CHARITABLE MUSICALITY. A look into the world of benefits and charitable organizations within the music industry

Charity :
1. generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless:
2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms:
3. a charitable act or work.

Source : http://www.dictionary.reference.com/

Every day we are asked to give money, donate time or to just be more aware of different situations around the world; the pitiable treatment of our elders, the soldiers in Iraq, the poor, the sick, the illiterate, the conflict in Darfur or the latest natural (or man-made) disasters.  You name it, we hear about it.  We are constantly solicited: on television, at home, at work and in the streets.  For some, being confronted with these cruel realities can be upsetting.  People prefer to live like ostriches; their heads buried deep in the sand, rather than actually acknowledge what is going on in the world.  Most of the time, we don’t have to look very far to see someone in need of help.  Unfortunately, North America being the individualist society that is, we are not taught to help others.  We barely learn to help ourselves. Ok that’s not entirely true; we do learn to help ourselves: we go see doctors when we have the flu, go see a psychologist for him to give us a few days off because we can’t tolerate our co-workers/boss/jobs anymore or we go see a plastic surgeon to fix the few pounds we have extra, but that’s just on the surface of the real problems.  It’s fixed for a day, a week or a month, but the problem is much more complex than that.  I believe that for us to have a better life or to “take care of ourselves” starts by helping others and our environment.  What’s the link with music? Artists through out time have always been involved in charity work. It started centuries ago.

In 1791, a benefit concert was held in Prague for the family of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  Musical masterpieces were made for benefit concerts: Ludwig Van Beethoven premiered the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, along with Piano Concerto No. 4 and pieces of the Mass in C at a benefit concert. Closer to us, in 1971, Ravi Shankar (Bengali-Indian composer, virtuosi on the sitar, and Norah Jones’ father) and George Harrison (Guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer best known to be a member of the Beatles) held 2 benefit concerts called Concert for Bangladesh. Both concerts were held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, one in the afternoon, the other in the evening.  The concerts raised more than 200 000$ for the Bangladesh relief which was administrated by UNICEF.  East Pakistan at the time was struggling to become the separate state of Bangladesh, which caused massive deportation of refugee over to India.   It was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in the world. During the same time, in 1970, the world deadliest cyclone, the Bhola cyclone that made more than 500 000 victims, hit the Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). It was more than enough for Harrison and Shankar to regard a means to help the situation. The Concert for Bangladesh was the first great charitable work accomplished by musicians of modern times.  Since then, every year, there are thousands of benefit concerts held around the world.  In the society we live in, we tend to listen more to artists than we do to politicians, activists or humanitarians; it is good thing many artists use their music to talk for those who aren’t able.

It’s impossible to discuss social activism without talking about Bono. Bono is of course world renowned for being the lead singer of Irish pop/rock band U2; but more and more, people are beginning to recognize his off-stage work as well.  For more than twenty years, this multi-talented superstar has been helping cancel the debts of 3rd world countries as well as so much more.

For more than 20 years, Bono has been working at giving a voice to Africa and has been doing so ever since he was first implicated with Live Aid in July of 1985; the multi-venue concert was organized by Midge Ure and fellow Irishman Bob Geldof in an effort to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.  (Read more about Live Aid in the next pages) What drives someone to put so much effort into helping others?

Back in 1986, Bono told Rolling Stone magazine that seeing the movie The Secret Policeman’s Ball “sowed a seed and became part of him”.  This full length feature film was a compilation release of the 1981 benefit concert/comedy show staged by Monty Python’s John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis, whose aim was too raise funds for research and campaign work in the human rights field for Amnesty International.  Along with Bono, Sting, Bob Geldof-who had performed during the original four day concert-and Peter Gabriel all cited The Secret Policeman’s Ball as one of the reasons why they have worked for human rights issues.  Along with the movie, a one-hour TV special was aired and two records were released, all benefiting this same cause.

Bono’s latest initiative is Product RED (http://www.joinred.com).  With the help of co-founder Bobby Shriver, they created DATA (Debt AIDS Trade in Africa) a non-profit organization that raises money for the Global fund to fight AIDS, Malaria and tuberculosis.  In partnership with enterprises such as American Express, The Gap, Giorgio Armani, Apple Computer, Motorola and Converse, they want to expand opportunities for Africa.  Every company has created a product (or products) featuring the Product RED name brand and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these articles will go directly to the Global Fund.