Punk, death metal and hard rock bands in other countries might be more well known for smashing guitars and trashing hotel rooms than heartfelt charitable gestures. Not so a band of kind-hearted rockers in Dubai, who are raising money for victims of Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines by producing a compilation CD and holding a fund-raising concert tomorrow.
The idea for the initiative was dreamt up by Michael Fillon, the lead singer of the seasoned rock band Sandwash, who have been belting out groovecore tunes in Dubai for the past 12 years.
Fillon and his brother Jay, the band’s drummer, are both Filipino but have lived in Dubai all their lives, only ever visiting their national country once while on tour with Sandwash. When they saw the images of devastation on television in the aftermath of the disaster, their reaction was to help out in any way they could.
“My talent is my music, so it was quite simple that I would have to use that talent to help,” Michael says. “I wondered if anyone else out there was willing to help, and the response I got was overwhelming.”
Within 10 minutes of putting out a message on Facebook, 30 to 40 local bands had responded to his request, even though they all knew it would involve voluntary work.
“Some of these bands have already signed with major labels in the region. But they said: ‘Take our song, and use it to help those people.’ It was quite a touching gesture, given that 80 per cent of those bands are not Filipino. But they wanted to help the people in trouble. Knowing that is what pushed me to keep going with the project. At the core, people are good, and this is evidence of that,” says Michael.
The music featured in the 30-track double CD will range from punk, hard rock and death metal to acoustic ballads and electronica. Well-known contributors include The Recipe, Point of View, Eye and, of course, the Fillons’s band, Sandwash.
“Almost every single musician worth noting in Dubai features in the compilation,” Michael says. “These are the bands that play before major acts such as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Megadeth when they’re performing in the UAE.”
Another influential local band eager to pitch in are the British-Lebanese alternative rockers Absolace. Michael says last he heard, the lead singer Nadim Jamal was trying to book a flight to Manila to offer hands-on help in the aid effort.
Another key player in the initiative, Kris Dozign, an art director, has had personal experience of the tragedy — his own brother was in one of the worst-hit cities, Tacloban on Leyte Island, when the typhoon struck. Kris didn’t hear from his brother for five days, and assumed the worst when he saw the images on the news of dead bodies piling up. When the typhoon hit the city, his brother found refuge on the top floor of a friend’s house. He survived for five days without food, water or electricity before being rescued.
“We flew my brother out here to Dubai for Christmas and New Year,” explains Dozign. “It was such a traumatic experience for him, he finds it hard to talk about it. What happened in the Philippines was really horrible. The support they get from other parts of the world is so important. I am helping in a small way — and what I have to give besides money is my skill.”
Dozign also designed the CD packaging.
“We didn’t want to create something that people just toss away, we wanted to make something worth keeping that people want to show their friends,” Michael explains. “So, the packaging is designed to be flat-pack cardboard, and opens out to resemble the cargo boxes transported to those areas of the world that need help. People can name their boxes, and at the event we’ll take pictures of all those boxes stacked up together. So that will make people feel they are contributing to the aid effort.”
• The fund-raising concert is at 9pm on Friday, January 17, at the Music Room, Majestic Hotel in Bur Dubai. Tickets cost Dh60 and come with a compilation CD. Visit www.facebook.com/chorusdxb.
artslife@thenational.ae
