Tag: Occupy DC

OCT 22, 2011 - Rapper Immortal Technique spoke his mind in a WeAreChange video hitting on politics, war, immigration, race and more from Occupy Wall Street. He said, "This is one of the best expressions of democracy that people have seen in America for the past few decades. Unlike the Tea Party, this is organic; it's not corporate-funded, it's not funded by the Koch brothers. This isn't a re-election campaign for Obama. We're willing to put his second term on the altar of democracy and sacrifice it if we need to." He said everyone should do that to send a message that the movement demands real change, not superficial. Check out the interview below.

OCT 22, 2011 - Pete Seeger, along with grandson and musician Tao Rodriguez Seeger, 60s activist musician Arlo Guthrie, composer David Amram, and bluesman Guy Davis joined a crowd of a thousand or so Occupy Wall Street protesters in a march from Symphony Space to Columbus Circle. They sang protest and activist songs as they marched, and then they all sang "We Shall Overcome" at Columbus Circle. Watch the footage below.

OCT 21, 2011 - Musicians at Occupy Boston have helped spark discussion at Dewey Square in downtown Boston it says an article by TheCrimson.com, and requests for bands to perform on the stage have swamped the organizers. In the article media representative Philip J. Anderson says, “[Music] boosts morale and builds community, especially on rainy days. Music is just one of those things that can galvanize movements—especially with songs that everyone knows and can connect with.”

Organizer Kelley P. said, “[Performers] are fighting for the same causes and the same rights that we are. It’s not as easy for a band to get nationally signed to a worldwide record deal anymore. The music industry has changed so dramatically and a lot of these artists struggle with their art and their music. They write songs about situations like these and they’re there [at Occupy Boston] because they are part of the 99 percent.”

Read the rest of TheCrimson article here.

Denver Hip-hop artist Sole - Phot credit: HeyReverb.com

OCT 21, 2011 - Local musicians from the Denver area will join Occupy Denver this weekend, from hip-hop artist Sole to the Flobots. HeyReverb has a great article about it, and in it Bobby Rogers, aka King F.O.E. of BLKHRTS says, “Just seeing how dedicated and passionate people is awesome. People believe in the cause enough to sleep outside and risk getting arrested every single night. They’re doing that for us, so this is just a way for us to give back and have a good time. ”

Flobots - Photo credit: Thuja Soul Wiki

In the article Sole spoke about the whole Occupy movement, “When history is happening, it’s a tsunami — you can’t predict it. There’s no telling where we’re going to be in a month. One thing that’s clear, though, is that the lost generation are finally finding their voices. I never thought this would happen, and it’s incredibly inspiring. ”

Read the HeyReverb article here.

OCT 20, 2011 - The rap duo group Rebel Diaz, comprised of RodStarz and G1, seek to bring Hip Hop into the liberal world of Occupy Wall Street. In a recent Wash Po article, RodStarz said, “We wanted to bring hip-hop to the white liberal table,” RodStarz says. “For the first time in a long time, large numbers of young white kids are no longer benefiting from the privileges of capitalism. Maybe they’re feeling what immigrants and poor communities have been feeling for years.”

They have launched the #occupytheairwaves campaign and made available for download 2 new songs, "Troy Davis Lives Forever" and "We the 99%" on their website here. Below is the duo performing live down on Occupy Wall Street on Democracy Now.