After almost two years in production, the adventure fantasy film, Jungle Book, distributed by Walt Disney pictures opened in theaters nationwide on 15 April 2016. The film, based on Rudyard Kipling’s classic stories and inspired by Disney’s ageless animated film, follows the adventures of Mowgli, played by newcomer Neel Sethi, a man-cub raised by a family of wolves. When the fearsome tiger Shere Khan who bears the scars of man promises to eliminate what he considers a threat, Mowgli soon discovers that he is no longer welcomed in the jungle that has long been his home.
Using the storyline of the film as a backdrop Alex Boyé teamed up with the special needs kids at Camp Kostopulos located on 25 acres in Emigration Canyon, just 2.5 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah, to create a fun-filled music video called “Disney’s The Jungle Book (Mashup).” The video was published on his Youtube channel on 14 April 2016 and has already been viewed over 47,000 times.
According to their official website, the Kostopulos Dream Foundation, the home of Camp Kostopulos, is “dedicated to improving the lives of people of all abilities through education, recreation, and growth opportunities.” In operation since 1967, Camp Kostopulos has “offered educational and recreational opportunities for individuals of all ages and abilities.” The description of the video gives the main purpose of producing a video such as this:
Statistics say that people with disabilities are 2 to 3 times more likely to be bullied and neglected than their non-disabled peers. We need to eliminate the stigma that surrounds people with disabilities. This is a video of “Inclusion” and not “exclusion”, CAN verses can’t.
We wanted to show this wonderful group of kids with disabilities a great time, treat them like rockstars and have them leave with a memory they will never forget!
Alex has made it easy for others to be able to support this wonderful charity organization. Those interested in helping can download the track for the video from Alex Boyé Jungle Book Mashup and pay as much or as little as they want for it. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app. He also encourages everyone to share the video as much as possible and ask others to do the same.
Alex Boyé is well-known and respected in the music world. His Africanized covers of popular songs on his YouTube channel have garnered more than 121 million views. He was born in England to Nigerian parents. He lived briefly in Nigeria with his father, then was left in England for eight years while his mother was in Nigeria. He mostly took care of himself, lived in foster care, and with a relative. He was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at the age of 16. Today he is married and a father. He was sworn in as an American citizen on 22 February 2012. He also sings on special occasions with the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
