Cwaka! The Silence
Ideation | Art direction | Brand storytelling | Creative direction | Earned | Strategy
The internationally acclaimed Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) and Cape Town Opera (CTO) needed help to raise awareness of the challenges facing their musicians livelihoods but also shine a spotlight on the economic threats to the arts worldwide as a result of COVID-19.
Inspired by composer John Cage's work 4'33", we decided to use the one thing forced upon orchestras and opera companies worldwide to their advantage: 'silence'.
We created a silent album entitled "Cwaka. The Silence." and worked with a sound engineer to record entirely silent renditions of the CPO and CTO performing silent versions of their most popular previously recorded works.
We pressed a very limited edition silent vinyl, capturing the ambient silence of their performance at the concert hall in Cape Town, South Africa
The album cover was designed by the world-famous South African artist William Kentridge, and a limited edition of the vinyl pressings were auctioned off to raise funds for the arts.
We submitted the entire silent album to Spotify and encouraged classical music and opera fans to add the album to their favourite playlist and generate royalties to the arts.
