to address this issue has become more urgent than ever and poses a massive threat to the future of the northern communities of South Africa. In this production, the artists from Pretoria share stories and warnings of the inescapable water crisis to come and urge listeners to increase and sustain their awareness, so as to prevent their beautiful landscape from becoming more desolate and arid.
Next Phase
As we moved into the second quarter of 2018, the team wrapped up a strong leg five in Botswana, and heads to Zambia to begin leg six. For the month of July in Botswana, we worked with Tomeletso Sereetsi, a big name in the local scene, and Gaone Ranthloiwa, a local female singer with an unbelievable voice and wide-range of skill. Together, our goal is to build awareness around trans-boundary water issues in the Okavango Delta, by calling upon Botswana and its neighboring countries to come together to preserve the delta. With music and environmental projects on our minds, we had to remain aware for the large wildlife that live about the locations we camped and recorded footage in. Stay tuned to hear more about our eco-music production, work within the communities, and close experiences with elephants and hippos!
Get Involved & Donate
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blog on National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journaling platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
For the month of June, Conservation Music (CM) headed to Pretoria, South Africa to complete Leg 4 of Expedition #K2K. Through the month, we worked with Greenpeace Africa and Projekt 23 – Greening Our Communities to spread environmental awareness throughout the cities, create eco-music, and educate the younger generations to build a brighter future. In recent years, the water infrastructure in Pretoria has aged to the point of irreversible leakages and contamination. With growing stresses from population increases and mining activities, this issue has become more urgent than ever and poses a massive threat to the future of the northern communities of South Africa. Assisted by a wide-range of talented artists, we created the eco-song, “Protect Our Water,” to inspire action regarding socio-political disputes about the distribution and protection of dwindling clean water resources. Take a visual dive into our fieldwork by watching Episode 8 of CM’s Webseries: On The Beating Path.
For this leg of Expedition #K2K, we moved into the headquarters of X Factor Crafts and Nosh Food Rescue, owned by our friend Hanneke. This brilliant conservationist and homesteader invites backpackers from all over the world to her house, where her lush gardens provide for homemade teas, oils, kombuchas, and tinctures. We couldn’t be happier with our accomodations for the Pretoria leg of the journey! Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform.
CM’s Crew Brings Life to a New Collaboration
To gain clarity for this month’s eco-song collaboration, we headed to a nearby park to meet with longtime friend, conservationist, talented singer, and Founder of Projekt 23, Tribute “Birdie” Mboweni, and her music director, Thulani ST Sithela. Together, we envisioned the song’s composition and then split ways, so that we could trek to Winterveld to meet our longtime friend Thabiso Thabethe and invite him to join the song. With need for one more vocalist to join the trio, Thabiso linked us to Xolani “Haikuu” Petrus Mhlanga, a multi-instrumentalist, rapper, filmmaker, and producer, who also graciously allowed the collective to use his garage as a session space in Waterkloof.
On June 6th, World Environment Day, we met with Greenpeace Africa and Projekt 23 – Greening Our Communities at the Tlakukani Primary School in Mamelodi, for an educational workshop on the importance of water conservation. The day began with eco-education games, followed by a lesson in defending water by Greenpeace Africa. Conservation Music rounded out the day by allowing the students to write and record their own part for this month’s eco-song collaboration. Birdie guided the students through their part, leading to the creation of a beautiful chorus.
Our next session was at Haikuu’s place, where we could feel the momentum of the project building as we gathered musicians to write and compose the instrumentals for the track. Thabiso and CM Founder, Alex Paullin, exchanged ideas and riffs, as keys player Taelo Mpatsi laid down accompanying melodies to further flesh out the tune. Haikuu was also incredibly excited to add a rap verse and lead guitar melodies to the eco-song. For two weeks, we spent time at Haikuu’s studio, rehearsing and recording the majority of the track. Thabiso and Haikuu helped us integrate essential guitar strains, while bassist Gally Ngoveni laid out the low end. We met Gally earlier this year at MTN Bushfire, and are grateful to reconnect, as well as add his talented touch to the song. Next, we headed to Oakfields College Lynnwood Campus Studio, where we recorded Thulane ripping through drum takes, and even providing some backing harmonies.
