How was the concept born? The concept for OneVoice was born out of an urge. I have great faith in that feeling of being moved toward something, and that is what I felt when I first encountered Samite. Samite is a Ugandan musician living in New York, and when I first heard his music I was spellbound. I also discovered that he made occasional trips back to East Africa to play music for children in refugee camps and orphanages and I lit up like a light bulb. At that time, I didn’t know how or when, but I knew with absolute certainty that this was what I wanted to do and how I wanted to put music to use in the world. Flash forward two years and I was sitting in a cubicle at Sirius XM Radio where I am the music director on the children’s channel. My boss asked what I wanted to create in the coming year (yes, he’s a good boss!) and I mentioned Samite and his work. My boss slammed the table and said, “that’s it! we should send you to Africa!”. We needed to come up with a more complete concept, and what came to me almost right away, was the beauty of connecting children from around the world through the language they so intuitively understand–music. Three weeks later, I was in Uganda, sharing music with the children at the Brain Tree Primary School.
How were you introduced to music and what impact has it made in your life?
I can’t remember a time when music was not in my life. My 92-year-old grandmother likes to tell a story about when I was 18 months old and would take out all the pots and pans from her kitchen cabinets and bang away. I’ve asked her why she didn’t just move the pots and pans to a higher cabinet where I couldn’t reach them. She shrugged and said, “you were making music”. That freedom to create without expectations is easily lost as we get older, and is therefore at the core of OneVoice. We want to remind children of their innate power and creativity. Anyway, when I was 7, I asked my parents for a guitar and it’s been my companion ever since. Soon after I started writing songs and even formed a band in elementary school. Most of our songs were called “Girl” or some variation thereof. We rocked the talent show like no one before or since.
How do you chose and find your sister schools?
For our first project, we found the Brain Tree School in Uganda through Samite. He had visited there before, and when I told him I was planning on a trip to Uganda, he insisted that I go there. They already had a sister school in Bryn Mawr, PA. The Shipley School had been pen pals with Brain Tree and had raised some money for them as well, helping them to build a library, among other things. So, I thought that a beautiful way to deepen that relationship would be through music. As for our upcoming project in 2011, things will work a little differently. We came into contact with the Shepherds Jr. School in Arusha, Tanzania though another non-profit called Epic Change, which will be partnering with us this Fall. We will be visiting and sharing music with them in September, but instead of connecting them with just one school in the U.S., our intention is to connect them with many. We will launch a project-specific website to contain all the music and videos from Tanzania, and then invite schools from all over the U.S. and beyond to contribute their own songs and videos of gratitude and love. We may even connect some of the schools one-on-one via skype! Then we will invite the U.S. schools to create fundraisers around their songs of gratitude in order to help build a secondary school for the children in Arusha. The beauty for me is that these children–all over the world–will be creating a school through the power of their own voices.
What have you learned so far in this journey?
Humility. I have learned not to assume that I know what the world needs or how our work will get done. Ask (every day) how I can serve and then devote myself to that. OneVoice, at it’s core, is not about me or our team or even our donors. It is about children and the truth and beauty found in their creative sparkle.
What are your future goals and how do you define success?
Wow. I have no idea (I’m sure that’s not an approved answer in the non-profit President’s handbook). But truly, as I said earlier–to assume I know how this is going to go is just hubris. Our plan is to embark on two projects for 2012–one in the Spring and one in the Fall. There are things I can see, such as the potential to include technology partners such as Skype or Cisco, and we have had some preliminary discussions about that. But my guess is what actually ends up happening next will be more exciting than any plans I can make. As far as success is concerned, a writing from the Talmud occurs to me: “to save one life is to save the world entire”. Music can transform a life. It certainly has transformed mine, and continues to do so.
“ARTPORT_MAKING WAVES BUILDS BRIDGES NOT ONLY BETWEEN DIFFERENT CULTURES, BUT BETWEEN THE ARTS, SCIENCE, AND POLITICS. I AM DELIGHTED TO BE PART OF SUCH A VISIONARY PROJECT.”
—SANTIAGO CALATRAVA
ARTPORT_making waves is an international art and sustainability project that raises awareness about climate change through theme-oriented exhibitions, residency programs, and artists collaborations. ARTPORT_making waves was founded in 2006 by two international curators, Corinne Erni and Anne-Marie Melster. In 2009, curator and art historian Oliver Orest Tschirky joined the team. ARTPORT_making waves is based in Valencia, Spain, New York City, and Zurich, Switzerland.
