Online music not only offers new opportunities for spreading new independent music, but new music activism as well.
I’m really excited to have the chance to pass along this email; some of my favorite Afrobeat artists involved here. Politics aside, it’s music I personally enjoy more than a lot of the Live8 stuff. And getting word out about Darfur couldn’t be more uregent. Dave Ahl, music director for Modiba Productions, writes us:
I wanted to alert your attention to a project I co-produced. It’s an afrobeat compilation album called “ASAP: the Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project” and includes musicians like Tony Allen (and Fela Kuti), Antibalas, Akoya, and others. All proceeds from the sale of the album go directly to an Oxfam sponsored humanitatian effort in the Sudan.
Unlike live8, which, as you mentioned, almost entirely excluded African artists, the music on ASAP was entirely contributed by African musicians. ASAP is about African musicians raising money and awareness about the situation in Darfur, identified by the UN as “the number one humanitarian crisis in the world.”
You can read more about ASAP, listen to samples, and more online at www.modiba.net. ASAP can also be bought at the iTunes music store (Apple is giving all the money to the cause).
Purchase the album from iTunes: ASAP: The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project
Spread the meme: Let’s work to get word out on this, CDM readers — I’m definitely open to ideas for how we could promote this terrific project. Drop me a line, and in the meantime, tell your friends. I’ll donate all profits from my affiliate fees to the same cause, so let’s see how much we can raise on top of the Apple amount!