'CompassionArt'--Great concept, great music

Written by Staff

Friday, 06 March 2009 03:58 PM America/New_York

In the last several months I received several press releases about CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty (Sparrow Records/EMI CMG Distribution), a multi-artist, CD effort where proceeds and royalties from the CD go to those in need globally, but it's just in the last few days that I actually got to sit down and listen to a review copy of the CD.

When I first heard about the concept, an array of 12 Christian music artists headed up by Martin Smith (Delirious) from worship, gospel, hip-hop, pop and rock genres coming together to write 22 songs in a week, it reminded me a bit of Live Aid, Live Earth and the recording of "We Are the World," which were admirable humanitarian fundraising music efforts. But what I was curious about, what would the music be like on CompassionArt? And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that this was not just a great concept but out of it came some great music and artist collaborations.

From Chris Tomlin and Kirk Franklin's "Come to the Water" to Graham Kendrick and Darlene Zschech's "Until the Day," I was moved by the impetus behind the songs and touched by the lyrics themselves. And it was fun too, I found myself tapping my toe and bobbing my head up and down to Toby Mac and Kirk Franklin's hip-hop-inspired "Let It Glow."

Every songwriter featured on the CD chose a charitable project that will share in half the proceeds that these songs raise. The projects chosen are ones that make available primary healthcare, clean water and education, just to name a few. Along with the individual projects chosen, the artists came together and are supporting four main projects including Hands of Hope, a refugee center in Prem Kiran, Mumbai, India; Watoto, who works with orphaned children in Kampala, Uganda; Ray of Hope, who are aiding forgotten tribes in the Amazon in Brazil; and Stop the Traffik, an organization that is partnering with the United Nations to stop the modern-day slave trade.

In addition to the CD raising funds, there is also a book available called The Art of Compassion (FaithWords), that logs the CompassionArt CD artists' thoughts, hopes and struggles on everything from compassion, worship, poverty and injustice, and CompassionArt Coffee, offered in partnership with Christian Andre Coffee.

For more information on the above products and how you can get involved with the vision and mission of CompassionArt, check out their Web site.