In light of today being International Bloggers' Day for Burma (10/4) (not sure why it's on a lame Thursday?) and tomorrow being National Campus Day of Action for Burma (10/5) and Saturday, being International Day of Action for a Free Burma (10/6), I will be shifting focus today on musicians trying to change the world through their influence and music.
There are a couple of bands that comes to mind when you think of bands in this arena (pun intended), some of the more famous ones being U2, R.E.M. (see Michael Stipe's message regarding Burma), Radiohead, and Peter Gabriel, but there are hundreds of bands that's helping changing the world in their own ways.
For instance, Ryan Costello, singer and songwriter for the band The OaKs (note capitalization), sold everything he owned and joined a humanitarian organization and moved to Afghanistan. He worked in the central Afghan mountains, teaching agricultural techniques and learning their language, Farsi.
His story can be read on Paste Magazine, which I'm told he also appears on the cover (but looking at scan of the front cover, I couldn't find him - however the cover might have been folded under). This quote from the article sums it up:
I had friends in the central mountains who saw their family gunned down, saw the Taliban pour oil across their fields and destroy their whole livelihood. But what amazed me was the hope they carried, and how, when this strange foreigner showed up with vegetable seed and some agricultural techniques, they were so ready to make a new start.
Costello left Afghanistan two years ago and released an album Our Fathers And The Things They Left Behind, about his experiences there. Half the proceeds of the album will go to the Global Hope Network, benefiting Afghan refugees.
The OaKs are currently in the studio working on a new full length album to be released in April 2008.
For further reading, check out The Times' Can Rock 'N' Roll Save The World? (10/2001) and Paste's Can Rock Save the World? (7/2007).
10/04/2007 09:47:30 vu my♥posts [email protected] www.ryancostello.com
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