Cancun: 2 Degrees of Separation-Nov 29-Dec 10, 2010
Engaging art where it matters—at the heart of the most important climate conference in the world!
In this comprehensive art project in conjunction with COP16 in Mexico, the program spans contemporary video art; recent film productions; interactive public art performances and interventions by renowned international artists; and panel discussions with artists, scientists and politicians on the impact of art in a political environment.
The project title emphasizes the importance of reducing the increase of global temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius, in order to avoid catastrophic natural disasters. It also refers to the famous term “Six degrees of Separation,” which explores the existential premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else by a chain of no more than six acquaintances, thus all of mankind is interconnected and needs to take care of each other.
PARTICIPATE IN THE MOBILE VIDEO CONTEST!
Send in 20 seconds of YOUR VISION OF A SOLUTION for the planet. Learn more at www.my20sec.org
DONATE!
Learn more about the groundbreaking live art performance, La Isla Hundida (The Drowned Island) by artist Javier Velasco with hundreds of school children during the UN climate conference in Cancun… and help make this happen through Kickstarter! Even a small contribution can go a long way. http://kck.st/92oUXD
ARTPORT_(Re-) Cycles of Paradise-Nov 11-Jan 16, 2011(First presented at COP15 in Copenhagen, Dec 2009)
In (Re-) Cycles of Paradise, a group of international artists present thought-provoking and interactive art installations focused on women as agents of climate change solutions. The exhibition originates from the hypothesis that the world is, by necessity, the only possible paradise that we can create and conserve. Through video installations, photography, drawings, and large-scale sculptures, the artists explore links between the destruction of nature and the suffering of women, revealing hidden or unknown aspects of the interrelation of gender and climate change. Gender issues are scrutinized as part of a process to reverse climate change. “Paradise” is no longer a long-lost ideal world but can be recreated as a contemporary, more sustainable place on earth.
This autumn, the Bank Austria Kunstforum is presenting the first ever comprehensive Frida Kahlo retrospective in Austria. Frida Kahlo is a global icon artist, an identification figure of Mexican culture and the forerunner of the feminist movement. Kahlo’s art is intertwined with the truth in her life. Her paintings and drawings were not only the mirror of her life history, but also marked by physical and mental affliction she suffered from her whole life and the injuries caused by a horrific bus accident.
In the early thirties her paintings show the first tendencies towards surrealism; an approach which produced complex compositions springing out of her inner life. In her 1940′s self-portraits expression, we see the “authoritarian eye”: Frida takes the stage like a saint “worthy of adulation”; her dominant aura is inescapable.
The exhibition Frida Kahlo contains around 60 paintings, 20 objects and 80 works on paper. These are combined with a selection of photographic documents, compiled by Frida’s great-niece Cristina Kahlo. Most of Kahlo’s artistic legacy is in Mexico and the USA. Due to the lack of Kahlo’s European collections, and the sparsity of exhibition projects in Europe, this show is a sensation for Vienna. The exhibition is being held in cooperation with the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. The exhibition curators in Vienna are Ingried Brugger, Florian Steininger and Helga Prignitz-Poda.
Statement Concerning Change
Frida Kahlo has a pioneer role for so many generations of female artists, she paved the way for crucial positions in feminist art, especially in context with bodyart and performance. Her physical and psychological suffer was depicted in such a direct, violent and surreal way, especially in the painting “unos cuantos piquetitos!” from 1935. Diego Rivera’s betray with Frida’s younger sister Cristina is transformed in a violent bodilly agitation, in the brutal murder of Frida Kahlo: blood is smeared everywhere, also on the frame, so to pretend the real character of this action.
Ngawang Choephel has a lifelong passion for Tibetan music, and has devoted his life to its preservation and dissemination. He was born in Tibet, and grew up in exile in India, where he discovered his talent for music at an early age. He received a degree in Tibetan Music from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala, India. He then taught Tibetan music to children of elementary to high school age while continuing to do independent research on Tibetan music. In 1993, he recorded an album of Tibetan folk songs entitled “Melody in Exile.” In 1994 he traveled to the West as a Fulbright Fellow at Middlebury College, VT, where he studied video production and international music in preparation for the production of his documentary “Tibet in Song.”