Alex Paullin Takes CM to Germany for Refugium
As we continued to work on the eco-song, Alex geared up for a symposium at Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany. There he would offer a series of lectures and workshops, while producing a new #CrowdStudio track with a group of refugees and music students for the yearly Refugium Music and Arts Festival. Prior to Alex’s departure, we welcomed in Jake Taylor, CM volunteer and multi-instrumentalist, for the next two months of the expedition. Jake’s presence set an amazingly new dynamic and level of production to the group. With an expanded crew, we headed to a local cafe to watch Gershan Lombard: KhoisanBoy.Man, an artist featured in our “Day Zero” song, perform before he set off for a tour around Europe.
CM Location Shooting for “Protect Our Water”
After Alex returned from a successful trip to Germany, we wrapped up tracking and began shooting for the production’s music video. We started with Thabiso’s part at a dried out river in the Slovo Village of Winterveld. This location exceeded our expectations and we are eager to show you more from this golden hour.
For the second location shoot, the collective ventured into the city of Johannesburg to film Haikuu’s rap verse. The set lies in front of a Greenpeace Africa#DefendWater mural, which was painted to raise awareness about water as a human right. The backdrop set a heavy tone for this production and highlights the severity of South Africa’s water issues.
For the third and final shooting location, we headed to Pretoria National Botanical Garden with Birdie, who put on a moving performance for the video. The serenity of the botanical gardens, coupled with Birdie’s colorful outfit, made for some unforgettable footage that will bring this production to the next level.
Wrapping Up the Production
Our final recording session for “Protect Our Water” was with our good friend Albert Craftsman, who blessed us with congas, djembe, udu, and rainstick from his percussion arsenal. His additions brought motion and cohesion to the song and rounded it out so that we can enter the final mixing and mastering stages.
Before trekking onto our next project, Haikuu graced us with a rap verse for the expedition’s #CrowdStudio track, which will continue to grow over the remainder of the expedition. We also want to give thanks to Mount Skylight, a crew that is creating a short film and donating 5% of the proceeds to Conservation Music. Check out the teaser! With production from leg 4 behind us, we wrapped up post-production on both songs and videos from Pretoria and Eichstatt, and then set out to Botswana for leg 5 of the expedition to create a song pertaining to transboundary water issues. We hope you stay tuned for future updates on Expedition #K2K.
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blogon National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journaling platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreonpage, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Conservation Music (CM) kicked off leg two of Expedition #K2K with a 12-hour drive from Cape Town, South Africa to Maseru, Lesotho. A few weeks prior to our arrival, Lesotho’s climate swung from harsh droughts to historic rain and hail storms, highlighting exactly why we are here. Our focus for the month resided in the rural village of Tlokoeng, where our music theme was set to raise awareness on “Rural Water Challenges,” a project in partnership with Conservation Music Lesotho and Professor Tsepo Mokuku from the National University of Lesotho (NUL). Take a visual leap into CM’s fieldwork by checking out our Web series video below.
Upon arriving to Tlokoeng, we began our mission with a quest for musicians to assist in the creation of our eco-song, Metsi A Rona (Our Water). The search naturally led us to the home of Ntate Motolinyane, the principle mamokhorong player in the village. We later learned that he is also the man in charge of maintaining the water pumps that supply the community taps.
