Guest Post Today

I wrote a guest post for the Spilling Hope blog today, its about music, water and hope. Check it out here!

Spilling Hope is THIS SUNDAY!

     So the mastering is done (Thanks Jason Holstrom!), the art is done (Thanks Andrea Moon!), the web page is ready (Thanks Jeremy Green!) and the tracks are zipped up and ready to be downloaded first thing Easter morning! It was fun to find bands, and get them to sign-on for this really important work of providing clean water. I even had the chance to interview (almost) all of them, and throughout the 50 days of the project, I will be posting those interviews here!
If you haven't yet checked out www.spillinghope.org please do! And on Sunday you can get the music, determine your involvement, get focused and make a difference. Last year the project raised over $200,000!

Here is a sneak peek at the artist who are on this year's compilation:
Doug Burr (Texas)
Seryn (Texas)
Omega (Uganda)
Half-handed Cloud (California)
Beau Jennings (New York)
Joy Follows (Seattle)
Cahalen Morrison and Eli West (Seattle)
Jubilee (Seattle)
Sleeping at Last (Illinois)
Late Night Transit (Seattle)
Andrew Belle (Tennessee)
Sherwood (California)
Denison Witmer (Pennsylvania)

Omega Okello - Artist Preview - Spilling Hope Volume Two

All but one of the projects done by Spilling Hope have occurred in Uganda (See them here). Living Water International is the best, and they cost around $10k to research communities, hire local workers and oversee professional digging of clean water and sanitation centers. Typically this means digging a well...not 30 feet, with shovels, but  ft. with an enormous borehole drill
I made a quick post to Facebook one afternoon stating that I had entered the brainstorm stage for Volume 2, and a friend commented saying..."What about Omega? She is from Uganda." What an amazing idea!

I possibly first heard Omega sing when she and I were both kids, she was part of the African Children's choir and they stopped at our church during their US tour...I was there and it was absolutely incredible. I still remember them singing a song Sunday morning to give folks a glimpse into that nights concert...I was blown away by the joy, the passion and of course the volume.

Years later, Omega ended up at Seattle Pacific University where we both attended college, she often went to my church, and I played drums once for a song she killed at a talent night. Omega is one of those people who effortlessly sing, and appear to be having the time of their life every time they do so...and as they do it...you get tricked into also being filled with joy!

Omega has three studio albums...all different stylistically, but all tied together by her love for God, people and her joy in music. Her first release is a jazz album called Take One...it has big standards like Summertime, At Last and What a Wonderful World. Her most recent release is called Amazed, with music that seems very geared for a church audience; many hymns and choruses in an Afro-gospel style. In between these two came her award winning traditional Ugandan album Kiwomera Emmeeme. Luganda for "It is sweet to the soul," her most ethnic of her albums filled with amazing instrumentation, mostly original songs by Omega and with musicians from across Africa and the USA. All songs are sung in Luganda, Omega's native tongue. (With the exception of one song that is sung in Swahili...I jokingly asked my co-worker if he spoke Swahili...he said yes and then was able to determine which track was not Lugandan...amazing!) This 2008 release contains the song Yaye, which will be a part of this year's compilation. It is a strong song, and critical in its uniqueness to the others on the compilation. The song is produced extremely well with rich under stated rhythms, great accordion, and of course the hope and joy Omega...can't seem to shaken even on this song about mourning.

Yaye
Yaye, Yaye (I am mourning)
Wulira, Wulira Okukaaba (Hear the crying)
Wulira, Wulira edoboozi (Hear the voice)
Nkabira bantu bange (I’m crying/mourning/weeping for my people)
Mukomewo Gyendi (Return to me)
Mukomewo (return) 
Mukomewo Gyendi nze Omutonzi (Return to your maker)

Grateful to have Omega on the compilation this year, and if you want more info on her and her music check her website here. Thanks Omega!

Spilling Hope

So last year my friend and band-mate Adam Finch and I reached out to a bunch of musicians and put together a music compilation for a clean water initiative called Spilling Hope. (I technically did a little more then Adam...but that doesn't matter...no one is keeping score here...same team right? Love you Adam, you did a great job!!!) The project raised over $330,000 in the first two years, and has been an exciting success! This means that 33 communities now have access to clean water through the digging of deep borehole wells by Living Water International. These guys are the best, and are used by the One Campaign, UNICEF and tons of other groups. All the communities are in Southern Uganda, and we are setting the stage to do it again this year.

My task in this project is pretty cool, I get to put together the compilation and have been quietly plugging away at this for a few months, and it is going to be really good.
There was some unbelievably excellent music on the first compilation last year: Josh Ottum, Deccatree, Sleeping at Last, the Republic, PawnShop Kings, Raining and OK, Rosie Thomas, Ivan & Alyosha, Wonderful, Ryan J. Lane and Julie Jane) and you can still download the compilation here if you just enter your email. But shhhh...its sort of secret link.

In preparation for Spilling Hope Volume 2...I will be interviewing each artist that submits a song, so you can start to get acquainted with the musicians supporting Spilling Hope this year. Keep you eyes peeled!