Congo Democratic Music Republic
Jay Haze is on a mission to change the world – and to change the perception of club culture – with his charity DJs4DRC (DJs for the Democratic Republic of Congo).
Berlin-based, American-born star Jay Haze has crammed more highs and lows into his thirty years than most: dealing LSD as a teenager, a stint as a self-taught glassblower, and his current incarnation as a musician/DJ and record label boss. One constant, though, is his determination to help others. From the time he was 15 years old, volunteering in a soup kitchen, he has nursed a quiet ambition to set up a charitable foundation. His music career is in full flow (his Fuckpony album ‘Let The Love Flow’ is out 26 October on BPitch Control) but Jay says with typical candour, “I don’t give a shit about my reputation in the [dance] scene.”
What he does give a shit about is making a difference in the world. “That’s always been my goal,” he says. To this end Haze has created DJs4DRC (DJs for the Democratic Republic of Congo). “Right now the DRC is the world’s biggest peacekeeping operation. There are children being used as soldiers, women being sexually abused, it’s a terrible situation,” Haze says, explaining how he chose the project. The current premise is simple: Jay is donating half of all the fees from his DJ gigs between September 2009 and 1 January 2010, to DJs4DRC. He is asking other DJs to donate 50% of their fee from one gig. Luciano, Tiefschwarz, Tiga and Loco Dice among others have joined the effort and more are joining every day. “I want DJs to think of this as time, not just money,” says Haze. “To go into the DJ booth and think, ‘half my time is going to help people.’”
To kick off DJs4DRC Haze worked with UK-based medical relief organisation Merlin to donate the proceeds of his recent Fabric mix CD to the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, he doesn’t want to simply send cheques. In January Haze and a camera crew will travel to the DRC to film a documentary. The aim is to raise awareness within club culture of the DRC and use the impetus to turn DJs4DRC into an official charitable foundation that will fund music schools in Africa to promote peace through creativity. “Tapping into my creativity changed my life,” Haze says. “I want to do this for others. If people in conflict zones can put their mind into something creative that can have a huge impact.”
This doesn’t mean giving up his own musical career – “Music is a means of expression. I’ll never stop making music” – but it does mean swapping industry standard values for a different set of priorities. He would rather talk about DJs4DRC. “I want to represent club culture in a positive way through my charity work,” Haze says. “This industry is not filled with people who only care about themselves. It is full of people who don’t yet know how they can help.”
When duckrabbit lived in Ethiopia the radio programmes that I managed regularly told stories of women and children who had been the victims of sexual violence. The stories were horrific. To say that that the problem is endemic is to put it mildly. Sexual violence against women and children is rampant the world over but can reach fever pitch in conflict zones.
There’s nothing new about the concept of ‘rape and pillage’ and it’s certainly not just a shocking element of conflicts in Africa. The UN estimates that between 20,000 and 50,000 women were raped during the 1992-5 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. When your job is to go out in the morning and kill with impunity, when any sense of morality has been obliterated from your mind, no-one should be surprised that men rape.
Kimberley Porteous and Kate Geraghty of the Sydney Morning Herald have just published a multimedia project ‘Sexual Warfare, Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.’
What sets this project apart is that for once a man’s story is at the centre. It features the voice of a rapist.
It was a brave decision to present him, despite his crimes, as a human being. Perhaps too human?
Visually the work is arresting, powerfully evoking Eastern Congo. With the new cameras coming onto the market that record video I’ve noticed a tendency for photographers to over produce their work. Too much music, too many fancy shots, use of stop motion and black and white images, trying too hard. Style takes over from substance. Everybody loves it on Vimeo but they’re loving the effects not the story. No such problem here.
Where I do struggle is the presentation of the women. They all seem to merge into one homogeneous mass of unspeakable suffering. We connect with them only on the level that they have been raped, nothing else. They are presented purely as victims.
How many times do we need a woman to tell us that they’ve been raped, or that soldier has shoved his gun up their private parts? No-one needs to persuade me this is a problem. I want to feel empowered to act.
If you really want your audience to connect, you have to reach beyond the darkness. If you really want to paint a deep picture of loss, you have to show what has been lost.
You can’t do that with multiple voices in two and half minutes.
You have to give a story time to breath, to move us beyond shock, beyond incomprehensibility into understanding.
None of this takes away from the power of the piece. A great deal of love and a great deal of thoughtfulness has gone into it. I’d be interested to see what other duckrabbit readers think.
RESPONSE:
SAM COLEY
It certainly packs a short, sharp, shock… I kinda like the fact that it slaps you with such severe brievity. The superb use of music also adds a real touch of sensitivity and drama… Sans Frontieres kick multimedia ass.
JUNO
Great photography. Simple and clear story. I agree it should have been longer, especially with video you want to see more vibrancy. a sense of resilience which is what we all know keeps these women sane after such brutal experiences. It still is powerful, maybe the duration works in making one wish to hear more.
J. Davis
Interesting posting very depressing subject. I pray for women that have been raped. Awful.