He returned to Tibet in 1995 to film Tibetan folk songs, and Chinese authorities arrested him, calling his work a pretext to collect sensitive material on the PRC. He was sentenced to an astonishing 18 years in prison without a fair trial. After a highly publicized world campaign for his release, that was covered in most of the world media,Ngawang was released in 2002. His resilience in the face of adversity, earned him the Courage of Conscience Award from Peace Abbey 2002. That year he also received an Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree from Middlebury College, as well as ‘Best Act in Exile’ award from Lobsang Wangyal Productions for his musical talent. He resumed working on his film “Tibet in Song” in 2002 while he also worked for a time as special project coordinator for New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) in New York City. While he has kept the majority of the details of his experience as a political prisoner private, he has spoken at various colleges, and other venues on the issue of Tibetan music as covered in his film, and agreed to an interview by American Public Media in 2008. He also gives occasional Tibetan music workshops in New York City where he resides. “Tibet in Song” is his first feature-length documentary. It showcases the richness of Tibetan music and the beauty of the ordinary Tibetan people, while documenting the Chinese influence on Tibet from 1949 to the present day. It will make its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Ngawang is currently working on his autobiography as a former Tibetan political prisoner, and is looking for agents.
Director Statement
Through Tibetan music I can feel Tibet itself. The Tibet which I lost as a child at once becomes very real to me through the music. Tibetan folk songs are not just a form of art, they are like a precious treasure hidden under the earth. We learn through these songs everything there is to know about the Tibetan people. When you see and hear the performances of Tibetan folk music you feel the warmth of the Tibetan people. These songs have been passed down from generation to generation. They are a historical record of the Tibetan experience.
This film is not just about music, it is about the strength and determination of the Tibetan people to keep their culture alive despite losing their freedom as a nation over 60 years ago. My experience filming in Tibet, and as a former political prisoner for the making of this film, have taught me that Tibetan culture is alive in the hearts of my fellow Tibetans now as it ever was and that we will continue to work for our freedom no matter what. I would like to show Tibet in Song to many people throughout the world. I would like to see some breakthroughs in the Tibetan movement. I would like to see Tibetans in exile taking the Tibetan movement into their daily lives until China talks to the Dalai Lama. That is my desire.
“This one-man Middle East peace accord makes music that is an ambitious celebration of multicultural diversity. The ethnic elements are cleverly rewired with modern grooves to create an ambient journey that thrillingly bridges the traditional and the modern.”–The Times (London, UK)
The architect of this unique recording project, is keyboardist, producer and composer Idan Raichel. Originally from Kfar Saba,Israel, a small city near his current home of Tel Aviv, Idan was born in 1977 to a family with Eastern European roots, and although music was an important part of his upbringing, his parents did not place much emphasis on performing music from his particular cultural background. “I think the fact that I didn’t have strong family musical roots is what made me be very open to music from all over the world,” says Idan.
He started playing the accordion at the age of nine, and even at this young age was attracted to the exotic sounds of Gypsy music and tango. As a teenager, Idan began playing keyboards, and studied jazz in high school, honing his skills at improvisation and working with other musicians. In Israel, military service is mandatory for all young men and women, and at 18 Idan was conscripted into the Israeli army. Rather then heading to the front lines in this volatile region, Idan joined the Army rock band and toured military bases performing covers of Israeli and European pop hits. As the musical director of the group, he became adept at arrangements and producing live shows, making his Army experience productive and positive.
After completing his service, Idan started working as a counselor at a boarding school for immigrants and troubled youth. Notably, the school was filled with young people from Ethiopia who were part of Israel’s growing community of Ethiopian Jews. Idan developed friendships with members of the Ethiopian community and began to explore Ethiopian music and culture. He started going to Ethiopian bars and clubs and soon was invited to Ethiopian synagogues, weddings and ceremonies. Meanwhile, Idan had become a successful backup musician and recording session player for some of Israel’s most popular musicians. He decided it was time to pursue a project that reflected his musical ideals, and began working on a demo recording in a small studio he set up in the basement of his parent’s home. Idan invited over 70 of his friends and colleagues from Israel’s diverse music scene to participate in the recordings. He never expected his musical experiments to turn him into Israel’s biggest musical phenomenon in recent memory.
