JDub Records

The Sway Machinery has put together a very special fundraiser to help them along in their pilgrimage to Mali for Festival Au Desert, and that is taking place 12/12 at The Sixth Street Synagogue in NYC:

LIVE AND IN CONCERT
SHAKING THE PULPIT
OF THE 100 YEAR OLD SIXTH STREET COMMUNITY SYNAGOGUE
325 E. Sixth Street (between 1st Ave. and 2nd Ave.)

The Sway Machinery
Saturday December 12 @8:30PM
A WILD CELEBRATION of the 2nd NIGHT of CHANUKAH
-A CONCERT FUNDRAISER FOR-
*THE SWAY MACHINERY PILGRIMAGE PROJECT*
PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE NOW
$15.00

— OPEN BAR —

Rocker-Cantorial innovator Jeremiah Lockwood accepts an historic invitation to be the first Jewish performer to hit the stage at Mali’s “Festival of the Desert” taking place in the heart of Islamic West Africa
IN 3 AND A HALF WEEKS!

The band needs your $ support to unleash
“THE SWAY MACHINERY PILGRIMAGE”
film documentary, CD recording and fund raising effort with Emmy Award winning filmmaker, Jonathan Hock who will follow The Sway Machinery on an extraordinary journey thru the Sahara desert and Malian recording sessions as ombudsmen of peace, reconciliation and collaborative musical discovery.

“The Sway Machinery Pilgrimage, as they have entitled their Africa project, is a beautiful example for the world of the great role artists can play in building bridges of love and understanding between cultures. This project is of clear importance in establishing new and positive images of Jews and Muslims engaging with each other.”
–Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Chairman, Cordoba Initiative

GOOD NEWS ABOUT JEWS AND MUSLIMS
DOESN’T SELL AS WELL AS BAD NEWS
WHICH IS WHY THE SWAY MACHINERY NEED YOUR HELP
- TO RAISE FUNDS IMMEDIATELY-
AND MAKE SOME NOISE

Hey everyone.

The temperature in my brain keeps mounting as I work my way forward with all the logistics of our trip to MALI! We are planning a big kick off benefit concert Saturday night, December 12….more about that soon!  Still, I’m rapidly tying up all the loose ends, getting my travel inoculations, finishing arrangements for the new material we will be recording, trying to talk to as many people as possible about travel in Mali to prepare myself!

We are still crazy short on funds for the trip, so if anyone out there feels like supporting this project, here’s a link to a donation site.

Last night at Central Park Summer Stage, prolific bluegrass artist Bela Fleck showcased the results of his endeavor to bring the banjo–evidently influenced by African string instruments–back to Africa.  After playing a dazzling set alongside Malian Afropop star Toumani Diabate, Fleck introduced “Throw Down Your Heart,” a film by his half-brother, Sascha Paladino, documenting his banjo jam sessions with African musicians.  While watching the film, my eye was drawn to signs of globalization on the African continent: a plastic bucket used to carry water, Maasai herdsmen discussing the allure of making money in the city versus the village, one of Mali’s most successful musicians cruising in a Lexus, and of course, Afropop itself.

As a traditional preservationist (and partly due to my white American Jewish guilt), I can’t help but mourn that Africa wasn’t left to persist or culturally evolve independently of the influence of Western civilization.  Do global events, the evolution of communications and technology, and the movement of civilizations render the notion of a “pure” culture totally naive and unattainable?  I hope not.

Still, perhaps the creation of beautiful music, and the use of music as a medium for dialogue, softens the blow of cross-cultural  pollination to the traditional soul.  Maybe that’s why Bela bought the banjo back to Africa, and why JDub exists for the Jews.

P.S. In case you missed it, Girls in Trouble’s Alicia Jo Rabins recently exported some American bluegrass to South America. Have a look. And check out JDub’s cantorial afropop kings, The Sway Machinery.

Today’s post is dedicated to securing music, music supplies and donations for the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda. They’re looking for everything from drums and guitars to ipods and recording equipment. Details and wish list after the jump.

Built on the Israeli model of establishing youth villages for orphans of the Holocaust, the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) opened in December for children left orphaned or vulnerable in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide…

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