By Marie Straub

Leon Schuster is back. His new film, Schuks Tshabalala’s Survival Guide To South Africa, is headed to cinemas on 28 May, and to coincide with its release, he and songwriter and musician, Don Clarke have launched Khuthala Bo!, a song they are hoping will capture the spirit of 2010 and become the Bafana Bafana anthem. Basically, it’s the football equivalent of Hier Kom Die Bokke, and with football fever on the rise in South Africa, there’s a good chance it may start dominating your airwaves, regardless of how excited you are about the impending soccer spectacular.

On Wednesday, 28 April the music video attached to the song was launched at Montecasino, with the media and industry players getting a first listen and a glimpse of the would-be Bafana anthem. Setting the stage in this effort to whet the country’s appetites ahead of Schuster’s film release, guests mulled around the Nu Metro Il Grande lounge swishing back champagne before heading in to watch the video, which features a wide range of sunny South Africans rocking out to the catchy tune, which includes verses in a number of South Africa’s many languages.

According to Clarke, he had been commissioned to write several theme songs for Schuks Tshabalala’s Survival Guide To South Africa, but Khuthala Bo! took on a life of its own after Lance Samuels (the film’s producer) recognised that it had the potential to be turned into a music video and World Cup theme song. The song is on Clarke’s new CD, Soccer Safari, which includes songs featuring artists such as Schuster himself and his trusty sidekick in the film, Alf “Shorty” Ntombela, who sings Vuvuzela Mamba (which appears in the film). In addition, Khuthala Bo! will be featured on the official FIFA 2010 Soundtrack which will be distributed by GALLO locally.

The song is performed by Clarke and his band, The Crutch Mullets, along with a six-piece African choir. It proved quite popular at the recent Splashy Fen music festival, and the crowd at Montecasino seemed to agree. Once they were done tapping their feet in the cinema, they moved on to Vacca Matta to get a taste of the real deal. The Crutch Mullets played live while guests enjoyed some dinner and the champagne continued to flow.

The general consensus amidst all the celebration was that the song is undoubtedly a catchy one – something I can testify to as it was still bouncing around my head the next day, requiring me to explain to my colleagues exactly what it was that I was repeatedly humming. The song, it seems, will, like the football, be pervading our consciousness in the weeks to come.