CONCERNING CHANGE
The Idan Raichel Project burst onto Israel’s music scene in 2002, changing the face of Israeli popular music and offering a message of love and tolerance that resonated strongly in a region of the world where headlines are too often dominated by conflict. With an enchanting blend of African, Latin American, Caribbean and Middle Eastern sounds coupled with sophisticated production techniques and a spectacular live show, the Idan Raichel Project has become one of the most unexpected success stories in Israeli music history…
“To say that everything that has happened was the fulfillment of a dream would imply that I even dreamed that any of this could happen,” notes the humble Raichel, whose rise to fame was as much a shock to him as it was the skeptical Israeli music industry executives who said his multilingual, cross-cultural fusions would never find mainstream acceptance.
In 2008, The Idan Raichel Project released the album Within My Walls (Bein Kirot Beiti) in Israel to tremendous acclaim. The album is to be released worldwide outside of Israel by Cumbancha in early 2009. Much of Within My Walls was recorded over the past few years while Idan was on tour, during recording sessions in hotel rooms, backstage dressing areas, private homes and other impromptu settings. His poetic lyrics reflect these travels and contemplations; sung in Hebrew, Moroccan Arabic, Spanish, Cape Verdean Creole and Swahili, the songs address the struggle for personal fulfillment and the true meaning of love in a conflicted and complex world.
For Within My Walls, Idan recorded and co-wrote songs with Colombian singer Marta Gómez, Cape luminary Mayra Andrade and the silken-voiced Somi of Rwandan and Ugandan heritage. Inspired by the lush, moody strings of Nick Drake, Idan assembled a 24-piece orchestra and worked with Israeli arranger Assaf Dar to transpose his engaging melodies into an orchestral format. Idan also invited some of his favorite musicians, such as Middle Eastern percussionist Zohar Fresco, traditional flute and woodwinds specialist Eyal Sela, Mark Eliyahu on kamancheh (a traditional Persion fiddle), and legendary bassist Alon Nadel to lend their talents to the recording. The result is a deeply moving recording, overflowing with rich melodies, engaging poetry, stunning vocal performances and intricate arrangements.
The album’s title track follows, featuring Idan on vocals. With its lyrics dealing with walls and the way they simultaneously protect and isolate people, it is easy to interpret the song as a commentary on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but Idan denies any overt political agenda in his songs. “I have a strong political view about the situation in Israel,” he points out, “But I refuse to say what I think about it because I still see myself as a representative for the musicians and singers of the Project in and out of Israel. We may have opposing viewpoints, but we can relate on an artistic level, and I don’t want differences of opinion on politics to come between us.”
However, Idan does admit “You cannot close people in walls. They’ll immediately want to break them. Even if you have a kid and you want him to stay away from something, you don’t build a wall around him to force him to stay away, you just explain to him why it’s important to stay away from this. If you just build a wall and say to stay away, he will break the wall and want to get there anyway.”
With the release of Within My Walls, the Idan Raichel Project embarked on their next great adventure by bringing their music to an even wider audience across the globe. The album released by Cumbancha, a record label founded by Jacob Edgar, the longtime head of the A&R and music research at Putumayo. Dedicated to presenting exceptional artists from around the world to a wider audience, Cumbancha has worked closely with the Idan Raichel Project since it released their eponymous first international release in the fall of 2006. With major tour dates planned in North America, Europe, Latin America and other regions, the Idan Raichel Project will be breaking down walls for years to come.
Erika Banks is a singer and has been active in HIV/AIDS education and prevention since her college years. She first became involved with LIFEbeat’s Hearts & Voices program in 2005 when looking for performance opportunities for her church choir members to perform musical outreach in the community.
A friend quickly recommended LIFEbeat’s Hearts & Voices program as one the choir must be involved with. That partnership between Voices in Unity Choir and LIFEbeat’s Hearts & Voices Program started 5 years ago and continues today.
Hearts & Voices, a program of LIFEbeat-The Music Industry Fights AIDS, is an ongoing free concert series for people living with HIV, provided by an ever-growing community of performers and volunteers. Together they create around 250 shows a year in hospitals, residential facilities, and day treatment centers all over NYC and beyond.
