Japan to the fore at SXSW despite disaster at home

[AsahinaKimi]

Bands help keep Japan in the spotlight at Stateside music-industry festival

By SHAWN DESPRES
Special to The Japan Times

AUSTIN, Texas — Minutes after arriving in downtown Austin, Texas, for the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival, I ran into a Japanese friend from Tokyo. While we were catching up, an American woman passing by overheard him mention Japan and instantly stopped to shake his hand. "I'm so incredibly sorry for what's happened to your country," she said before continuing on her way.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of SXSW, one of the largest music events in the world. Along with showcasing 2,000 acts from 61 countries from March 16-20, SXSW 2011 also acted as fundraiser to aid earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.

Posters were hung at the Austin Convention Center encouraging fest-goers to make donations to the American Red Cross relief efforts in Japan by text message. T-shirts bearing the slogan "Help Save Japan @ SXSW" were sold and collection buckets were placed at selected venues. The original goal was to raise $10,000, but organizers soon decided to push for $100,000. They were successful. As of Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., SXSW had collected $104,141 for Japan.

"Everyone here has been so kind," says Inko, the vocalist for postpunk glam-rock group Hystoic Vein. "Many people have been asking us if we are OK and if our families are OK. It is very warming to see people so concerned about us and Japan."

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20110323a1.html

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JAPAN NITE US concert is in full swing, see previous posting. Bands are donating part of their
payments to the Japan Relief fund.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=210x41952

[sasha031]

1. thank you so much for posting

I am so relieved to hear some good news for the lovely people of Japan.:)

[Lint Head]

2. This is what music can do. Music is an art and a cause to celebrate and help.

It really does soothe the savage beast literally and figuratively.

[Forkboy]

3. Always cool to see stuff like this.

A lot of people don't see this side of the fans of odd music, but over the years I've seen stuff like this happen over and over again from people who most of society thinks of as just selfish punks. They always come together for good causes, even though some of the music would never indicate that kind of thing.

:thumbsup: