The South African batsman's first foray into music with good friend Ampie du Preez resulted in ‘Show Them Who You Are,' a smash-hit single. The number subsequently became an anthem of sorts for the South Africans after their team's defeat of the cricketing superpower, Australia. By A. Joseph Antony.
His iPod is A. B. de Villiers' constant companion. It contains about 2000 songs, cutting across genres and languages. Every three months, he erases them and uploads new ones.
“I have no favourite artiste or type of music. What sounds good to the ear is fine with me. The melody is what matters,” he said while speaking to Sportstar shortly before leaving Hyderabad along with his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore.
De Villiers' first foray into music with good friend Ampie du Preez resulted in ‘Show Them Who You Are,' a smash-hit single, which subsequently became an anthem of sorts for the South Africans after their team's defeat of the cricketing superpower, Australia.
The success of this song spurred de Villiers and du Preez to come out with ‘Maak Jou Drome Waar', a full-fledged 14-track album, five of them in English and nine in their native Afrikaans. The title translates to ‘Make Your Dreams Come True' and veers from the motivational to the inspirational.
‘Madibaland' is a tribute to Nelson Mandela, seeking to ‘uplift, inspire and unite everyone in the spirit of Madiba' (Mandela). “The message conveyed by the album is to never give up. Live life to the fullest and make the best of the opportunities,” said the swashbuckling South African batsman.
Like his role model Jonty Rhodes, de Villiers is much influenced by his Christian beliefs, his personal website listing the Bible as his favourite book. Rhodes' ‘Take every innings ball by ball,' is a credo that de Villiers abides by.
As accomplished with the guitar and piano, as he's with golf, where he has a handicap of five, the dashing South African has had no formal training in music.
“Sometimes the lyrics are set to tune and vice-versa. I'm comfortable with a plectrum and my fingers too,” said de Villiers of his guitar-playing.
He records his tunes on his Macbook, minus the conventional chords that composers use.
If rock music is seen as decadent, driven by drugs, depression and despair, for de Villiers it is quite constructive.
“My song ‘Lift' tries to help people who are feeling down,” said de Villiers, who was involved with the ‘Hunger to Hope' charity project with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).
After an August 2010 launch that was preceded by an introduction on Youtube, the maiden offering of de Villiers and Du Preez received a lot of airplay on radio stations back home.
“I really don't keep track of how many copies have been sold,” de Villiers said of the album, which was released by Sony-BMG. But feedback is by and large favourable, going by the comments on the internet.
A second album is on the way, planned with an equal number of songs in English and Afrikaans. “Negotiations will begin when I return home,” de Villiers said.
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