Musicians raise funds, awareness

Instead of making financial donations or doing voluntary work to help Sichuan pick up the pieces following last year's earthquake, a number of artists joined forces to host a music festival that helped to raise further much-needed funds for victims of the disaster.

"I Care" was the theme of the Zebra Music Festival, held last month in the newly built Chengdu Poly 198 Tulip Park.

The event also involved 17 overseas and domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the WWF, Women in Disaster Areas and We Design.

A series of famous Chinese bands, such as Super VC, New Pants, Casino Demon, Sound Toy and Shin, performed free of charge, while a charity bazaar took place to raise funds for the quake-hit areas.

Ou Bo, the lead singer of Sound Toy, said that he wrote the song My City, which was performed at the festival, to show support for Chengdu, his hometown.

My City describes the writer's mood after the earthquake and calls on the public to be strong after the disaster.

New Pants dedicated one of their songs - the instrumental piece "Panda" - to the bamboo-eating residents of the nearby panda reserve.

Scarlett Li, CEO of Zebra Media, the organizer of the festival, told China Business Weekly that all the NGOs and artists voluntarily took part in the event, attended by over 100,000 people.

Wen Hong, a survivor of last year's earthquake, said that the Zebra Music Festival was both fresh and interesting, and that she was very excited to have the opportunity to attend it with her classmates.

Li Min, a 26-year-old working in Chengdu, said the music festival was a good opportunity to raise people's general awareness of charity.

"After last year's earthquake, people did pay attention to rebuilding, but what I mean is that a long-term support mechanism has not been established yet," she said.

In the WWF tent, Wu Jiawei, a coordinator of the Zebra Musical Festival, told China Business Weekly that they brought two women from the Qiang ethnic minority, who lived in a village next to a panda protection zone, to exhibit their embroidery. "Lots of young people like their handicrafts," said Wu.

The Qiang people are famous for their embroidery, and the panda protection zone was heavily damaged by the earthquake. The women came not only to show their handicrafts but also raise fund for reconstruction of the panda protection zone.

1Kg is an NGO dedicated to providing books and stationery to students in rural areas. It called on visitors to donate books during the festival to help build rural school libraries in Sichuan's poverty-stricken areas.

Peter Tian, a music teacher discovered 1Kg's tent in the morning and donated a book he had brought with him. He later came with two friends and piles of books.

"I have driven to the quake-hit areas several times. I found some volunteers could not keep up their passion for very long. After one year, some people's passion faded. So I think it is a good idea to combine the music festival with NGO involvement; it can raise young people's awareness about reconstruction and charity," said Tian.

The musical event also attracted over 670 volunteers from several local universities, including Sichuan Music Academy, Sichuan University, Sichuan Normal University, Sichuan Foreign Languages University, and Southwest Petroleum University.

According to Zebra Media CEO Li, the festival's success has resulted in an agreement to retain it for at least another five years.

(China Daily 06/08/2009 page8)