Nearly four years later, CFR finally hits the half-century. For show #50 I return to the place where it all began—cut+clear productions, headquarters of CFR’s “house band”, 3canal, for a leisurely chat with Wendell, Roger and Stanton about “Boom Up History“, the music track they’re giving away for free on Trinidadtunes.com, life on the road and the making of Joy + Fire, their 2009 release.
And here’s the Boom Up History video, filmed and directed by Walt Lovelace.
If you’re like me, there’s been no shortage of appeals for donations landing in your inbox this month. And now I’d like to add another: please support Global Voices.
As many of you know, I’ve been involved with Global Voices since 2005, and now work for the organisation full-time. At the beginning of the year we left the safety of our birthplace, the Berkman Center at Harvard University, and struck out on our own as an independent nonprofit. We’ve done some astounding work this year, reporting on and aggregating citizen media coverage of events like the Mumbai attacks and World AIDS Day. Our Outreach section has helped scores of people in communities throughout the world gain access to citizen media skills that we hope they’ll pass on to hundreds more, while Global Voices Advocacy has worked tirelessly on issues around online freedom of speech. And we’re now translating our content into 21 languages. Our Caribbean coverage has grown as well, thanks to the efforts of editor Janine Mendes-Franco, whose team now includes authors from the French Caribbean and Jamaica.
As ’08 draws to a close, however, we, like every other organisation in the world, find ourselves working hard to secure the funding that will ensure our future ability to do the job of amplifying stories and images from ordinary people across the globe who use the internet to communicate with their fellow world citizens.
So if you believe in our mission and would like to help promote the diversity of voices and points of view that citizen media makes possible, please consider supporting Global Voices with a financial donation. And even if you can’t, then do help us spread the word by flying one of our adorable badges (or one of our more serious ones).
Stanton Kewley, Wendell Manwarren and Roger Roberts of rapso group 3canal at cut+clear productions, Woodbrook, Trinidad
