A young musician from Cape Town, South Africa recently posted a video on Facebook of his mother and him singing a song together – and it immediately spread like wildfire.
The amazingly heartwarming video is of a young man and his mother singing the popular song “A Whole New World” from the classic (and recently re-made) Disney movie Aladdin. Ashur Petersen, 26, had no idea that it would quickly rack up over 6.3 million views and hundreds of thousands of comments!
When Ashur first learned about the instant success of his video upload, he had to share his thoughts with all of his new “fans.” He re-shared the video along with this heartfelt and emotional caption:
“A friend of mine messaged me to say: “This is HUGE for Cape Town” and then it hit me. This video is far bigger than my mom and myself. This is for my people. The Capetonians. For my people who never gets recognized. For the artists who work their arses off with no recognition. If only the world knew about the talent that we breed in this land, we’d be unstoppable. Slowly but surely, Cape Town is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. I will go anywhere in this world, stand for my people and say “I am Proudly a Capetonian… One of the most beautiful cities in the DAMN WORLD!'”
So, who is Ashur Petersen anyway? Well, you might have learned of him when he was a contestant on The Voice SA.
Ashur may not have won the competition but even though he was eliminated, he certainly made his mark on the music scene in his African country. And after the instant success of this recent video with his mother, it’s clear that Ashur has no plans of stopping. And he clearly has a new dedicated following!
Ashur’s mother is 55-year-old Madeegha Anders and it’s clear that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because her voice is every bit as impressive as her son’s! Ashur’s father, Taliep Petersen, was also a legendary musician in South Africa, however, he was tragically murdered by his then-wife, Naiwa, at their home in 2006.
Within just 24 hours of the upload, it had already surpassed 1 million views and the gorgeous duet only skyrocketed from there.
Not only does the mother and son duo perform the Disney song flawlessly, but they also do it with their own personal twist – making the video even that much more special. You can feel the love they have for one another through the screen as you watch them sing together.
Take a look at some of the comments that people left after Ashur posted the now-viral video.
“Absolutely beautiful. Your mom has an incredible voice and you have so much talent. There are no words. I cannot wait for the next duet. Such emotion!!” said Nur Shakirah Kumdsalleh.
“Goose bumps. Oh my soul a whole family of talent. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing this. It made my whole day,” expressed Althia Alo B.
“This is great! I love it… not the song itself but the story of a Mother and her son singing it with full of inspirations and love,” Jet Guzman commented.
You’re going to want to watch this video for yourself. Oh, and just a fair warning – you might need a tissue for this one! Watch the full video below.
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