Prague Benefit Concert for Australian Bushfire Relief
A lot of terrible things happen in the world every day, but luckily, there are people who rush to help make them right. What does it take to find the courage to do something? How do we turn from bystanders into people of action? Who are the people behind such good deeds, and what’s their motivation? There is a benefit concert for Australian bushfire relief taking place in Prague, January 23rd. Let’s have a look at who put it together, and why.
Maarten Crefcoeur
Maarten is a guitar and piano teacher. Besides teaching, he keeps himself busy with different fun projects. He plans and rearranges the music for a live version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, plays guitar and keyboard in an ambient jazz looping project called The Zandloopers, and from time to time, creates sound effects and music for video games and audiovisual productions – check out his portfolio.
This new project came his way rather unexpectedly. “After seeing all the footage of the devastating fires, and seeing the reported number of animals killed by this event, I felt urged to do something. My two cats were the main inspiration for doing this; I could not imagine them being in a similar situation. I was mainly looking for like-minded people and hoped just to be in the role of a contributing musician. After my first Facebook post, people started saying ‘Yes, you should totally organize this’…”
Australian Bushfire Relief Benefit Concert at Žižkovšiška with Phil Varney
Many musicians came forward in response to Maarten’s post. They were interested in playing their music for a good cause. Maarten needed a venue, and Gordon offered Žiškovšiška as a shelter, stating, “It’s another great opportunity for us all to come together and do something as a community for the creative and practical good; spreading the love to quench a fire.”
The event was born and Phil volunteered to host it. “I jumped at the opportunity to participate in this event. Prague’s artistic community is an incredible thing to be a part of, not just from the art that’s created, but also from the character of the artists who inhabit it. This event highlights both perfectly, while also promoting a worthy cause.”
And here’s the line-up in the time-order (times might still change, check the event for up-to-date information):
Marty
Marty’s New Year’s resolution was to play at least five meaningful concerts by Easter. “I didn’t have a clear sense of what that would be, but when Maarten came up with this idea of a benefit concert, I knew this was it. We humans should do anything within our reach to help the world we live in. Everybody’s able to do something, or at least not make it worse. I’m a musician, so I can help create the proactive mood in people and collect some money. It doesn’t make sense to be one of those people who think that the little they could do doesn’t matter. Big things come in small packages.”
Marty’s music is a combination of “total psychedelia, improvisation and using random items, as well as singing my songs with a guitar. I don’t use any playlists, so you can never predict what will happen next.”
Plays at 19:00
The Daisy Roots
“When Maarten asked if we wanted to participate in the benefit concert, it seemed like a great oppurtunity to help out, at least in some way, with the tragic situation in Australia.”
“We are a band focused mainly on creating original music. Whether intentional or not most of our sounds seem to be hailing from a folk-rock-psychedelic place.”
Plays at 20:00
Nola Dis
They call themselves “original 80’s new wave post rock electronic disco for dorks”. “We formed in the spring of 2018,” says band member Fred and explains why are they in the concert, “we thought this was a great idea for a charity gig.”
Plays at 20:45
Kangaroo Sushi
“We found out that our friend Maarten has called for musicians who would like to play for a cause. We all agreed that we would like to support this initiative, and it is exciting to share the stage with great musicians, Maarten being one of them.”
Kangaroo Sushi is a project aimed at playing songs in different languages. “We are an acoustic trio, but very often our friends join us on different instruments.”
Plays at 21:30
The Last Lies
“The only reason we are participating in the gig is the cause. We just implemented a new member, so we wanted to give him the time to prepare our songs, write lyrics, etc, etc. But Maarten called me asking me if we would like to participate in the benefit gig, and we were (and are) really honored and proud to be part of the event and help as we can,” says band member Nico, and explains who they are:
“The Last Lies is a band that must have been born. Since our first jam, months before the band was created, we have just clicked in a way it only rarely happens between musicians. Having Nik (the new singer) is the cherry that our cake needed!”
Plays at 22:00
Giedi Prime
I turned to Simone from the band to answer me some questions. He was busy so Dave stepped in, “Simone is lying, he actually hates the earth. In my opinion the earth is good. I would also like to make it clear that Giedi Primes takes a strong anti-fire stance…. But seriously it’s for a good cause and participating in this event is the least we can do. Hopefully we raise lots of c@$h money and save them critters.”
These goofs call themselves a bluesy garage rock band and their gig will close the concert.
Plays at 22:30
Besides the benefit concert for Australian bushfire relief at Žižkovšiška, there is an acoustic stage event happening at the same time at Brix Bar & Hostel.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. If you can’t make it to the concert, please consider contributing a few crowns to the charity of your choice; check this one out for inspiration. It’s my personal favorite because it combines 6 different funds handpicked by a group of people who live and work in Australia.
Hope to see you all at the event! I will share updates from there so feel free to follow me on Facebook and Instagram and for more Prague related posts on my blog, visit the Life in Prague section.
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