Showing posts with label The Voice Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Voice Project. Show all posts

Thursday, 27 September 2012

Pussy Riot thanks The Voice Project...


A thank you to the Voice Project community from Pyotr (and yep, that's baby Gera in the background sound). More info on how you can support via the excellent http://voiceproject.org/

"Seeing all this amazing solidarity across the world is one of the few things that gets the girls going through their brutal and grey prison days..."

P

Friday, 28 January 2011

I Wish So Bad...



The Voice Project is a brilliant website that was setup to support Northern Ugandan women that have suffered much over the last few years. On a visit by The Voice Project the ladies sang their local songs and then asked to be taught one by their visitors. They learnt 'Suitcase', written by Joe Purdy, which was filmed as they sang it a capella. This video was eventually shown to Joe and the idea of filming artists performing, typically, an unplugged version of another artist's song which would then be then passed along as a 'baton' in a musical relay to the next artist.

As well as some rock premiership names including Peter Gabriel, which I featured here, and Mike Mills of REM who, impressively, recorded one of Billy Bragg pieces there are number of excellent lower league contributions as per the video above.

I find these very uplifting, as, taking The Shivers (above) for example, the performers clearly love the song they've chosen and their interpretation is uniquely special. They take ownership of the song giving these candid films a moment which captures the passion and emotion they pour out of their spirit.... Wonderful!

P

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

The Voice Project with Peter Gabriel


Using music as a tool for social change is one description of this brilliant video of Peter Gabriel covering Tom Waits song 'In the Neigbourhood' for The Voice Project, a strategic alliance with Oxfam America:
The Voice Project is a song-driven movement inspired by the women of Uganda who are using their voices as vehicles for change in the war-ravaged region of Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, and Eastern Congo, an area that has been marred by violence for the last 24 years. The Voice Project is an attempt to support these incredible women and the peace movement in the region, and an effort to see how far a voice can carry.
It transpires, on reading more about this project on the Gabriel website, that one of the The Voice Project's founders is Peter's daughter Anna:
"Music has always been a part of my life and I believe it's one of the most powerful and effective tools to bring about change. My father has inspired me with his humanitarian work and has always been supportive of my work as a film maker so shooting this video bought together all aspects of my life in an amazing way."
P h/t @martinwroe