“I’ve noticed a change in the rain, the patterns of the rain. While I was still young, rain was always there but it was never a type of rain that would bring floods. Everything was there, the land was green, there was a lot of maize. Rain was always coming, but nowadays what we get is no rain at all but when it comes, it comes with a heavy pour and it messes things up.“ ~Motolinyane | Tlokoeng, Lesotho
We ventured on to the closest mountain, a common place for local artists to convene around sunset. As we approached, local eyes raised and revealed a familiar musical nature. It’s incredible how musicians from any combination of cultures can somehow identify one another through a common wavelength. Our group of artists continued to expand and range from experienced elders to younger vocalists, all eager to be a part of a movement bigger than themselves. This amalgam of the old and the new is exactly the kind of collaborative effort we strive to capture.
The crew continued to ignite conversation regarding the effect that climate change has had on the locals and their village, and how we can work together to better the issues at hand. An initial focus group discussion allowed us to better understand the existing local knowledge of water conservation, and to make note of true stories relating to drought and harsh storms in the village. Together, we identified four key points to be depicted through the storytelling of the verses, while the chorus reinforced the general message. We finalized the verses together with the vocalists and then began rehearsals. Meanwhile, we sat down with locals Limakatso, Motolinyane, and Mokotjo Marake, as well as our own local team member, Rebel Sol, for some brief documentary interviews. Check out more of CM’s stories and videos on National Geographic’s OpenExplorer platform.
CM’s Diverse Crew Sings Loudly
As the songs composition solidified, we headed into week two and began recording in the nearby thatched-roof rondavel. The track developed further with a variety of vocals, the mamokhorong, moropa drum, guitar, bass, jaw harp, tsoelia whistling, and ululations. Woven between the core song and video production were interviews and testimonials with both artists and locals of the village. They weighed in on not only music’s role as an activator for change, but each individual’s role in the community, and the world at large.
With a diverse and unique track recorded, we trekked deeper into the mountains to begin filming for the song’s video. Up the steep slopes, we found giant caves that once served as homes for the Batlokoa people, and later King Moshoeshoe. Currently, these caves are essential for balisana (shepherds) to use as kraals (corrals) to keep their animals from overgrazing the lands. From the caverns to the mountain’s ridgeline, the immersion into this cultural and historical space was a surreal experience and a perfect shooting location to display visuals coherent with our song’s message. The following day we spent time in the valley surrounded by sorghum, maize, rivers, and dongas to wrap up the shoot. With remote shooting locations such as these, it’s important that we have a proper sound system to play back recordings to ensure proper vocal dubbing while editing. We are not only grateful for the help from our volunteers, but also to DreamWave South Africa for supplying us with their Elemental Bluetooth speaker, which has 30 watts of power to maximize our sessions no matter where we are. This tool benefits the mission daily and allows us to continue spreading environmental knowledge through our eco-song and music video creations.
Tlokoeng Gathers for a Community Screening of Metsi A Rona
The second leg of Expedition #K2K concluded in Tlokoeng with a brief impact evaluation and a community screening of their very own music video. Following the screening, we conducted a series of surveys to compare against the preliminary results, which will allow our team to evaluate the production’s educational impact amongst the villagers. Our final days were filled with unity as we all gathered to celebrate a successful song and music video, one that the Tlokoeng community can be proud to share with generations to come. We are so grateful to have spent such quality time in Tlokoeng, and are eager to return as soon as possible to continue our collaboration with the community! Next stop, eSwatini.
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more about CM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out our blogon National Geographic, and follow us on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journaling platform, OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute to Expedition #K2K, please visit our Patreonpage, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
A week prior to March, Alex Paullin, our Founder atConservation Music (CM), landed in Africa to lay groundwork and prepare forExpedition #K2K, a 13-month sea-to-summit caravan from Cape Town’s drying coast to Tanzania’s melting glacier. Throughout the expedition, our plans are to develop thirteen new globally inspiring educational songs and videos in local languages, amplify the voices of local eco-nonprofits and relevant organizations, offer global exposure to local eco-artists, while following up on past CM projects and scouting for future ones. We believe strongly in our work, knowing that it speaks loudly within the global conversation of our suffering planet.
