“One year after the May 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China, the Afterquake music project has created music with quake survivors to raise money and awareness for the ongoing reconstruction.”
Afterquake: “Sala” Video from Sexy Beijing TV on Vimeo.
For more information, check out this link. I was in China in May 2008 when the earthquake struck, and recently was in China again during the one year anniversary. Over dinner, a group of us discussed what we were doing at the moment of the quake—all of us being in Shanghai, in different parts of town, and fortunate to have suffered nothing but a rolling sensation (or not even that much, in certain cases). I happened to be on the 24th floor of a swaying apartment building, in my pajamas, at my computer, and was hit with the choice of whether to run for the exit or stay where I was. I stayed, which might not have been too smart.
This video brings it all back, but with a sense of hope and good spirit that was lacking in previous media coverage (focusing, it seemed, on nothing but unremitting despair).
Here’s another wonderful video, a documentary about the same project:
“To commemorate the one year anniversary of this tragedy, musicians Abigail Washburn and Dave Liang of the Shanghai Restoration Project traveled to Sichuan to make music with children who survived the earthquake and their parents. Using folk songs sung by the children as well as sounds of their parents rebuilding their houses with bricks and mortar, Abby and Dave created a unique musical soundscape, and this video shows how the whole process unfolded in March, 2009.”
Afterquake: Music with Sichuan earthquake survivors from Sexy Beijing TV on Vimeo.