I know we mutineers have been pushing Quake relief and donations for helping manage the response to the the various disasters that have struck around the world this year. It is just hard to imagine, that in a little over a month (December 26), it will be a year since the Indian Ocean tsunami, what seems like the first tragedy in a cycle of monstrous natural diasters hit. Hopefully the South Asian Quake will be the last we’ll see from mother nature for a LONG time.
What’s making me pontificate you ask? Well, my friend Roshan Loungani, founder of desivision (I did want to, at some point, properly blog this interesting on-line Desi television channel) pointed me to a short film (free subscription required) desivision is hosting by Rohit Gupta. The five-minute plus montage, accompanied by Nitin Sawhney’s classic Homelands, has some poignant images from the South Asian Earthquake and makes clear the need for continued international assistance.
Even if you don’t intend or cannot donate, please check out the video. Perhaps it will change your mind.
Related, there’s a fundraiser I heard about just now in Scarborough this Friday. More info here.
oh, if you dont want to register, test/test works as a login/pw to view the video on that site
Not to discourage donors but FYI:
re: vid
i dunno, maybe it’s because i’m coming from a different angle on this, but the song doesn’t seem to fit with the images after a minute or so… it just seems inappropriate to use someone’s art (the music) and create another piece of art (in a sense: editing the images in tune with the music, it’s very well done) and put it out there as an appeal for something, whatever that is, and have a name on the lower-right at all times. i’m not attacking mr.gupta in anyway, it’s a finely executed piece, but something just doesn’t sit right with the product as a whole. did nitin’s label agree for his music to be used in this case?
am i alone on this? am i reading too deeply into it when quake aid is the key point, and if so, should the creator’s name be on the lower right…? i wonder… as i hit ‘post…’
http://www.unclero.com/vd.html
Its a good point you make sank, and I am assuming no to the question above since the website you point to indicates that the sound has been disabled until Nitin’s management approves use of the song. One would think that since there was a copyright-like warning at the end of the photo-montage, the use of the song to go along with the piece would have been previously approved. I guess not.
Artists’ own contribution to disaster relief is well-intentioned, valuable, and instrumental in exposing the otherwise unimaginable devastation and havoc reaked by these acts of nature to otherwise blissfully resigned diasporan (and other) peoples of the West. Fundraisers are equally essential, as economic investment is the foundation upon which aid is built. However I do believe that individual volunteerism is an oft-overlooked method of “doing enough”, or at least “doing something valuable”, in the wake of disaster. There are a multitude of international organizations, working in collaboration with NGOs, who welcome volunteers to assist with home rebuilding, emergency services, mental health-related intervention… basically all vertically and horizontally integrated strata of society can benefit from manpower in addition to funds. Of course paternalism and Western imperialism in the name of aid should be avoided and arguments against misguided volunteerism have merit. But the benefit bequeathed by personal connection (to both parties) cannot be overstated.