Music producer Claude Barlow has produced and recorded a song called Val Plat, which was inspired by Ottery community leader, Keith Blake.
The song depicts the message that Mr Blake constantly sends out to the community to minimise the risk of getting shot, by falling to the ground when shots are fired.
Mr Barlow saw an article in one of the daily papers where Mr Blake encouraged the concept to “val plat” while highlighting the ongoing violence and shooting in areas such as Ottery, and the rest of the Western Cape.
“Mr Blake told the daily paper to warn the community to keep safe and when the shooting goes on they must “val plat” (fall to the ground) in order to minimise the risk of getting shot,” said Mr Barlow.
He said he called Mr Blake in response to an appeal to anyone who could write and produce a song that could help people avoid getting hurt.
“I started to work on this project which I finalised and handed the master copy over to him.”
Mr Blake explained why he came up with the concept of “val plat”: “A few years ago, in 2012, to be exact I noticed that during shootings especially in the Cape Flats that numerous innocent bystanders were killed or seriously injured.
“I also noted on social media and national television that during the shootings whether gang related or crime for example, armed robberies that numerous bystanders were standing up to see the ‘action’. As a trained police officer on numerous courses I know these bystanders are making them targets for stray or targeted bullets.”
Mr Blake said he was trained in combat and shootings.
“We as police officers had to ‘val plat as die skote klap’, in plain English, fall on your stomach and in doing so you are making yourself an almost impossible target to hit.”
He wrote to the media and stated that the police and Law Enforcement officers should promote to children and residents the habit of ‘val plat as die skote klap’.
Mr Blake said: “Realising that I am not being taken seriously on this strategy I proposed that someone, some musician or studio take up my proposal in a song with a catchy, not to forget chorus “val plat as die skote klap”.
He said the main idea of the song was to try to save lives, prevent parents burying their children or prevent loss of limb.
Mr Blake said that Mr Barlow is in the process of advertising the CD. Val Plat is a “masterpiece, a strategy to save lives in our violent society”.
Mr Barlow was a member of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) for 20 years.
He said he had been involved in background producing and writing lyrics.
“I worked with many local artists in the Western Cape,” he said.
About Val Plat, Mr Barlow said: “The song never went through a label yet. I believe in ‘local is lekker’ but we did not advertise the song through any social media platform. However, if anyone comes on board with resources, to help steer the song into the right direction, they are welcome to come on board to make this message a success,” said Mr Barlow.
If anyone is interested in helping Mr Barlow release the CD, can contact him on 064 178 3452.
