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Arcade Fire sparks support for PIH – Canadian band raises issues and
funds
The Arcade Fire, a Montreal-based “indie” rock
group, is making a name for itself not only as one of Canada’s hottest
bands but as advocates and fundraisers for global health equity. Most visibly,
they provided the music—free of commission—for a series of television
advertisements to boost sales during the holiday shopping rush of the “(PRODUCT)
RED” campaign
to raise funds for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tubeculosis and Malaria.
But they didn’t stop there. At the end of December, they dedicated proceeds
from the iTunes release of the first single from their eagerly awaited new
album to Partners In Health. And most significantly for us, the band has committed
to give PIH $1.00, £1.00 or €1.00 of every ticket sold on
their upcoming European and North American tours.
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Haiti
Haïti, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free.
Throw my ashes into the sea.
Mes cousins jamais nés
hantent les nuits de Duvalier.
Rien n'arrete nos esprits.
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.
In the forest we are hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldiers angry yelling,
in the river we will go.
Tous les morts-nés forment une armée,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.
Haïti, never free,
n'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme.
Tes enfants sont partis,
In those days their blood was still warm
– The Arcade Fire |
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After learning about PIH by reading Tracy Kidder’s Mountains
Beyond Mountains and Paul Farmer’s Pathologies
of Power, Win Butler and Régine
Chassagne, the husband-wife duo who formed The Arcade Fire in 2003, contacted
us about their desire to help. Although the band’s interest in PIH is
relatively new, their dedication to promoting understanding of Haiti’s
complicated history and solidarity for its long-suffering people is not. Régine’s
Haitian background has influenced the band’s music significantly. The
song “Haiti” appeared on their first album, Funeral. The lyrics
are indicative of Régine’s deep personal bond with the country: “Haïti,
mon pays, wounded mother I'll never see. Ma famille set me free. Throw my ashes
into the sea…” In addition to expressing the issues through their
music, Win has used his online journal (link) to write snippets about Haiti’s
historical relationship with France and the United States and to encourage
support for Partners In Health.
With the release of The Arcade Fire’s second album, Neon
Bible, in March
2007, they will be touring both in
Europe and North America. Following a series
of warm-up concerts in London, Montreal and New York through the middle of
February, the band will tour Europe from March 7 through April 7, with appearances
in the Ireland, Scotland, England, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany,
Holland and Belgium. Dates and locations for the North American leg of their
tour have not yet been finalized.
But wherever they go, they intend not only
to entertain their fans but to educate them about the major global health
issues of our time—from
the weakening of the Global Fund to the structural violence that has plagued
Haiti and other poor nations for years, causing major public health disasters.
[posted January 2007] |
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