Hearts & Voices Mission & History:
Hearts & Voices began in the early 1990′s, when an AIDS diagnosis was considered a death sentence. Artists from the Broadway community and the cabaret scene began visiting their HIV+ friends in hospitals and hospices to comfort them with familiar songs. Word spread, and demand became so great that they formed a non-profit to organize the shows and reach out to new performers. By the mid-90s the program was mounting almost a thousand one-on-one bedside performances every year.
Eventually, the demands of the program overtook the limited resources of the organizers, and the program became part of LIFEbeat in 1996. Over the last fourteen years, we’ve organized thousands of shows and we’ve seen huge changes, not only in HIV treatment but in the demographic makeup of the epidemic. Our shows also changed from one-on-one to a concert style format.
LIFEbeat continues to coordinate a network of hundreds of artists and volunteers, all giving freely of their time and talents to entertain & uplift thousands of audience members with music of all genres, from hip-hop to classical. Our performers inspire, empower, and bring hope and joy into the everyday challenge that is living with HIV/AIDS.
Getting involved:
It’s an amazing experience to see your music touch the lives of others. Our artists consistently tell us that performing for Hearts & Voices ranks among their most enjoyable, moving and memorable music making experiences. To receive more information and an application, which is the first step to joining the team, email us at performers@lifebeat.org.
The 2010 VMA Concert to Benefit LIFEbeat – Ke$ha and B.o.B. Performing Live!
Ramin Talaie is an Iranian born photojournalist based in Brooklyn, New York. Ramin is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg amongst others. His work has been published worldwide and was recently exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA as part of a group documentation on Iranian-Americans living in the Los Angeles county.
Statement Concerning Change
Change is one constant in everyone’s life that simply cannot be stopped, or for the lack of better word changed. Photography documents the changes in our lives, whether in the form of a snapshot or a professionally taken portrait. A picture captures a moment in our life which can be studied and then becomes a point of reference. Photography has documented history and continues to do so. It is the perfect tool for bridging the gap between the past and the future or the West or East, the good and the bad. While we speak many languages, photography is the one language that does not change and is understood by all.
Contribution to Change
This is a series of informal portraits depicting individuals in Iran. The pictures were shot in Tehran during two trips in 2009. In my images, I sought to document Iranians in their environment exactly as I saw them. I tried to demonstrate the diversity of Iranians — from the old Haji (Muslims who have gone to pilgrimage) photographed in a public bath, to the young female musician who posed for me in a park in central Tehran.
Sitting in a dusty refugee camp in Guinea in 2004, Reuben M. Koroma, the founder of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, could not have imagined what the near future would hold for him and the members of his band. In just six whirlwind years, the group has gone from being unknown musicians languishing in various refugee camps to being the subject of an acclaimed documentary film, touring the world to support a critically revered album, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and sharing the stage and studio with Aerosmith and other international stars. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes of war and enflamed the passions of fans across the globe with their uplifting songs of hope, faith and joy. The band is a potent example of the redeeming power of music and the ability of the human spirit to persevere through unimaginable hardship and emerge with optimism intact.
Throughout the 1990s, the West African country of Sierra Leone was wracked with a bloody, horrifying war that forced millions to flee their homes that forced millions to flee their homes. American filmmakers Zach Niles and Banker White encountered the band in the Sembakounya Camp, and were so inspired by their story they ended up following them for three years as they moved from camp to camp, bringing much needed joy to fellow refugees with their heartfelt performances. The film was a critical success, and introduced the world to the personalities and dramatic stories behind the band, not to mention their instantly appealing music. “As harrowing as these personal tales may be,” wrote The New York Times, “the music buoying them is uplifting.” Newsweek raved, “It’s as easy to fall in love with these guys as it was with the Buena Vista Social Club.”
The movie, album and eventual U.S. tours helped expand their following, and soon the band found itself playing in front of enraptured audiences of tens of thousands at New York’s Central Park SummerStage, Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival and the revered Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. They appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, contributed a song to the Blood Diamond film soundtrack, participated in the U2 tribute album In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2, and earned praise and backing from Sir Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Ice Cube, Angelina Jolie and others inspired by their life-affirming story and captivating music. In one of the most surreal moments of their climb to fame, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars opened for Aerosmith at the 12,000 capacity Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
CONCERNING CHANGE
The senseless deaths and illnesses of friends and family, and the slimming hope for great change in their country as a result of peace, has only strengthened the resolve of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars to do what they can to turn their country around. Their weapon in this struggle is music, and their message, while offering critique and condemnation of wrongdoing, remains positive and hopeful. Optimism in the face of obstacles, and the eternal hope for a better future motivates their lives and music.
