Last night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa’s three-week lockdown will be extended by another two weeks as the country continues to contain the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The lockdown has had a harrowing effect on each and every South African. With strict instruction to stay at home unless absolutely necessary, many South Africans have been spending time in isolation and while it’s certainly been difficult, it’s a necessary step in order to limit the number of infections around the country.
However, there have been a few cases where citizens have disregarded this instruction – putting millions of people at risk. While stuck in isolation, local electronic act Evida has been hard at work making music with a message. On their new single ‘Ring Of Roses’, Evida’s Liam Jones reminds South Africa that staying at home is the only way to flatten the curve.
The protest-style song is a culmination of what Liam was feeling during the early stages of Lockdown here in South Africa. ‘Ring of Roses’ is in reference to the black plague and the similarity of situation we have been facing as a planet
“I was getting kind of sick of all the comedy songs about what is literally a world-threatening pandemic,” Liam explains. “Don’t get me wrong I understand we need a smile in these hard times but if all we are doing is smiling through the pain instead of being a little more serious what, in essence, are we fixing other than our own self-pity.”
The song has been crafted under extraordinary circumstances as the lockdown meant that Liam has to put the song together in its entirety himself. “It was strange to do this song under lockdown mainly because I did it all alone,” he explains. “I did the mixing mastering, writing, production… everything myself. I had Richard (his brother and Evida’s other half) check the details afterwards but it was an interesting experience working on this one alone.”
‘Ring Of Roses’ is now available to download or stream everywhere.
Feel free to comment, share or tweet @ElBroide
