christmas, 2009
after opening gifts (hardly needed), and eating my fair share of buche de noel, i sat back, as many of us often do, to feel guilty about all that i had. what had i done to deserve all of this excess?
a friend recently wrote to tell me of an amazing undertaking by the women of northern uganda, southern sudan, and eastern congo...
the story of warfare and child soldiery in africa is nothing new. sadly, many countries in the developing world become known for their sadness, and not for their beauty. women are fighting back. without force, without weapons, the women of the voice project are singing their battle.
for more than twenty years, a war ravaging eastern africa has turned many children into killers. now voices are coming together, one after another, to call these children back home. songs of forgiveness and understanding are passed in whisper, then cried out, telling the soldiers to set down their weapons and once again be children.
how far can a voice carry? the voice project has traveled across the globe to the united states and elsewhere, collaborating with edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros. their voices combine in an inspiring remix of "come home" with the Gulu women's choir from uganda. neat.
"Home" in Gulu from The Voice Project on Vimeo.
the word was sung, and the word was spread. people gathered, in uganda, sudan, and congo, in los angeles, and elsewhere.
where am i going with all of this guilt-tripping nonsense? the idea is to get creative. just because you're an artist or musician, scholar, etc, doesn't mean that you don't have to care. lets not box ourselves in. these women have sung so loud that they've crossed oceans. they've woken us up.
great graphics, good sound: we can all contribute something.
and in case you needed one more present this holiday season, a free download of the ugandan women's chorus remixed with edward sharpe's home can be found here.
cool music. good cause. cool graphics.
check it out. spread the word.
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