American worship leader spreads message of hope through collab with southern African band

Southern African Christian band Out Cry has teamed up with American worship leader Brandon Watson, to create All This Time. The track mixes worship and contemporary music with an African twist.

Written by Watson, the song is a reminder that even when life gets tough and stressful, God is true and He is there right next to you helping you through each and every step of the way. “Having a lifestyle that merges my love of God with my purpose to sing,  I’m honoured how God uses my gift of harmony to unite people around the world,” says Brandon Watson.

“My life and my music have one common message that I believe to be important… It’s a message of hope, love and acceptance by God, no matter how far any person may have fallen. God loves them and has never given up on them,” he explains.

Both Out Cry and Watson have a heart for people, teaching them that God can meet them right where they are. Out Cry lead vocalist, Ryan Mandy, says that the eclectic worship band started as a worship team at their local place of worship.

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“As Out Cry, we began playing worship music in our little church which, at that stage was a tiny tin shack on the top of the mountain in Piggs Peak, Swaziland. Some may not know this, but Swaziland is plagued by HIV/Aids, having the highest prevalence out of any country in the world. Our ministry began in schools in order to reach the young children orphaned by this pandemic, households left without parents, leaving children to take up the parental roles for the family.”

Out Cry wrote music to share God’s love and most of all the message of hope and identity that these young people can find in Christ. “ We challenged these young people to take a stand for godly principles in their faith and in purity. In a country where it is culturally acceptable to sleep around despite the fact that HIV/Aids is rampant, it was really encouraging to see people taking a stand and recommitting their lives to Christ.”

Sharing the love of God was one of the main themes behind their collab with Watson. “As you know, the world is in quarantine, however, it has never been easier to do collaborations. Technology is great and connecting with people all over the world has never been easier,” says Mandy.

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“We recorded all parts of the Out Cry music and vocal elements in Swaziland, the synths in London,  and then Brandon Watson recorded his elements on the other side of the world in Texas, USA. We stitched it all together and I think it came out really well,” adds Mandy.

Out Cry consists of Ryan Mandy (South Africa) on vocals & lead guitar, Lusekelo Kalelemba (Zambia) on drums, rapper Wandile “V” Bhengu (Swaziland), John Flemming on bass (South Africa), Velicia Malinga (Swaziland) on guitar and Chelsea Mandy (South Africa) on synths.

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