A Hout Bay music producer is busy making dreams come true – all from the comfort of his studio.
Carsten Lehn is an internationally acclaimed music producer who has had the privilege of working with the likes of stars such as Paul McCartney and Phil Collins.
But after discovering his love for South Africa and young talent from underprivileged areas, he turned up the volume and wanted to do more.
Mr Lehn runs his Dreambox Studios in Hout Bay, where young talents are taken under his wing.
“These young and outstanding voices have come together under the name ‘Little Planet People’ and we give them a great chance to make something of their lives,” he said.
He trains with them, writes songs for them, composes the music and produces songs and music videos with some of tomorrow’s brightest stars.
With international partners and friends, Mr Lehn is planning an international music academy with an integrated event area where the artists can rehearse and perform in the hope of becoming “a new and international institution in Cape Town” – where one day, the really big stars should also come to sessions, said Mr Lehn.
He plans to call it the Dreambox Spacestation and will be the future home of Dreambox, its young talents, the music academy, the events area and two fully-equipped recording studios.
For now, due to the current situation, Mr Lehn decided to focus on the happenings in the Ukraine, writing and composing a song for them, to show their support.
“Autumn in Spring is an anti-war song, featuring all the young artists of the Little Planet People. Dreambox clearly wants to set an example against the war and you can actively support us in this,” Mr Lehn said.
“In what times are we living when a single person can plunge an entire country into the abyss through his madness?” Mr Lehn asked.
Many international artists and stars are also raising their voices, positioning themselves in support of Ukraine and openly cheering for freedom for all people, with many calls to stop the war.
“We at Dreambox Studios, Cape Town, also want to do our part and take a clear stand against the cruel and brutal war and against the actions of the Russians. We have already released our first anti-war music video, a cover of John Lennon’s Imagine, with great success, but now we have our own composition with the song Autumn in Spring,” Mr Lehn stressed.
He called upon the rest of the world to “send a signal in these times” making their feelings clear against war.
“Everyone should know that war is not a solution and must be prevented. That’s why we, as a South African music studio, also do our part. The peace of this wonderful world concerns us all and it is in the hands of the media to report on actions like ours and we ask you to set an example together with us and, above all, to pay tribute to the young artists’ success and recognition,” Mr Lehn said.