With the expedition launch date looming, Alex booked it from the International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, over to Lobamba, Swaziland, to pick up our Nissan X-trail. After several days of setting preparations for our Swazi-based project this upcoming May, Alex headed over to Lesotho for a few meetings, and then further south to Cape Town’s International Airport to meet up with incoming field crew members, Chris Velosovich and Bryan Murphy. Alex enjoyed the last hours of his solo journey by visiting the Valley of Desolation and connecting with Giant Flag, a carbon sequestering project in Graaff Reinet, South Africa. Take an inside look into Alex’s preparations and pit stops by checking out these YouTube videos filmed throughout his travels from Swaziland to Lesotho, Lesotho to Graaf Reinet, and Graaff Reinet to Cape Town.
Leg 1 of Expedition #K2K is Underway!
Watch CM’s Production Crew pack for the 13-month expedition!
On February 28th, the rest of us joined Alex in Cape Town, South Africa, lugging along the production and field gear needed for thirteen months of producing sound and video content along Africa’s weathered coast. Check out this behind the scenes YouTube video from CM’s Visual Production Manager, Bryan Murphy, to see how the production crew packed for this grand expedition.
When we headed to claim our luggage, all of our gear was searched and possessed by airport customs. Without a resolution at hand, we decided to get to work by collaborating with Jack Mantis Band and Gershan Lombard: KhoisanBoy.Man on CM’s first #K2K project, an eco-song and music video regarding climate change, water scarcity, and unity. The focus of this production stems from the pressing issue of Cape Town’s water crisis, which is rapidly heading towards #DayZero. Learn more about #DayZero on Cape Town’s Day Zero Dashboard.
Throughout our time in Cape Town, we were set to work closely with Gershan, Jack, and Jack’s friend Philip Pells, as they graciously shared their home and studio spaces with us. As owner of Africa Sun Studios, Phil not only shared his space with us, but also contributed top-notch sound engineering skills and bass playing to the track. After rehearsing and working out the kinks, we brought on Chuma Preshy Mgcoyi, a Xhosa singer, to add beautiful vocals in her native tongue. Together, we meticulously crafted and recorded beautiful content for the #DayZero eco-production.
Despite focusing heavily on the #DayZero eco-production, we pressed forward on other media projects, including content for our field updates on National Geographic’sOpenExplorer platform and amazing footage for CM’s fifth WebSeries episode, our first ofExpedition #K2K. As we wrapped up our first week in Cape Town, we found it necessary to travel to a local freshwater spring to replenish drinking water for our household. With a daily limit of 25-litres, each of us carried five 5-litre bottles to fill. We were shocked to learn that the spring drains directly into the ocean, wasting millions of gallons of potable water each day. This is exactly what we are on the lookout for, and unfortunately these environmental impacts aren’t hard to spot. With the eco-production flowing nicely, we headed over to Elandsbaai, a secluded surf spot, for two nights of camping and hanging with friends. As the track continued to expand, we brought in Paulo Costa on clarinet, Rob Coutts on sax, and Buck Roger on violin.
The Field Crew Sets Out to Film a Music Video for CM’s #DayZero eco-Production
Check out CM’s aerial footage of Theewaterskloof Dam!
Following the short break, we grooved back into the workflow by tracking the eco-song and venturing to several impacted locations to shoot the music video with Jack, Gershan, and Chuma. Our first shoot took place at Theewaterskloof Dam, a once thriving source of water and destination for boating and fishing. Now, most of the area is completely dry, revealing remains of dead fish, capsized yachts, desolate vineyards, and collapsed villages. Check out the aerial footage that we recorded while flying our drone throughout the barren lands. Theewaterskloof is an unfortunate example of how extreme Cape Town’s water crisis is, making it a perfect location to film. With most of our camera gear still held up at customs, we weren’t certain how we would complete the video. We ended up crossing paths with a fellow American from Philadelphia, Luke, who is a young filmmaker also documenting the water crisis. He decided to spend time with us and help out with the shoot. The odds of that happening blew us all away, and we could not be more grateful for the turn of events.
