Music, minds & movement for peace

“Men and women of all ages and races have come together to say in one voice, that we want Troops Out Now and
forever, not only from the war in Iraq, but from future wars that will oppress the poor.”

So say the artists and activists who lent their voices to the phenomenal Troops Out Now CD project.

The CD’s release was timed to coincide with the March 19 Troops Out Now demon stration, which will start in Harlem, and proceed down Fifth Avenue to Central Park. This “soundtrack for the movement” sports an impressive roster of musicians: Nana Soul, Spiritchild, Fifth Column, Sparlha Swa, Pam Parker & Jobari, Latisha Divine, Kahlil Khan, Goldie Braun and Rochester’s Raging Grannies, as well as veteran activists like Larry Holmes, Sara Flounders, Teresa Gutierrez, Nellie Hester-Bailey, Brenda Stokely, Julie Fry, Charlotte Kates, Erik-Anders Nilsson, Narciso Castillo, Seth Tobocman (who was responsible for the cover art) and last but certainly not least Mumia Abu-Jamal.

“We wanted to take music to a new level,” says Nana Soul, spokesperson for Artists and Activists United for Peace and a recording artist on Black Waxx Records. “ It’s time to re-politicize art…[trying to achieve and maintain freedom]… there’s nothing else I’d rather sing about.”

The CD took three weeks to produce which is unheard of “unless you have a level of commitment from everyone so profound that everything just flows,” says Shawna Glover of Black Waxx Records and Artists and Activists United for Peace. “In the music industry you can’t get anything done without eighteen signatures. But for this project, we took care of business—fast.”

Though grassroots in sentiment, the presentation is anything but. The CD project showcases some of the hottest music and arrangements in professional music today. “The movement just kicked it up a notch,” says Bob Law of the famed radio show Night Talk. “Now we’ve got to get this music on the radio. Mainstream media is not allowing these voices to be heard, and this music is ten times better than anything they’re playing today.”

The Troops Out Now CD Project is educational as well as entertaining, containing statistics on the cost of this war in money and lives, the wars’ origins, and the lies surrounding it.

Visit www.blackwaxx.com or www.troopsoutnow.org. for more information or to get the CD.

Tylon “Usavior” Washington is the producer of the Troops Out Now CD Project.