Ben Harper and Relentless7 celebrate National Earth Day

To celebrate National Earth Day, Nat Geo Music Channel have organised a concert and live broadcast from Rome’s infamous Piazza del Polopo, featuring the likes of Ben Harper and Relentless7.

In an effort to promote environmental awareness, Nat Geo Music (which is a division of National Geographic) is encouraging music lovers ‘to do what counts’.

Sydney Suissa, executive Vice President of NGCI has spoken about this new partnership explaining that; “music is an excellent way to connect people to an important issue and inspire them to act. Nat Geo Music Channel is pleased to partner with Ben Harper and Relentless7 to increase understanding about the environmental challenges facing our planet.”

The concert will be aired on the 22nd of April beginning at 8pm in Italy and will be broadcast on the Nat Geo Music Channel and www.natgeotv.com/earthday.

Also playing at this one-off concert is the debut performance from Bibi Tanga and the Selenites, one of the first new artists to come from the Nat Geo Music Record Label. An Italian band famous for its fusion of electronica and rock music will also be performing at the event.

The concerts carbon emissions are to be offset when the organisers will plant 1,000 trees this autumn in Rome’s Riserva della Valle dell’Aniene Park.

For more information on Ben Harper, check out his website at http://www.benharper.com/. For more information on the event or organisers then have a look at http://worldmusicdev.nationalgeographic.com:8080/preview/view/page.basic/about.

The Wonderful World of Aşa

“Life is beautiful, don’t you think so too?”

Last year the stunning velvet-voiced singer Aşa (pronounced Asha) released her sublime self-titled debut album. The charming singer who was born in Paris but raised in Nigeria composed the album in both Yoruba and English, reflecting on both the struggles and benefits of having dual nationality. The question of a double-identity is not only exhibited by Aşa’s soulful and tender lyrics but by the deep juxtaposition of both Western pop and African blues.

“360°” is the opening track on the album and is a breathtaking indication of what is to come with the rest of the beautiful album. Tracks such as ‘No-one Knows’ and ‘Bi’bin Ké’ are wonderfully melodic and yet peaceful all the same. “Jailer”, a single off the album that Aşa released last year is also powerfully rousing, with its focus on slavery and higher authorities, the track results in a delightfully rhythmic and surprisingly catchy tune.

“Fire on the Mountain” and “Iba” allow the listener a brief look at Aşa’s own intriguing identity and strong cultural perspectives, formulating along with the rest of the tracks, what has become for me, one of the most amazing records to be produced from Nigeria in years.

Charitable partnership between Dengue Fever and Wildlife Alliance

With artists and bands all trying to be that much more environmentally friendly (just have a look at Jack Johnson’s huge long list earth preserving actions as an example...) it’s not surprising that Dengue Fever are the latest to jump on the bandwagon and do their bit for the environment.

The superb band from Cambodia have paired up with the non-profit environmental organisation Wildlife Alliance to try and preserve Cambodia’s natural heritage including the preservation of threatened species such as elephants and tigers whilst also creating a ‘community Agricultural Development program’ to try and resolve the problems of deforestation and poaching and its effects on Cambodia’s surroundings.

According to guitarist Zak Holtzman, “we share a common vision... we want to preserve Cambodia’s rich cultural heritage, just like Wildlife Alliance is working to protect Cambodia’s wildlife species and forests.”

The Director of Wildlife Alliance’s U.S. operations, aware of Dengue Fever’s reliance on Cambodian culture, stated that “fans of Dengue Fever are naturally drawn to the artistic history of Cambodia, and we want to inform them how they can be involved in saving the country’s wildlife and forests alongside its cultural treasures.”

The newfound affiliation kicked off this weekend at the State Theatre in Virginia during the bands North American Tour. While the band performed, Wildlife Alliance set up a booth to educate and inform fans about Cambodian conservation.

Wildlife Alliance and Dengue Fever have declared that this partnership will hopefully include ‘benefit concerts, charity remixes, online commercials and cross marketing on social networking sites and websites”.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Dengue Fever, make it a priority to visit their MySpace at www.myspace.com/denguefever to check out their wonderful cross of traditional Cambodian blues and western pop.