Tag: justice

NOV 1, 2013 - Music has been playing a huge role in the Arab Spring and helping to fuel the youth uprisings and calls for progressive changes in their countries. A Danish rapper, Martin Fernando Jakobsen, saw what was happening, and stepped in to help fund Tunisian and activist rappers across the Middle East. Jakobsen has set up "Turning Tables", where he helps young rappers who want to sing about political change get into the studio and get their words out. In an interview on TheNational.ae, he tells Janne Louise Anderson, "The youth movement and the young people's freedom of expression and artistic freedom face an uncertain future because of opposition by powerful conservative forces, societal norms and limited production and expression." Jakobsen also talks about the brutal governmental and police policies that arrest and even jail rappers for expressing their political beliefs. Some rappers in Tunisia have had to go underground after being sentenced to years in prison in absentia, merely for speaking out artistically. Jakobsen also tells Anderson, "We are supporting young people who are fighting for a Tunisia that respects basic freedoms and equal opportunities for all, through the targeted use of art festivals, music events, and the creation of independent media that conveys the youth's views on Tunisia's future." Jakobsen plans to spread his help to Syria and Jordan soon.

Turning Tables allowed Middle East rappers, Vipa, WMD and Katybon, to collaborate on "Up On The Roof" YouTube music video (watch below), and Vipa commented in The National's article, "Tunisians try to move forward with great desire, but there are always some barriers that prevent us from trying to spek about justice, be it political, or economic or social." Read the entire Jakobsen interview on TheNational.ae website here. To learn more about the non-profit Jakobsen has set up to help activist-rappers, check out TurningTables.org.

OCT 31, 2013 - mtvU, the TV channel started by MTV, is airing a six-episode series produced by Shepard Fairey titled "Rebel Music" that will detail worldwide youth uprisings and how they are using the power of music to change their world for the better in countries such as Egypt, Afghanistan, Mexico, Israel/Palestine, India and Mali. The first 2 episodes air on November 18 at 9:00 PM EST, with 4 more episodes being released weekly, and will also be available on the website RebelMusic.com. 

Many social justice issues are explored. In the Egypt episode the we meet civilians using protest songs and social media to challenge mindsets and long held beliefs that have tainted their nation's past. In the Afghanistan episode we meet a young girl just wanting to ride a bike, and a rapper and a heavy metal band risking their lives for social change in a rapidly changing culture. The Mali episode spotlights musicians in Bamako that are using music to rally their people back to democracy and freedom during a violent period of change in Mali. The India episode of course goes into the horrible sexual rape and abuse rampant in India that has come to light in the news recently. The Israeli/Palestine episode features musicians and bands from both sides of the struggle, and how they are trying to use music as a bridge to peace and understanding. The last episode highlights Tijuana, Mexico which is a war zone plagued my murder and violence fueled by the stupid drug war. Musicians there are using music to bring back local cultural pride, and call for an end to the violence there.

Check local listings on your TV provider's website for exact time and channel number (Verizon is channel 212). For more info check out mtvU's press release on it on the website TVByTheNumbers, mtvU's website here.

Visit RebelMusic.com for more info and video.

OCT 31, 2013 - Happy Halloween and Super Samhain everyone! I ran across this article on SFBG.com of a cool political band playing in San Francisco tonight. To honor their Jewish heritage they named themselves "The Shondes", from the Yiddish word 'shonde' which means "shameful", and was a term used for outcasts in the Jewish community. When the band members started to get into activism and challenge long-held beliefs, they were yelled at and even spat upon, and were called 'shondes'. In the SFBG.com interview they say their big issues are universal healthcare, ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine (which I am sure got them called 'shondes' for doing) and trans justice. They also fight racism, economic depression and support community organizing and activism. JTMP agrees! To read the whole SFBG.com interview go here.  (photo credit: Frank Stefanko)

OCT 28, 2013 - The musical world is in shock and in mourning, as we woke up to the sad news that one of music's biggest pioneers, Lou Reed, has died. He stayed strong till the last moments, even doing Tai Chi about an hour before he passed. I blogged about him last May when Lou underwent a liver transplant, and he was working hard on his rehab program saying on his website he is "bigger and stronger" than ever. Unfortunately though, he passed away at his home in Southampton, New York over the weekend, and numerous tributes to Lou Reed via Twitter poured out from musicians. Lou had a huge impact on the musical scene and the world.

My first contact with a Lou Reed was indirect. It was 1973, and I was about 10, and the rock band Brownsville Station had a song on their "Yeah" album I thought was one of the coolest rock guitar rhythms ever; that song was Sweet Jane. (Here is the Brownsville Station version I grew up on) Later when I was in my teens, my sister put on a Velvet Underground album that had the man who wrote that song in it, and I was floored. Pure musical genius, very original and creative; the music I heard coming out from those speakers inspired me and many other musicians to pick up the guitar and start a rock band. There is the famous quote from Brian Eno of where he comments on the first Velvet Underground only selling 30,000 copies to which Eno replied, "I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band". Count me in that crowd.

Probably the most hard hit musician was his band mate in Velvet Underground, John Cale. In a statement on his Facebook page Cale says, "The news I feared most, pales in comparison to the lump in my throat and the hollow in my stomach. Two kids have a chance meeting and 47 years later we fight and love the same way - losing either one is incomprehensible. No replacement value, no digital or virtual fill...broken now, for all time. Unlike so many with similar stories - we have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse. The laughs we shared just a few weeks ago, will forever remind me of all that was good between us." Watch a video below of Lou with Velvet Underground live playing one of the badass rock rhythm guitar riffs ever, Sweet Jane, and read more about the creative musical genius that had a huge impact on the rock scene on his Wikipedia page here and I recommend this NY Times article about Lou's career and passing here. JTMP joins in the mourning of Reed's passing, and also join the celebration of the musical genius he brought to the world. We will miss you Lou! (Photo credit: Marcelo Costa/CC)

OCT 27, 2013 - Huge crowds turned out yesterday in cities across the world speaking out against excessive surveillance by the NSA and other agencies, demanding their civil rights of privacy be respected and protected. Many artists and musicians joined in the effort, such as the Flobots, YACHT, Ai WeiWei, Tom Morello,  and JTMP's favorite, Anti-Flag, who are close friends and a huge part of JTMP's early days. Many groups, organizations and individuals from all political stripes came together in this massive street protest against what people firmly believe is a excessive intrusion into their daily lives, and people wonder if their phone calls and emails are being snooped on by the NSA and other agencies. It came out this morning that Germany's Chancellor Merkel has had her cell phone "tapped" and spied on by America's NSA since 2002! The crowd was also protesting the use of military drones, and the huge, bloated military and security apparatus by the American federal government and other countries, which had become huge, hostile, intrusive and unresponsive to the very people it is supposed to serve and protect. JTMP urges our supporters to contact their elected officials at all levels, and scream that you want your privacy back, and tell them to "Stop Watching Us"!

One of the leading organizations leading the protests is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and you can read more about them at EFF.org, and to read more about the various artists and musicians that were at a New York rally yesterday, check out BroadwayWorld.com. Watch an EFF YouTube video below of the scope of the chilling problem with our privacy, and if you want more check out the the rally's website at Rally.StopWatching.Us.