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MAKING MUSIC - SAVING LIVES
Non Profit Music
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Grundman We are the forthcoming past |
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Gnomusy (David Caballero) Ethereality |
eMotive NOW ON ITUNES: Non Profit Music: “Making Music, Saving Lives” Here is a refreshing concept. Non Profit Music is a record company based in Spain that donates all of its profits to humanitarian causes, primarily the international medical emergency relief organization Doctors Without Borders. The recording label’s motto is “Making Music, Saving Lives.” Now some of the best new age and world music recordings from this company have been compiled onto a sampler CD, eMotive, with the title also serving as a description of the music.
The eMotive CD contains music from four Spanish musicians – Jorge Grundman (known in the music world simply as Grundman), David Caballero (who records under the name Gnomusy), Eduardo Laguillo and Joaquin Taboada. All four are primarily keyboardists, but utilize a wide variety of sounds and instrumentation. Grundman has already released a CD in the United States (We are the forthcoming past, take care of it) and it was followed by a Gnomusy CD (ethereality). Included on eMotive are two tunes from each of those albums as well as new never-before-released tracks from each of the four musicians (these compositions will eventually appear on the artists’ own solo CDs). Jorge Grundman, the founder and driving force behind Non Profit Music, will only sign other artists to be released by his company if the musicians share his humanitarian concerns and if their music is “emotive.” Grundman says, “The music must share emotion in a direct way. We have two goals – to bring the world audience together as they share an appreciation of the music, and to use the profits that are generated to help people in need. Our music tries to always recognize that there is sadness and suffering in the world, while never forgetting that we also must have hope. We cannot feel comfortable with all the things that humankind does, but we need to find a way to correct our errors.” Grundman has been involved with Doctors Without Borders (known internationally as Medecins Sans Frontieres) since 1995 when he first raised money for the organization by selling a CD (although it was not his own music) on a Spanish radio station. Soon he was selling his own recordings as digital downloads on the internet and donating those profits. This led to the formation of Non Profit Music in 2002 and a formal agreement of collaboration with Doctors Without Borders in 2005. The independent non-governmental medical aid agency has two stated objectives: “providing medical aid wherever needed (regardless of the race, religion, politics or sex of the victims) and raising awareness of the plight of the people we help.” For example, following last year’s tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Doctors Without Borders sent 150 volunteer doctors and more than 300-tons of medical supplies to the India and Indonesia area. DWB also has ongoing efforts in war-torn countries around the world as well as those devastated by AIDS or drought/famine. The eMotive sampler contains three Grundman tunes including his new “The Girl With the Stolen Smile (Nanjing, 1937),” a tribute to the people massacred in China’s capital that year by the invading Japanese army (an estimated 300,000 soldiers and civilians were killed, many in mass executions, and 20,000 women were raped along with many other atrocities unrelated to war). Grundman’s next album will be dedicated to the world’s mostly-forgotten genocides. Also on eMotive is “Cliodhna” by Gnomusy, utilizing the sound of a Spanish guitar and inspired by the Celtic legend of the title fairy maiden who fell in love with a mortal man and ran away with him only to be swept back to her home by a magical wave. Gnomusy is also represented with the flute-and-piano-oriented “Dolmen Ridge” and the majestic dance-production sound of “Ballerina.” Eduardo Laguillo contributes two India-influenced tunes, “Raghupati Raghawa” and “Gurudeva Hamara,” featuring female voices singing in Sanskrit; but his other composition is the instrumental “El Jardín de Marta.” Joaquín Taboada starts with the rousing, victorious spirit of “Everyday Heroes” (the mood primarily created with the sounds of piano, trumpet and violin), but introduces his quieter side with “Evoking Something Near” and “Forgotten Moss” (the latter incorporating female wordless vocalizing). Grundman began composing at the age of 14. He studied piano, music theory and choir at the Royal Advanced Conservatory of Music in Madrid, Spain. He is now a professor at the Polytechnical University of Madrid where he teaches Audio- and Post-production. His tune "Los Hijos del Frío" ("The Sons of the Cold") was released digitally on mp3.com in 2001 and became one of the most famous electronic tunes of this internet site. The tune was #1 on their New Age Chart 27 times, and also remained on their Top 40 chart for six months (with more than 1.5 million downloads). Grundman was a finalist for New Age Retailer magazine’s prestigious Narcissus Award, and his We are the forthcoming past, take care of it was also nominated as the “Best Instrumental Album of 2004” by New Age Reporter. Gnomusy, which stands for “Gnome of music,” is the name David Caballero uses on his recordings. A composer from Madrid, he believes in expressing major experiences in life through music. After studying classical music at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, David developed interest in other styles such as music from South America’s Andes Mountains, jazz, ragtime, bluegrass, electronic and folk. Since 1993, David has devoted part of his time to studying synthesizers and sampler sequencing with computers. In 1999, Gnomusy began releasing music on mp3.com to great success and worldwide exposure. David had over two-million downloads. In addition, a number of his compositions have reached #1 on the mp3.com New Age Chart and also made the site’s Top 40 list. Joaquin Taboada is a piano professor and superior professor of music and accompaniment in Navarra, Spain. He performed at the Second Festival of New Music with Michael Nyman and others at San Sebastian, Spain. He also has been a member of several diverse musical groups spanning pop and classical, and founded his own band, Stultifera Navis. He spotlighted his own compositions on his album Música Vespertina (Evening Music) which was released on mp3.com in 2002. The songs "Alas (Wings)," "Calma (Peace)” and "Lluvia (Over the Window Glass)” all reached #1 on the mp3.com charts. His album Jardin de Santos contained music from a multimedia project focused on a botanical garden. His tune "Perspectiva de un Invernadero" rose to #1 on the European Classical Music Chart. Eduardo Laguillo is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer. He attended a variety of top schools. He studied classical music at the Elevated School of Music in Vienna, and received jazz instruction at Aula de Música Moderna in Barcelona. He has studied East-Indian music extensively. His career as a composer is diverse with works for piano, choir, string quartet, chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra as well as jazz, pop and fusion groups. He has performed numerous concerts with his own rock, pop, jazz and world music bands including the Eduardo Laguillo Ensemble. On his albums -- Hay Algo en el Aire (1991), Manoa (1997) and Ya Wadud (2006), Laguillo displays his talent to explore music’s healing properties as well as other spiritual dimensions. “I try not to put restrictions on the music,” explains Grundman. “It can be new or old, acoustic or electro-acoustic, orchestral or synthesized, instrumental or vocal, as long as it touches listeners and makes them feel the need to know more about what is behind the music.” PUBLICITY AGENCY: THE CREATIVE SERVICE COMPANY (CreatServ9@aol.com) |
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