“It’s been a long struggle out of the war, out of miserable conditions,” notes Koroma, “So now we are trying to develop ourselves as a band and be based in our country. We are really moving towards finding ways of elevating ourselves somehow. But we do not just think about ourselves alone, we try to bring out sensitive issues that are affecting the world. It is all of our responsibility that the masses are suffering. We bring our positive messages into the world so we can expect a positive change in the world. And, most importantly, bring about peace.”
For their second album, the members of the All Stars knew that they needed to prove to the world that they had the talent to produce an album that would rise above their unique story and stand on its own musical merits. After recording some songs and demos in Sierra Leone, the group went to New Orleans, Louisiana to work on the album with veteran producer Steve Berlin, a member of Los Lobos who has produced for Angélique Kidjo and many others. The residents of New Orleans in turn could relate both to the All Stars experience of being displaced from their homes and to the important role music plays in healing spiritual and emotional wounds and bringing communities together. The result is Rise & Shine, a masterful collection of songs that reflects how much Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have grown since their early days jamming around campfires in isolated refugee camps. The title of the album reflects the band’s desire to remain positive in the face of struggle, always greeting a new day with a spirit of excitement over what the future holds.
The band will be performing at Momo on May 15th & Celebrating Sanctuary on June 13th in London.
“Hip hop Palestinian style with DAM the leading Arab rap group” CNN
“Intifada Hip Hop” VIBE
“Very impressive. Hard to imagine how they managed to make such a good record in the current circumstances. Unlike many hip hop albums, each song is clearly different from its neighbour, some decorated with traditional Middle Eastern instruments like qanun and oud. There’s humour and beauty as well as pride, anger and defiance. Hearing the album wets the appetite for seeing the group play live ” BBC Radio CHARLIE GILLETT UK
“DAM lend their hip-hop beats a uniquely local flavour with the clattering use of indigenous Arabic percussion.” * * * *THE TIMES UK
“DAM address the big issues. Traditional Arabic strings and funky breaks help punch home the message * * *”THE OBSERVER UK(more…)
Raoul Peck was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and studied film at the DFFB in Germany. His films include Haitian Corner, Lumumba, Death of a Prophet, The Man by the Shore, Lumumba, and Sometimes in April. In 2001, he received the Human Rights Watch Lifetime Achievement Award.
Director Statement
With this film I wanted to explore the often hidden side of power. No doubt, an occasion for me to revisit my own political experiences in Haiti and elsewhere. What’s the final day like for a man with unrestrained power, whose supremacy has never been challenged, who is now plunging dizzyingly into a black hole of events he cannot control?
I wanted to explore what happens behind closed doors, during a tragic and unruly “farewell to arms,” when everything becomes possible and irretrievable at the same time? Redemption as well as demise. During these minute gaps in history, a person reveals crudely his true essence, his fears, and his desires—given that there is no time left for craftiness.
We might even see a little bit of ourselves in these characters. With this film, I also wanted to return to my country. I wanted to re-examine, with a Shakespearian perspective, the tragic and foolish nonsense of the past 60 years of upheaval. A battle for “democracy” which took no prisoner. Nowhere else but in Haiti has reality generated so much confusion and so many contradictions.
We chose to shoot Moloch Tropical in a unique location, the Citadelle Henry, built by King Henry Christophe at the beginning of the 19th century atop a steep mountain. With a size of approximately 100,000 square feet, it is the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere. Perhaps, more importantly it is the indestructible symbol of the only nation in human history that was created by victorious slaves.
The single and unique time in which the trail of slavery that began in Gorée Island (another symbol) was permanently broken. But at what cost?
