South African based music duo, Bottomless Coffee Band, is launching a new song and video called “Wilderness”. This coincides with the announcement that they are the official ambassadors for the Community Conservation Fund Africa (CCFA).
“In this chaotic time of a worldwide pandemic, we are even more aware of the synergy between this planet and its humans; that we have to look after our environment for our environment to look after us”. Husband and wife duo, Lourens & Esté Rabé (Bottomless Coffee Band) have recently partnered up with a global initiative, The Community Conservation Fund – Africa (CCFA) as official ambassadors for the NPC. CCFA came about when two hospitality partners, Accor and Mantis, recognised the urgent need for tourism to play an active and hands on role in community upliftment and conservation. The dream: To create a ‘green print’ for all hospitality tourism in Africa.
After a concert in the Eastern Cape last year, attended by CEO and Chairman of CCFA, Adrian Gardiner, a partnership was born between the Bottomless Coffee Band and the CCFA. He asked them the burning question: “What are you as musicians doing for conservation?” Fast forward to the early hours the next morning where Lourens and Esté found themselves awake, inspired by the possibility of being involved in conservation through their music.
And with that, their single “Wilderness” was born. “The song tells the story of a Rhino calf being separated from his mother after she is shot for her horn. This as a metaphor for the greater environmental and conservation crisis; we are all created to live in harmony and synergy on this planet – to protect all the natural systems that we as humans can’t create once it’s gone…” the duo explains.
Bottomless Coffee Band, like many people, are well aware of the current state of our planet and the urgent need to highlight the preservation of our environment, especially in collaboration with the community. They were inspired to make a difference with what they have in their hands – music.
Their strong belief and inspiration for “Wilderness” has been the driving force behind their partnership with CCFA. “For us, music is all about bringing people together and sharing stories. What we can contribute is to carry the torch to different audiences, from all walks of life, spreading the conservation message and raising money for the cause.
When asked what drew Adrian to the band, he explained,”I was inspired by the talent I saw in Lourens and Esté. Chatting to them afterwards I realised that with their passion and musical ability, they could be agents for change. A perfect fit to be Ambassadors for CCFA, to spread the conservation message through song.And the band is doing just that having taken on the roles of official ambassadors for the CCFA.
“Wilderness” has been officially been released on Friday, 27 March 2020, alongside a thought-provoking music video filmed by Homebrew films.
The duo have forged an additional partnership with Fairview, who has pledged to donate R1.00 to the CCFA for every music video share. A portion of sales of the song will also be donated to the CCFA. All parties involved will run a “share to care” and “download to donate” campaign on their Social Media Platforms – the wider the songs’ reach – the more money will go towards conservation.
“I think music is the best global means of communication and, if anything needs to be communicated right now, on a world stage, it is conservation,” says Fairview owner, Charles Back, “The two collaborate in such a meaningful way that it has the ability to cross boundaries and cultures and influence people across the world.”
Watch the Wilderness music video now – https://youtu.be/3955_Mfq9ZI
CCFA & Bottomless Coffee Band Projects
– The Bottomless Coffee Band was the guest artist at the first CCFA fundraiser held in October last year, where they performed ‘Wilderness’ for the audience. R700 000 was raised that night. ‘We believe that the power of music can be used at grassroots level to emphasize the conservation cause and to inspire people, from all walks of life, to get involved.’ – Their contribution aims to continue with the release of the ‘Wilderness’ music video and song. – A fundraising event in Port-Elizabeth is planned for June. – A Tree Planting Concert to be hosted at Fairview in October. – A concert and fundraiser in London is planned for October. Fairview and other South African brands will be joining hands to take this story to the UK.
For more information on the current projects run by the CCFA, go to www.ccfa.africa.
Keep up to date with the on-going projects of Bottomless Coffee Band by heading to their website: www.bottomlesscoffeeband.com
More On The CCFA
The biggest challenge that faced two international hospitality groups, Accor and Mantis, with properties in Africa, was how to protect the beautiful natural wilderness areas and the wildlife. Tourism depends on conserving the environment but, equally important is uplifting, empowering and integrating local communities. It was from this that the Community Conservation Fund Africa (CCFA) was born, to address the imbalances and find a workable solution to the growing conservation crisis facing, not just Africa, but the world.
It has been 18 months since CCFA began its involvement in projects aimed at improving the environment for people as well as nature. These have contributed towards the alleviation of poverty, assisted with personal and social transformation, changed and uplifted communities and addressed ways of creating more sustainable lifestyles, while also helping to offset carbon emissions.
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Successful projects are currently being supported in seven countries in Southern Africa with positive outcomes. They range from focusing on gorilla health in Rwanda through to bringing clean drinking water to communities in Namibia, stopping the illegal trade of the endangered grey- crowned cranes, creating green landscapes, supporting elephant conservation and the human/elephant conflict mitigation program in Namibia and creating a fisheries project that currently supports around 120 families.
More On The Bottomless Coffee Band
Lou and Esté met as two ambitious students at the University of Stellenbosch; Lou a city boy from Durbanville and Esté a Karoo girl from Graaff-Reinet. After a brief stint in the corporate world, they got married, quit their day-jobs and pursued their dream to inspire others through music and performance.
Bottomless Coffee Band’s style is heavily influenced by folk rock with a modern edge. With foot stomping rhythms, hard hitting lyrics and hints of the dramatic. They aim to produce music
that is true to themselves in the different stages of developing as musicians and creatives, all whilst being progressive towards positive change. They believe that music is a tool to unite and uplift and therefore write lyrics and play songs that encourage good times, evokes emotion and sparks deeds of love, hope and change.
Bottomless Coffee Band have released 3 albums and a few singles. They have performed to audiences in almost every town in South Africa and they have done many successful tours in Namibia, The Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Although they have worked hard the past 10 years to achieve a modest form of success, they know that they have only started scratching the surface of taking South African music to more people and further into the world.