After a day and a half of shooting at Theewaterskloof, we ventured to Philippi Township, an extremely low-income area that is home to many people and programs with hope for the future. The Philippi Dance crew is a great example, as their team of young dancers, led by our friends Cosmos and Suzie, lend a traditional Xhosa Rain dance as footage for our #DayZero music video. It was inspiring to film these optimistic young teens, and we are excited to include them in our eco-production.
On March 22nd, we performed an acoustic rendition of the song at Café Roux in Noordhoek during Jack’s solo show, including other brilliant guest musicians throughout the night. The evening was a tremendous success for CM, as we made many new connections and friends, including Lorraine, an Afrikaans artist and model. We invited her back to the studio so that she could face paint Jack, Gershan, Chuma, which we ended up filming in an incredible time lapse video.
To wrap up location shooting for the #DayZero music video, we joined our friends at GreenPop in the Platbos Forest Reserve for their Reforest Fest. Over the course of two consecutive weekends, volunteers planted over 8,000 trees, soaked in environmental education, and intensified their connection with the planet.
CM Wraps Up Projects in Cape Town and Prepares for Leg 2 of Expedition #K2K
With the doors closing on March, we remained gearless and unsure of how we could move forward with the expedition. Luckily, Phil made a few phone calls, and successfully retrieved all of our gear from customs. Aside from owning the studio, Phil also works at a music equipment warehouse and importer company, called Paul Bothner, where he was able to sponsor us amazing new gear, including microphones, Bluetooth speakers, and various cables. With our gear finally in hand, along with some new additions, we extended our gratitude and respect to the Cape Town crew, and then headed out for the second leg of the expedition to Lesotho.
As we begin our next project in Maseru, Lesotho, we are excited to share the full Webseries On The Beating Path… Episode 5: #K2K Leg 1 of 13 – Cape Town, which recaps on all the work we completed last month. Throughout each phase of the expedition, we will continue sharing content illustrating our travels, the people we work with, the process behind each eco-production, and a feature song and music video from each location. Stay tuned for the debut of our #DayZero production, due for release in early April, we think you’re going to love it.
Expedition #K2K is our third iteration of long-term field work, and it is by far the most exciting. To learn more aboutCM, and to stay connected throughout the mission, please subscribe to our Newsletter below, check out ourblog on National Geographic, and follow us onFacebook,Instagram,Twitter, andYouTube. For live updates from the field, be sure to check out our page on National Geographic’s newest digital journaling platform,OpenExplorer. If you would like to contribute toExpedition #K2K, please visit ourPatreon page, where you can schedule monthly donations of any amount.
Conservation Music is on a mission to produce and promote musical media that educates listeners and viewers in conservation and sustainability, with an emphasis on rural developing communities, and to serve as a platform for similar efforts. Currently, the organization primarily collaborates with musicians throughout Southern Africa, catalyzing songs in local genres and local languages regarding local conservation issues in countries like Lesotho, Botswana, Angola, and more.
After years of soul-searching and months in the African wilderness with the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, musician and geographer Alex Paullin combined his foremost passions and founded Conservation Music, a non-profit aiming to foster a global culture of sustainability using music as the messenger. Throughout his life he aims to expand the Conservation Music movement globally, in hopes that his lifetime will see and hear songs of conservation being sung throughout the world.
Our Musical Nonprofit For Conservation
Alex Paullin
Our Musical Nonprofit For Conservation
Video still shot by 
Photo by Jacob Crawfurd of 
Photo by 
Video still shot by 
Our Musical Nonprofit For Conservation
Alex Paullin
“I’ve noticed a change in the rain, the patterns of the rain. While I was still young, rain was always there but it was never a type of rain that would bring floods. Everything was there, the land was green, there was a lot of maize. Rain was always coming, but nowadays what we get is no rain at all but when it comes, it comes with a heavy pour and it messes things up.“ ~Motolinyane | Tlokoeng, Lesotho
