HAEZER Release His Music Video For MINTED

Today sees the official release of HAEZER’s brand new music video for his song MINTED, from his latest EP, Gold Plated Frequencies which was released in December 2013.

The video was shot in hijacked and abandoned buildings in the Johannesburg CBD during February 2014 and directed by Wim Steytler with Peter Tishauser as director of photography.

Wim Steytler also came up with the concept for the shoot. He has done a photography project about the buildings featured in the video for about four months prior to shooting the video. He used the spaces as his studios, and the people living in the buildings as his characters. He took stills of the moments that presented themselves in these spaces, and the concept for the HAEZER video started with two stills that he took.

“One of my friends – nicknamed ‘Hero’ who has this crazy Afro-punk look – was exploring a hijacked building with me and fashioned a makeshift flaming torch so that we could venture into darker rooms. The still I took came out really well. 

And then – in another photo – a mate of mine, Tsepo, showed me his rooftop and spontaneously started doing crazy dance moves. We found a piece of red material lying on a trash heap and dressed him in that, transforming him into a voodoo sorcerer character that we called The Rat Catcher. 

I combined these two characters, ‘Hero’ and The Rat Catcher, and got them to work together and fight for the oppressed and the marginalised – becoming African superheroes. 

Xenophobia is still such a huge problem in Johannesburg, especially in these buildings. So I chose to centre the story on the oppression of the Somalian community in South Africa. Some South Africans feel threatened by Somalians economically and therefore target them in xenophobic attacks. I feel strongly that much more awareness needs to be raised around this issue.” - Wim Steytler.

MINTED has an epic and cinematic feel, so Wim felt it needed a big story. It carries a sense of thrilling urgency and it helped him write the story when he looked at the stills. Also, the unique digital sound was a great tool to work with to bring to life the contrast between the realness of the subject matter and the magic that’s there as well. 

Fans can look forward to a breath taking video shot in locations few outsiders have ever had the privilege of seeing.

Watch the video for MINTED here!

HAEZER Contact:

Website: http://haezer.net/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/haezerofficial

Twitter: www.twitter.com/haezer

SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/haezer