Message
With Thanks
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
That famous opening line from A Tale of
Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is how
many of us feel about 2020. This will be
remembered, amongst others, as the year that
wasn’t, a year of sadness and fear, a year of
change, and a year of new opportunities.
I will remember 2020 as the year that people
stood together and helped each other. Those
with nothing, shared what they had with others.
Those that had, shared with those that did
not. The kindness of people and the spirit of
humanity showed up when it was needed.
Each night we clapped for our carers and
cheered loudly from our rooftops. But, in those
moments, the music that made us dance
was silent. Musicians, backstage crew, event
technicians and planners sat silently… in the
darkness of an empty stage.
It was this silence that initiated the idea of
Lockdown Legends, an event that would give
music stars from several decades of South
African music a chance to perform again and
raise money, not only for themselves, but for
their colleagues as well.
I was blown away by the willingness of
everyone to participate, the spirit and resilience
of an industry under attack. The entire event
came together in a matter of days. Producers,
directors, editors and artists all doing what they
love, for an industry that they love. Some 50
musicians and DJ’s came together and gave
their time and talent, and 99% of the content
was recorded during hard lockdown level 5, on
mobile phones, tablets and PC’s at home.
The team has produced a two and a half hour
event, featuring artists from six decades of
music, that will remind viewers what SA music
is all about.
I have to thank co-producer Glenda Sixel
(ex-Clout), director Di Rosen, editors Emma
Watkins and Verny Scholtz, Darren Scott, the
team at Pace Digital of Stacey, Talitha and Erin,
the entire TicketPro team, especially Brandon
Duffield and Mandy Claassen, as well as Sean
Falconer and Richard Laskey from Modern
Athlete magazine. A very special thank you to
Sean Brokensha for writing the script for this
amazing event and contributing all historic data
for each artist in this digi-mag. These amazing
people have given so much of their time to this
project and believed in it from day one.
I believe we have a great piece of content
that will be available forever. It’s available now
through www.lockdownlegends.co.za and
will be available on many online platforms
in the future, so please share it with friends,
encourage donations wherever possible, and
help us to keep the stage lights on!
With Thanks
Jarrod Aston
4
LOCKDOWN LEGENDS