Worcester-born poet and spoken word artist, Suné Damons, launches her single, Crescendo, on all major digital platforms today.
Damons (24) was a finalist in this year’s ATKV-Crescendo Mentorship Programme, an experience that afforded her the chance to record her first single.
“This song is a cry for my voice to be accepted as it is. As ‘crescendo’ means the peak of something, I am saying in the song that this is the peak of my voice (in volume) and I hope you can still hear it. For 14 years I didn’t sing, because my voice was too soft when I tried out for the senior choir at school. My dream, my gift, my voice died at the age of 9 already and I only started singing in 2019 again, when I was 22. Crescendo summarises the act of every bully, every comment made to the sound that was custom made just for me,’ says Damons who believes that the lyrics of the song were delivered to her by divine intervention.
The song was written and first performed in March this year, during the workshop phase of the ATKV-Crescendo Mentor Programme.
“I didn’t have a final song for the show and it was due the next day, at least a verse and chorus, but I trusted God to give me something. As I listened to music I just saw angels singing and hearing the word “crescendo” repeatedly. I was so overwhelmed by the occurrence that I started shaking in my chair at that very moment. So I started jotting down everything I saw as I usually see my music in pictures, translating it into words afterward. It took me less than 10 minutes after our session for the day to finish the song. Everything was so easy, the melody, the words, and everything just came supernaturally,” says the 24-year-old.
ATKV-Crescendo is a development programme designed to provide songwriters with knowledge, experience and guidance, and participants are encouraged to sing and write in their own dialect. Damons is a proud product of this programme.
“Being part of the ATKV-Crescendo helped me as an individual. This programme has developed my confidence, by trusting me to walk on stages that legends in the Afrikaans music industry stood on. It brought me out of my cocoon. Its micro approach to each individual made sure that I am moulded, groomed and shaped into the artist I am now and continue to grow into. This program never allowed me to be alone. There was always someone to talk to and to hold my hand. And the way ATKV-Crescendo had confidence in me throughout the year made me believe in myself even more. I mean out of nowhere people are believing and trusting in you more than you had ever experienced. One thing I cherish about this programme is that it saw me for what I could be and called that person into existence. ATKV-Crescendo developed a better Suné, they helped the butterfly that’s seen now, develop,” she gushes, adding that listening to her single has been surreal.
“To be honest, I still have to pinch myself that the whole world will now hear this small, still voice. To have this song or story distributed throughout the whole world is such an honour for me. I think the crazy part for me is knowing that my story is being told and that everyone will have access to it. As a little girl, I knew I was destined to change and transform lives with my story, my trials and my pain. I knew my pain had a purpose, I knew my pain was a reactor and as soon as it met the right potion it was destined to create a chemical reaction that was going to change and transform, even if it was just one person. So there’s excitement, tears of joy but a feeling of restoration also. A feeling of redemption and nuance that not even the ashes went to waste. It also means for me a lot of captives would be set free, as my music embodies my story and who I am, yes, but it is a key for some people to come out of prisons.”
THEME SONG FOR ATKV-CRESCENDO
Suné’s song, the story of how she was inspired to write the lyrics and her motivation for the song, made such an impression on the mentors and Crescendo team in general, that it was decided to adopt the song as official theme song for Crescendo for 2023. “I firmly believe that this song will serve to inspire song writers from all over South Africa and will also serve as a healing mantra for many,” says Morné van Staden, Project co-ordinator for ATKV-Crescendo.
The song can be downloaded or streamed on all digital platforms such as iTunes, Deezer, Spotify, etc.
While Damons’s single launches today, her fellow ATKV-Crescendo Mentorship Programme finalists will soon be following suit. Selby Williams releases his single on Reconciliation Day (16 December), while next year sees Athina Jansen release her track on 13 January 2023 and Marsha Bothma on 20 January 2023.
ABOUT ATKV-CRESCENDO
- One of SA’s longest-standing development programmes aimed at equipping songwriters with expertise, ATKV-Crescendo, selects some of our country’s most undiscovered musical talents.
- This programme has addressed the need to train and develop talented musicians since 2014. Participants must submit a song written by themselves. They are encouraged to write and sing in their own dialect ensuring a constant flow of new talent, songs, voices and sounds to the Afrikaans music industry.
- Auditions were held countrywide, but digital submissions are also accepted. From hundreds of entries, finalists are selected to attend the ATKV Mentor Programme
- Digital entries for 2023 can still be submitted until 31 January on
- https://form.jotform.com/cognative/inskrywingsvorm-vir-atkv-crescendo-
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