MOLOCH TROPICAL
Inspired by the kingdom of 19th-century king Henri-Christophe, one of the revolutionary leaders who won for Haiti its independence from French colonial rule, but set in a modern milieu, Moloch Tropical presents a fictionalized portrait of the final days marking the collapse of a regime. The hot air is thick with a tightly coiled tension at President Jean de Dieu’s palatial fortress outside Port-au-Prince. His security force rattles with civil unrest and international diplomats one by one turn their backs on the president’s summit invitation. Hobbling around his quarters, de Dieu erratically exerts scraps of control as his authority rapidly disintegrates into humiliation.
Using symbolism and an almost Shakespearean madness that reverberates across modern governments, Haitian-born auteur Raoul Peck (Lumumba) meticulously drapes the poetic across the political in a searing critique on the universal malady of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Adding to Moloch’s atmosphere, elegant cinematography by Eric Guichard richly captures the lush mountainous landscape and the opulent mise-en-scène of the historic La Citadelle Laferrière.
Special benefit screening for Handicap International.
–Roya Rastegar
The public screening is today at 3:00 pm at SVA-1.
For our first project, we found the Brain Tree School in Uganda through Samite. He had visited there before, and when I told him I was planning on a trip to Uganda, he insisted that I go there. They already had a sister school in Bryn Mawr, PA. The Shipley School had been pen pals with Brain Tree and had raised some money for them as well, helping them to build a library, among other things. So, I thought that a beautiful way to deepen that relationship would be through music. As for our upcoming project in 2011, things will work a little differently. We came into contact with the Shepherds Jr. School in Arusha, Tanzania though another non-profit called Epic Change, which will be partnering with us this Fall. We will be visiting and sharing music with them in September, but instead of connecting them with just one school in the U.S., our intention is to connect them with many. We will launch a project-specific website to contain all the music and videos from Tanzania, and then invite schools from all over the U.S. and beyond to contribute their own songs and videos of gratitude and love. We may even connect some of the schools one-on-one via skype! Then we will invite the U.S. schools to create fundraisers around their songs of gratitude in order to help build a secondary school for the children in Arusha. The beauty for me is that these children–all over the world–will be creating a school through the power of their own voices.
Wow. I have no idea (I’m sure that’s not an approved answer in the non-profit President’s handbook). But truly, as I said earlier–to assume I know how this is going to go is just hubris. Our plan is to embark on two projects for 2012–one in the Spring and one in the Fall. There are things I can see, such as the potential to include technology partners such as Skype or Cisco, and we have had some preliminary discussions about that. But my guess is what actually ends up happening next will be more exciting than any plans I can make. As far as success is concerned, a writing from the Talmud occurs to me: “to save one life is to save the world entire”. Music can transform a life. It certainly has transformed mine, and continues to do so.
Ramin Talaie is an Iranian born photojournalist based in Brooklyn, New York. Ramin is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg amongst others. His work has been published worldwide and was recently exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA as part of a group documentation on Iranian-Americans living in the Los Angeles county.
Sitting in a dusty refugee camp in Guinea in 2004, Reuben M. Koroma, the founder of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, could not have imagined what the near future would hold for him and the members of his band. In just six whirlwind years, the group has gone from being unknown musicians languishing in various refugee camps to being the subject of an acclaimed documentary film, touring the world to support a critically revered album, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and sharing the stage and studio with Aerosmith and other international stars. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes of war and enflamed the passions of fans across the globe with their uplifting songs of hope, faith and joy. The band is a potent example of the redeeming power of music and the ability of the human spirit to persevere through unimaginable hardship and emerge with optimism intact.
CONCERNING CHANGE
Raoul Peck was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and studied film at the DFFB in Germany. His films include Haitian Corner, Lumumba, Death of a Prophet, The Man by the Shore, Lumumba, and Sometimes in April. In 2001, he received the Human Rights Watch Lifetime Achievement Award.
Inspired by the kingdom of 19th-century king Henri-Christophe, one of the revolutionary leaders who won for Haiti its independence from French colonial rule, but set in a modern milieu, Moloch Tropical presents a fictionalized portrait of the final days marking the collapse of a regime. The hot air is thick with a tightly coiled tension at President Jean de Dieu’s palatial fortress outside Port-au-Prince. His security force rattles with civil unrest and international diplomats one by one turn their backs on the president’s summit invitation. Hobbling around his quarters, de Dieu erratically exerts scraps of control as his authority rapidly disintegrates into humiliation.