Song For Africa Partnership
We have partnered up with Song For Africa to help raise awareness of some of Africa’s most urgent developmental issues such as HIV/AIDS and Child Rights through the vector of music and music production.
Song for Africa is a leading philanthropic field programming organization that provides development assistance through education. Song for Africa engages, educates and fosters the youth living in African communities affected by extreme poverty through music and socially conscious art, creating future community leaders.
When asked about partnering with the Institute, Song For Africa CEO Darcy Ataman had this to say: “Partnering up with Metalworks is a great opportunity for both companies. It is the best school in Canada for Audio Engineering so that ensures that we get staffed with talented people who know what they’re doing. Several MWI graduates will get the opportunity of a lifetime to work on some projects in Africa and gain some real-world experience. They’ll be recording Rwandans paired up with Canadian musicians and delivering those songs to radio. Some of the 8-16 year old kids come to us in a catatonic state with all the horrible things they’ve been through and I’ve seen music bring them back to life first hand.”
MWI students got the chance to work with producer David Bottrill (Tool, Silverchair, Peter Gabriel) and Ian D’sa from multi-platinum rock band Billy Talent who have been great supporters of Song For Africa from the start. The students pitched Ian’s song “Land of a Thousand Hills” to Canadian radio and helped to promote it.
Song For Africa started with a song…and became so much more:
March 2006 – Song for Africa video/song are recorded
August 2006 – Song for Africa is presented at the world aids conference in Toronto
July 2007 – Song for Africa travels to Kenya with Damhnait Doyle, Simon Wilcox, Ian D’Sa, and Luke McMaster
August 2007 – Song for Africa founds Scholarship Program
July 2008 – Song for Africa Documentary airs on Canadian Broadcaster CityTV
November 2009 – Song for Africa travels to Rwanda to begin filming Rwanda: Rises Up! With David Bottrill, Steve Bays, Damhnait Doyle, Sarah Slean, and Tim Edwards
November 2009 – Song for Africa develops and Launches Music Enrichment Program Pilot in Rwanda
June 2010 – Song for Africa releases Rwanda: Rises Up! Album
For more information of Song For Africa, please visit: Song For Africa