Budding Sheffield musician pens song urging people to stop carrying knives

A budding Sheffield musician has written a song urging people to stop carrying knives in the hope of preventing further stabbings in the city.
12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala has always been interested in music and writes songs about peace12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala has always been interested in music and writes songs about peace
12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala has always been interested in music and writes songs about peace

Ardiv Ndongola,12, who lives with his parents and siblings in Arbourthorne, became concerned about knife crime after noticing a rise in the number of stabbings and knife-related deaths over the past year both in Sheffield and further afield.

So in an effort to help lower the figures and make more people aware of the devastating effects of knife crime, the All Saints Catholic School pupil decided to pen his own anti-knife crime song.

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In his song entitled ‘Knife Crime, Ardiv speaks directly to those who carry knives and begs them to stop senselessly killing each other.

12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala is concerned about the number of people dying due to knife crime12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala is concerned about the number of people dying due to knife crime
12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala is concerned about the number of people dying due to knife crime
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His father Doulou Ndongola said: “I am so surprised that he made a powerful song against the knife crime. It's so deep to see a young child wondering about the knife crime in the UK. I was with my son watching the news and it was talking about the teenagers who have been stabbed in the house party in Milton Keynes. He is still very positive that his song and advice will change something.”

After showing the lyrics to his music teacher, the school helped recruit some Year 9 and Year 10 to help Ardiv record the chorus for his song.

“Ardiv has always been interested in music even from an early age,” Doulou added. “He studies music as one of his subjects at school and has written a few songs, he writes every week and they’re always about peace.

12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala has written a song calling for people to stop carrying knives in a bid to reduce the number of knife-related deaths in Sheffield12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala has written a song calling for people to stop carrying knives in a bid to reduce the number of knife-related deaths in Sheffield
12-year-old Ardiv Ndongala has written a song calling for people to stop carrying knives in a bid to reduce the number of knife-related deaths in Sheffield
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“I was surprised as he doesn’t know anyone that has been stabbed. I know he’s conscious about knife crime and it is something that concerns him. Having seen it in the news both in Sheffield and across the country and he wanted to help.”

In a bid to make more people think about the devastating effects of knife crime, Ardiv has now recorded the song in a professional studio and will be sharing it on social media.

All Saints Catholic School music teacher, Tansy Nicholas, said: “Ardiv is so young but he was the leading force in this from writing the lyrics to recording it. It’s just incredible that such a young student has been so creative but also brave in talking about such a difficult subject. Everyone at All Saints is so incredibly proud of him.”

Knife crime in the UK has risen to a new record high with some forces seeing increases of up to 50 per cent, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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According to the figures published earlier this month, there were just over 41,000 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year to June 2018 but this has increased to just over 44,000 in the last 12 months.

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