Music against gangsterism

KNYSNA NEWS - Hornlee resident and singer-songwriter Maxwell Botha recently sang his way to the top of the Garden Route contestant list to become one of seven winners in the Join Bands Not Gangs Garden Route Songwriting Competition on 28 May.

Join Bands Not Gangs is a registered non-profit organisation from Cape Town that uses music as a means to fight gangsterism in at-risk neighbourhoods.

The organisation was founded in 2018 by Berklee College of Music graduate Karien de Waal, and aims to prove one simple hypothesis - that if a small percentage of the youth in a neighbourhood can become actively involved in constructive activities like music, they can help reduce gangsterism and therefore reduce crime.

De Waal and her organisation wanted to branch out from Cape Town in 2022 and extend their phenomenal work to the entire Western Cape province.

This is when the idea of the Garden Route Songwriting Competition was born. "We wanted to provide them with a platform to perform on stage as part of a production, and for it to be broadcast too [it was broadcast live on Facebook]," De Waal told Knysna-Plett Herald.

Showtime

This prospect is what enticed 23-year-old Maxwell Botha to enter the competition with his song, Baba sê my wat's jou naam.

"I entered the competition due to the lack of studio opportunities and for years of preparation of writing more songs and to gain more confidence in myself," Botha said.

De Waal and Join Bands Not Gangs filtered through hundreds of entries, and then had interviews with a select few. "We initially intended to choose a top three, but the quality of entries was so high that we just couldn't choose three, and therefore chose our seven Garden Route winners to take part in a showcase in George," De Waal explained.

Botha performed his song at the showcase, which was held at the George Arts Theatre in George.

For him it was the culmination of a fantastic experience and he was thrilled.

"I never in my life experienced something like that competition; it was the most amazing time of my music life," he said. "I felt I belong, I felt I can finally be myself and do what I wanna do. I was so nervous and excited at the same time, I call it 'nervited'. I totally cannot explain how grateful I am today for that opportunity."

There is another reason why the day of the showcase was very special for Botha.

"As time flew by we started pre-paring for the show and on the day of the show I met several people I never knew I would meet and they were absolutely incredibly talented. I was honoured to be surrounded by people that share the same talent as myself.

"I thank God for some specific people that reached out to me to [share] my talent with the rest of the world and I know this is only the beginning."

Maxwell Botha is grateful for the support he has received from his community.

De Waal also had nothing but praise for Botha. "He is one of the most creative souls I've ever met, he just oozes creativity," she said. "Maxwell is brilliant with words, and he was just fantastic throughout the whole process."

Following his dream

Maxwell Botha was born in Knysna and has been a Hornlee resident his entire life.

He attended Hornlee Primary School and later Knysna Secondary School, and his love of music was clear from early on.

"I started my career from a very young age and since Grade 4 I started to let people know what I wanted to be. That's when people would gather around me and just vibe with me. I started to rap in Grade 1 and I started to write songs when I was 10 years old," he explained.

He also has high aspirations for the future. "Everyone had dreams when they were young and when you grow up somehow your dreams change, but when I was little I had the same dream I have today and that is to be a professional rapper - and that is what I want to achieve. Having a great dream and belief in yourself is great, but nothing happens until you take action."

Maxwell Botha is grateful for the support he has received from his community. Photos: Blake Linder