Causecast

On February 26, Jewish World Watch will host “ Global Soul,” an evening of music, culture, activism and world awareness for the entire community. The event honors Rabbi M. Schulweis, Founder of JWW, for his lifetime of activism and innovation while at the same time celebrates the accomplishments of Jewish World Watch during its first five years.

“Global Soul will bring together artists from cultures and communities that have not been traditional partners to do advocacy and education on issues of genocide,” said Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, Executive Director, Jewish World Watch. “Genocide is something that many of their communities have experienced in the past. Now they coming together around music, dance and storytelling to try to stop or prevent it from happening to others.”

Since its inception, Jewish World Watch has made enormous strides in mobilizing the Los Angeles community to crusade against genocide. In addition, JWW has done significant outreach to interfaith and ethnic communities in Los Angeles, including the Armenian and Cambodian communities. In partnership with the Armenian community of Los Angeles, JWW led the Jewish community to recognize the Armenian genocide. Recently, JWW honored Cambodian community with its 2008 iWitness Award that honors representatives from communities that have been victim of genocides in the 20th Century .. The Cambodian community- a community recently traumatized by genocide and reticent to acknowledge their experience – saw the event as a first step towards learning how to move on.

To continue its commitment to honoring communities that have endured genocide, Global Soul will highlight a multicultural gathering of musicians, storytellers, and artists representing those and other countries. Artists– already well-known in their homelands – will bring their unique sounds and stories to the audience, infused with hip-hop and other modern-day rhythms that underscore the most popular music of today. The universal message underscoring all the performances will be “global conscience.” Performers include: Armenian storyteller, Alidz Agbabian; Armenian percussionist and composer, Arto Tuncboyaciyan; Hmong Hip Hop artists, Delicious Venom; Singer, Dynamq, “the Sudanese Child”; New Roads World Drumming Ensemble; ADAAWE, music of the voice and drum in the tradition of West Africa; African Storyteller, Masankho Banda; Goodness, an A Capella Group from Pepperdine University singing songs from different cultures; and the Debbie Allen Dance Ac ademy. Along with the musicians, dancers, and storytellers, Paula Bellamy Franklin and her troupe will present a scene from The Return, a story of Operation Moses, the covert operation to remove the Ethiopian Jews- Falasha – from the Sudan during the 1984 famine.

“I am very happy to be presenting stories and songs from the Armenian oral tradition at the Global Soul Festival,” said Alidz Agbabian. “Listening to the messages of the other performers is very important for me. What a great opportunity to experience our mutual humanity through art.”

Anindo, ADAAWE’s famed Kenyan drummer, concurred, "ADAAWE unanimously feels “the call”, in these unsettling times, to participate in Global Soul since women are needed to be the adhesive that will keep world communities together. Drumming and music-making is how the Adaawe women of Ghana come together to express themselves. Adaawe wants people to be uplifted…and hope to share something new that touches them on a deep personal level."

Global Soul will be an intergenerational event with interactive activities specifically designed for teen engagement. Individuals will be able to make a video postcard asking President Obama to make the ongoing genocide in Darfur a priority in his administration or design their own advocacy postcard.

“With Global Soul, we want guests to be inspired by the wonderful performances while at the same time gain a better understanding of the cultures that are being or have been destroyed by the cruelty of genocide,” said Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug. “We hope this event will motivate our guests to become more active in the fight to combat genocide around the world. In the five years since its founding, Jewish World Watch has achieved significant success within its three mission goals: education, advocacy and refugee relief. As we continue to grow, we look forward to working with the community to expand both the depth and the reach of our programs.”

Jewish World Watch is an organization that has been at the forefront working to educate the community in California about the crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan, engage in advocacy efforts with leaders to try to stop the genocide, and provide humanitarian relief to alleviate the suffering of the survivors. In response to the 400,000 civilians that have been murdered and the nearly 2.5 million people who have been displaced in the Sudan, Jewish World Watch chose Darfur as its first advocacy campaign. Since its inception, these synagogues have actively mobilized to stop the genocide in Darfur and have allocated more than $2,000,000 in direct assistance to the people in Darfur.

For more information, please visit globalsoul.com.