Grammy award winning Esparanza Spalding's Spotlight on Guantanamo

January 30, 2014

Last night, Grammy award-winning Esperanza Spalding and non-profit Human Rights First hosted a night of performance and discussion calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay. Watch the live performance - Spotlight on Guantanamo. Back in November 2013, Esperanza also launched a music video titled "We Are America" (video below) urging Congress to close Guantanamo responsibly. 

Today is Fred Korematsu Day

January 30, 2014

"If you have a feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up"

Who is Fred Korematsu? Does Korematsu v. United States ring a bell? Today, learn more about this amazing civil rights activist and let his story inspire you to be a change-maker. 

Using Music to Bring Back Memories

January 28, 2014

Music & Memory is a non-profit helping seniors living in nursing homes get access to the songs of their youth. Experience the power of music to bring back memories in this video with one of Music & Memory's beneficiaries who has advanced Alzheimer's. 

How Music Changed My Life: Allison's Story

January 27, 2014

I stood there, hunched over a turntable and a Moog synthesizer soaking in the skeptical and intrigued stares in my eleventh grade English class. As a group research assignment, our task was to choose an art form, and then teach a lesson for an entire class period. Liz, Dalila and I decided the best topic was to demystify the art of electronic music, for our classmates and ourselves.

It was the early spring of 2006 in Metro Detroit, a time when the windows of high school hoopties finally roll down, billowing smoke and unleashing blasts of Kid Rock and Eminem in the parking lot. The radio in my hoopty was stuck on AM. We sang Journey and Styx in choir. We played John Williams in band. In drama club we rehearsed to perform the sexless, edgeless, kiddie version of Grease. The only relief I got from this noise nonsense was crate digging through my parent’s collection of vinyl, since I was too cheap to buy music downloads, and too prewd to pirate it.

That was where electronic music started for me, between the stiff and flaky sleeves of DEVO and Depeche Mode, between the Theremin frequencies of the Beatles and Beach Boys, between the hair line of Brian Eno and the bass line of the Talking Heads. What I didn’t know was that these relics were part of the foundation of electronic music. What I did know is that I liked it a lot more than Foreplay Longtime and Lose Yourself.

When Mr C, our English teacher who was the emotional doppelganger of Bob Dylan, made the announcement about the project, Liz and Dalila and I immediately agreed to be a team, silently, shooting acknowledging glances across the classroom. We had the rest of the class to hold a charette and pick a topic. Whatever ideas we first flirted with for project ideas couldn’t stand up to the quixotic, alluring suggestion I put forward: electronic music. Not just techno, that was too narrow, we decided. We would, in the course of 45 minutes, uncover the history of electronic sound in popular culture. It was so full of new territory, yet somehow already farmiliar. It was 2006, and it was two weeks from the Detroit Electronic Music Festival.

I Am Malala

January 25, 2014

Artist Spotlight: Kill the Noise

January 25, 2014

Kill the Noise is another awesome talent that joined us last month in teaching DJ fundamentals to youth in the Los Angeles foster care system. 

There's a new ghoul haunting parties worldwide - a diamond-eyed skull slapped to turntables. Grinning off sweat-drenched t-shirts and gleaming from 20-foot neon screens. It's the bony mascot of Kill The Noise, the buzzing young producer and DJ whose uniquely intense take on electronic dance music has kept him rocking around the globe; from packed nightclubs to sold-out festivals.

In a word, his sound is dynamic. His productions much like his performances fearlessly blend different genres, styles and tempos.

His music has been released on some of dance music's most prestigious record labels including Deadmau5's Mau5trap Recordings, and his own imprint, Slow Roast Records, founded with 5x DMC world-champion DJ Craze. The boutique label is distributed by indie powerhouse Fool's Gold.

With a busy upcoming touring schedule, and some big upcoming record releases Kill The Noise will no doubt be making a lot of noise this year!

Website // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud

The Revolution Will Have Live Music

January 24, 2014

Colin Moynihan, The Revolution Will Have Life Music, NY Times, November 17, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/nyregion/the-revolution-will-have-live-music.html?_r=0. 

The Rude Mechanical Orchestra has been using music to strategically challenge power for nearly a decade. Read more about how their showing their solidarity with protestors, picketers and change-makers.  

Homeless Man Moves Listeners to Tears in a Vancouver Thrift Shop

January 23, 2014

Harmony Project

January 22, 2014

The Harmony Project is a music program for inner city kids in Los Angeles that is brining quality music instruction and ensemble playing to children who otherwise would not have access to it. They partnered with a neurobiologist to study the impact of music training on the learning skills of poor children.

Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

January 20, 2014

Billboard's 10 Songs Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr 

Pride in the Name of Love - U2

By the Time I Get to Arizona - Public Enemy

Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder

We Shall Overcome - Bruce Springsteen
One Vision - Queen
Like a King - Ben Harper
I Have a Dream - Common
MLK - U2
King Holiday - King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew
Dream Speech - The Gregory Brothers' Auto-Tune the News

What do you think of their list? What songs would you add? 

Plastic State of Mind

January 18, 2014

Better than the original?

Artist Spotlight: Flinch

January 18, 2014 

Another one of the awesome DJ's that joined us last month in Los Angeles to teach foster children DJ'ing fundamentals.

Los Angeles based beat maker Adam Glassco, better known as Flinch, is no stranger to the EDM world. A veteran producer who has progressed effortlessly from his beginnings in drum & bass and then electro, to current endeavors into jump-up and deeper, more melodic synth-based dubstep. The succession of sounds Flinch adheres to reflects a new breed of artists distinguished most by his ability to marry a massive, tear-out bassline with a melody that could serenade your grandmother, or create tracks that pair careful grit & distortion with catchy songwriting. A true tastemaker, Flinch consistently delivers a wide selection of cuts riding between the UK funky, club, moombahton, techno, garage, and dubstep genre lines. There is an undeniable buzz in the bass music world for Flinchʼs recent productions on labels like SMOG and Trouble & Bass records, but most notably the massive “World On Fire,” which has often been championed by Skrillex, 12th Planet, and Datsik and is making a huge impact with audiences worldwide.

Website // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud

Music is the language of the spirit

Radio Netherlands: My Song

January 15, 2014

Radio Netherlands' My Song showcases the personal stories behind the songs of Africa’s most compelling musicians. Songs featured include one by Rwandan singer Jean Paul Samputu, who fled Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 and his song "Twararutashye" translates as "We returned to our home". Another moving song is by Zimbabwean singer Rutendo Machiridza who turned to music to deal with the sexual abuse she suffered and uses music as a way to reach out to other victims of abuse. Listen to these moving tunes and others at My Song.

Music Can Help Retrain an Injured Brain

January 14, 2014

"Music can help rewire the brain after a traumatic injury, stroke or accident. In all of us, our own playlist of personal favorites can help to:

Trigger memories. Think of jingles that remind you of a company’s name, or that song that always takes you back to your senior year of high school.

Promote learning. Next time you have a phone number or list of terms to remember, try putting it to music. Elicit emotions. The movie industry has long known how to use background music to heighten terrifying, tragic or exhilarating moments .
Provide motivation. Chores can become an entirely different experience when set to an energetic beat. Improve coordination. If you hear music while you’re walking, you can’t help but to walk to the beat. That’s a biological process called “entraining,” in which a rhythm and melody pull us into synchrony with them.

Reduce stress and pain. Calming music can entrain you to breathe deeply and the memories music elicits can remind you of happier, more peaceful times and places."

Source: Karen Weintraub, Music Can Help Retrain an Injured Brain, USA TODAY, Nov. 28, 2011, article, citing Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York.

How Music Changed My Life: Talia's Story

January 13, 2014

Music is the only thing that has been a constant in my life. I started playing piano at age 11 and never looked back. I toyed with DJing in my early 20s (before female house DJs were the norm) and started beat-matching in large Toronto clubs on my days off before deciding that I wanted to produce. As a classically trained pianist, I went to jazz school to learn new chops - thinking if I could play jazz, I could play anything, and therefore produce even better music. Jazz school led to a chance run in to see Magda perform through a mutual friend from Windsor. Magda, and soon after Miss Kittin, reignited a desire within me to return to electronic music while studying jazz. Armed with a Korg Trinity synth and my voice I started collaborating with local producers and released some vocals on a track with Dorje that was remixed by Crystal Fake in Italy.

After a brief detour to San Francisco, I returned to Toronto to study South Indian drumming at York University. Here, I also feasted on classes including Javanese Gamelan, Samba, Cuban drumming, Middle Eastern percussion, improv piano and digital music production. I was in musical heaven and then, upon graduation, found myself scheming with locals to start a Music Festival in Nevis, West Indies - until the hurricane came. So, in good form, I returned to school, completed an MA in ethnomusicology on female Cuban raperas and met rappers from across the globe, further inspiring my belief in the power of music to give voice to those in need and be a platform for advocacy and empowerment.

Artist Spotlight: DJ Craze

January 11, 2014

Another one of the awesome DJ's that joined us last month in Los Angeles to teach foster children DJ'ing fundamentals.

