A musical exchange with female musicians to empower female cacao farmers of Virunga State Park Congo.
Hope all is well. I have finally started the pre-order and crowdfunding campaign for my new album project on INDIEGOGO! And yes, you can get a lot of chocolate!!
Basically, it will be a soundscape and my original songs with over 100 female musicians that I’ve met these last few years. And, with every album purchased comes a bar of Original Beans Femmes de Virunga chocolate supporting female cocoa farmers in Congo. This way, it will be an album of “Women Supporting Women”.
This week my project was featured in the Berklee Alumni newsletter. Also, Teddy and I were featured on the new project Makers2.021 by Dutch photographer Renzo Candido – I’ve used one of his new pictures for my campaign.
So, I hope you will check it out, and please share it with all your chocolate-loving friends. And, if you happen to know people that want to contribute and could connect me with them, that would be much appreciated.
Stay safe and healthy and I look forward to hearing from some of you!
“Next-generation female musicians will record an album with Chocolate to empower the women of Virunga State Park in Congo.”
Original Beans chocolate has a project in the heart of Virunga State Park in Congo where 1500 women are managing, operating, and growing a cocoa farm and tree nursery. These women are often left alone with their children as their men are being recruited by militia and rebel groups, all while Ebola is constantly luring in the background. With Original Beans giving them a fair, stable price for their cocoa (up to 90% on top of the world cocoa price), they are empowered to send their kids to school and take care of themselves and their community.
Having met and worked with tons of talented female musicians, I wanted to make a musical project that features them all, especially in this weird period in time. So this project inspired me to create a musical project together with more than 100 female ‘up & coming new generation musicians’ from over 40 countries. The album will be recorded with my originals and arrangements, adding sound samples recorded live in Virunga state park (recorded by a journalist from the BBC that I’m in touch with
And so, with every CD you buy, you will receive a bar of Original Beans Femmes de Virunga, the chocolate that is truly an “all women chocolate”.
This is my way of women helping women. I will keep you posted on this incredible project, so stay tuned!
Click here to see my one note video for international womens day!
