#musicmonday
emjohnson | March 8, 2010
Haiti-born hip hop artist Wyclef Jean has been one of the leading artists promoting Haitian relief since the earthquake. In this Creole version of his song "24 Heures a Vivre" (24 Hours to Live) on his 2004 album Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101 he asks the following:
Et si t'avais 24 heures à vivre
Aurais-tu chanté? Aurais-tu dansé? Aurais-tu pleuré?
Ou dit : oh non j'veux m'en aller!
And if you had 24 hours to live
Would you sing? Would you dance? Would you cry?
Or would you say: I don't want to go away!
(Note: this is my rough translation of the French)
Jean lost fifteen family members…
emjohnson | November 23, 2009
David Rovics sings his song remembering the hundreds of Irish recruits in the US invasion of Mexico in 1846 that turned on their commanders and fought on the side of Mexico. While this event is little known in American history, what is even less known is that some of the soldiers in John O'Reilly's battalion were former slaves who escaped from their owners in the US army to fight alongside the Irish and Mexican San Patricios.
As James Callaghan wrote in American Heritage magazine:
Mexican sources state that O'Reilly quickly recruited forty Irishmen and four esclavos negros--slaves brought…
emjohnson | November 9, 2009
Seattle-based hip hop artist Gabriel Teodros performs his song Third World Wide that connects the issues that affect people of color in the US with those struggling against injustice around the world. As if to emphasize the point that racism is far from over, during his recent trip to England to perform at the University of Kent, he was detained by UK Customs officials and denied entry to the country on highly suspicious grounds:
I got detained, fingerprinted, arrested, for the first time in my life. I was in the holding room for 8 hours before being told that i'm getting sent back to the…
emjohnson | October 12, 2009
"Babul" performed by Shubha Mudgal is a gorgeously produced music video that emphasizes the heartbreak of female domestic violence as seen through the eyes of a child.
According to Amnesty International:
In this video about female domestic abuse, a child walks through a party in which all the adult couples seem happy as they socialize. But as she looks at three of the couples, she sees the humiliation and violence with which each woman has been treated prior to arriving at the party. The video was produced by Breakthrough TV an organization dedicated to dealing with social problems in…
emjohnson | October 5, 2009K'Naan - "Soo Bax"
K'Naan was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and was there when the Somali Civil War broke out in the early 90s before emigrating and getting his break in Canada (w00t!). Since then he's worked with Nelly Furtado, Mos Def, The Roots, Dead Prez, and Pharoahe Monch and released two studio albums (The Dusty Foot Philosopher and Troubadour).
"Soo Bax" is one of his earliest music videos in which he offers a scathing critique of the politicians and warlords that perpetuate a desperate situation for the people in his home country. "Soo Bax" is Somali for "Get Out."
To learn more…