Craze's life is a legacy of rags to riches, geek to chic, no-name to world fame. He never had it easy from fleeing battle in Nicaragua at the age of 3 to a geeky adolescence to Hurricane Andrew hitting Miami in 1992 nor did have ever have any coattails to ride; his is a story that's an uphill battle, but a story that ends right at the top. "My mom always taught me I could do anything I put my mind to. So when she asked what I wanted to do with my turntables, I told her, 'Be the best DJ in the world,'" Craze casually laughs. And that he proved 3 times at the DMC World Championships, an unprecedented record, and a title that no other solo DJ has yet to match. While Craze is regarded internationally and unquestionably as one of the best scratch DJs in the world, it's still astonishing to see his overwhelming number of titles on paper: Craze has won first place for the USA DMC Championships in 1998, World ITF Scratch Off Championships in 1998, ITF Western Hemisphere Scratch Off Championships (1998, '99), Winter Music Conference Scratch Off Champion (1996, '97, '98, '99), East Coast DMC Championships (1997), East Coast Rap Sheet Championships (1996) and Zulu National Championships (1995, '96), to name but a few. Additionally, DJ Craze claimed 2nd place in the first DMC Team Championship with his Allies' crew (which included fellow champions A-Trak and Infamous) in 1999 and then in 2000, the Allies' won the Team Championship title, taking it from the previous year's winners the Scratch Perverts.

Website // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud

We are the Music Makers & We Are the Dreamers of the Dreams

Ending Bullying With Music

January 9, 2014

In Maine, twin sisters are visiting elementary schools and using music to spread the word that bullying should not be tolerated. Watch the newscast!

Musicians without Borders

January 8, 2014

Today we discovered an amazing organization called Musicians without Borders. Musicians without Borders is a global network organization using the power of music for healing and reconciliation in areas torn by war and conflict.

“Community music-making is a worldwide phenomenon that has flourished in the last decade. It is a direct and accessible tool for connecting people and engaging and mobilizing communities. From drum circles to choirs to rock bands, all forms of music can be practiced by any person at her/his own level regardless of musical skills, whether in small groups or in a setting of hundreds or even thousands of people. Our professional trainers and music educators are specialized in running community music-making projects in places struggling to deal with trauma, fear and segregation as a result of war and conflict.”

Finding Happiness in Angry Music

January 7, 2014 

Nothing like a heavy metal session for some much needed catharsis. Check out this article from The Atlantic about how listening to angry [heavy metal] music supports an overall better sense of well-being. 

How Music Changed My Life: Dichondra

January 6, 2014

Detroit House music… helped me to win my first dance contest at 5yrs old at party against older folks on the west side of Detroit in the '80s…and taught me that I was a dancer at a young age, for it moved me in ways I cannot explain.

Music …made me social from beginning to play the flute at 7 years old and performing in front of large groups and gaining the courage to do theater… a shy girl became a social butterfly and a fly Diva. 

Music…showed me that a Detroit girl transplanted to East Lansing was just as good as my more rich, affluent, privileged peers…I could stand up to the best of them and be 1st chair in the band, despite their confusion on how I got to be so great. 

Artist Spotlight: Big Syphe

January 4, 2014 

Big Syphe joined us back in December when we partnered with We Are the Movement to teach music production and DJ'ing to youth in the Los Angeles foster system. 

Watching Big Syphe win over a crowded club with his irresistible mix and irrepressible personality, it’s hard to imagine there was a time when the Los Angeles-native was too shy to tell people he was a DJ. He made mix tapes for friends in junior high while secretly sharpening his turntable technique for the stage. Syphe says he was waiting for the right moment to unveil his hidden talent at one of the infamous backyard parties that were a major part of his high school experience. “In my neighborhood, you were either a DJ or in a party crew that was loyal to a certain DJ,” he says. “I didn’t tell people that I was a DJ because I was more interested in getting on stage and proving it.” He passed the test, graduating from backyards to Hollywood clubs, which is where he met Eric D-Lux, a fellow DJ. They produced break beats together that were popular among DJs at clubs and radio stations, and later earned national airplay with their remix album Buko Breaks Vol 1-3. 

Website // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud

Turning Weapons into Instruments of Peace

January 4, 2014

After hearing about the amazing Recycled Orchestra in Paraguay, our team wanted to see what other ingenious and beautiful ways people are repurposing to create music. In 2012, Mexican artist, Pedro Reyes, used 6700 confiscated weapons to create a 50 piece orchestra - taking weapons of fear and transforming them into instruments of peace and harmony. 

I want to be Happy when I grow up

Happy New Year!

January 2, 2014

Happy New Year, Friends! 2013 was such an exciting year for us here at Give a Beat and we are so excited for all that 2014 has in store for us.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?