Coronavirus Kent: Dave Rogers from Whitstable and Canterbury's Stefan Kelk raise money through

Published: 15:23, 08 May 2020

Updated: 15:40, 08 May 2020

A Kentish duo have got 40 musicians together from around the world, performing a song to "promote global unity".

Dave Rogers, of Whitstable, and Canterbury's Stefan Kelk have raised £700 on their JustGiving page with a rendition of classic hit 'We are the World'.

The musicians for 'We Are the World

The duo have spent their careers playing music around the world and, having seen a number of their quarantined friends posting videos of themselves, Rogers and Kelk queried whether they could work on something as a group.

Dave, 28, chose the song because of its poignancy, and then they started recruiting.

Performers range from seven to 70 and filmed themselves from about 10 different countries, however most come from Kent.

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Mr Kelk, 30, can't believe how popular the song has become and how many people wanted to join in.

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He said: "It seemed to go a bit viral - it's at about 20,000 views. Within 24-hours of it being posted it had got about 10,000 which I was shocked about as it was.

"My mum's a nurse and Dave's brother is a key worker, so we thought let's do it for them."

The pair started a fundraiser.

"Dave and I met while performing in Majorca but we had only lived a couple of miles away when we were younger - he delivered pizzas to me and I delivered post to him during my gap year.

Stefan Kelk co-organised the socially distanced jam session

"We ended up joining a band together and performing in Dubai. All of the people in the video are pros we met during our various travels through Majorca and Dubai as the music scenes there are quite close-knit and everyone knows everyone.

"We extended it to friends and family, for example my niece and Dave's girlfriend's niece.

"One of the girls, Skye, even does some Makaton signing in it, which she learnt because a boy in her class has a hearing impairment. It's really great that she can help show the words."

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A mammoth effort was undertaken by the Kent pair to edit the audio and video, with Stefan taking about 40 hours to fine tune the sound.

Dave Rogers came up with the idea to get all their friends together from across the world

They are now working on a second video, hoping to aid their musical friends in getting employment from their homes.

Mr Kelk said: "The musicianship on it is next level. I wanted to put something together to show off not only their talent but their ability to record from home."

This second group cover is expected within the next week or two.

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