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Courtesy Austin Dacey
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The freedoms we enjoy in the United States extend to music, despite the "Parental Advisory" labels and FBI piracy warnings. In some other places, however, expressing yourself through music can land you in jail. That's why Austin Dacey, an amateur musician and "professional frustrated philosopher" started Impossible Music. The New York nonprofit aims to bring the works of oppressed musicians to audiences in America. And they do it live, by recruiting American artists to learn and play songs written by foreign musicians. It's something new, and Dacey has a few wishes, including to work with famous musicians as time goes on. Amy Lee of Evanescence, we're talking to you.
PLANET GREEN: How was Impossible Music born?
AUSTIN DACEY: Last spring, I resolved that I was going to quit my job (with a U.N.-affiliated nonprofit) and find a way to unite my frustrations, just in time for the recession. Around that time, I met a guy named Haroon Bacha, a singer from northwest Pakistan.
He fled Taliban persecution. The Taliban, when they tried to take over that part of the country, they first launched a war on all music. He made it out, sought political asylum in New York City, settled not too far away from me, and we became friends.
He was starting a new life in the U.S., singing again, recording a new album. He took a job with Radio Free Europe as a broadcaster.
That got me thinking about musical artists who can't or won't leave home and remain there, not free to play. I wondered how they could be heard.
PG: How did you go from the idea to the production, lining up artists on both sides of the world?
AD: In the Internet age and the digital age, music is borderless. I could have just reached out to my friends in Brooklyn and told them to download this mp3 from a band in Iran.
Ironically, in the Internet age, the live performance has become even more important. The thing that's frustrating for these groups is that while they can record on their Macbook in their basement and share the music with their friends, the government and other powerful forces in society .. they control the public spaces.
They control what goes on in the concert halls and city parks and cafes. As long as that is the case, it's not possible to really be a musician. Internet or no internet, there's something magical about standing in front of people and playing.
So the artist can't appear, because they're not free to travel, or they'd face repercussions upon returning home. So I came up with the idea of having someone else play their music on their behalf. That makes live performance possible, and creates community among cultures. It's to facilitate lasting relationships: Social, professional and artistic.
Cruel Black Dove performing the music of The Plastic Wave.
PG. How hard has it been to line up U.S. acts?
AD: Strangely enough, it's been harder to line up U.S. acts than find oppressed acts elsewhere.
The next session (in November), we hope will feature a guy named Lapiro de Mbanga. He's serving a three-year prison sentence in Cameroon because of a song he wrote which offended the president of the country.
The funny thing is, the man is in prison in Africa and he's ready to go. He's on board with the project. Although he's in a cell with very little provisions ... he can be reached at all hours on his mobile phone. If this works, we're going to be caling him and he'll be calling in live from prison in Cameroon to participate in this concert.
The hard thing is finding the right band in the U.S., with the right sound, but also one that's willing to donate their time and learn and perform music from someone else. It takes a special kind of commitment. We're very grateful for the artists from the U.S. who have participated.
So far, we've done two sessions, both in Brooklyn. (The turnout has been) intimate, but committed. We try to create the atmosphere not of a concert as much as a recording session, a workshop. The audience is really invited into an ongoing collaboration and made to feel that they're a part of something.
PG: Is it a fundraiser?
AD: Yes. We are a nonprofit --- extremely nonprofit. The first was free. We charged $5 at the door for the second one. We're applying for foundation grants and corporate sponsorships and seeking individual donations.
PG: Is it your dream to have some big-name artists involved in this project?
AD: That is the model. I'm surprised that the issue of music censorship globally isn't already a banner cause for the music industry ... Music censorship doesn't really have an international spokesperson from the industry. We would like to change that.
PG: Is anyone on your wish list?
AD: It all depends on which acts we're featuring. I'm trying to organize two young women in Bahrain, Scarlet Tear. They sing in English and they sound a lot like Evanescence ... To me, to have (Amy Lee) the singer from Evanscence involved would be amazing, because you'd have the artist that was the musical inspiration actually doing the tribute. That would be a beautiful thing.
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