In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the ‘Estate General’. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, ‘Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.’

In a conversation about the power and influence of the media and the reference to the Fourth Estate, I made a casual comment saying, ‘Well, maybe, the arts are the Fifth Estate”.

Now I said this not at all knowing that there ARE various Fifth Estates in use already.

Anyway, this concept wouldn’t go away and as the material for the album began to come together I began to think of the songs as letters - not just melodies with a set of lyrics, but something much more personal and confronting than that.

Hence, ‘Letters from the 5th Estate‘.

Over these months, this title and idea has become more deeply embedded into my mind and spirit and I DO absolutely believe that especially today, the arts and especially music, have a unique capacity to not only inform and entertain, but a responsibility to bring to light moral and humanitarian issues, to advocate on behalf of the voiceless and the invisible and to challenge to action.

This is what the 5th Estate is to me.

This album has 11 ‘letters’ - and this is on 2 levels. Firstly, the letters are from me to the listener. Secondly they are also from child soldiers, refugees, orphans, widows, the dispossessed, the unseen and the unheard.

helen mottee

i am not a hero he said

i don’t wanna die

truth is not an option

i’ve stopped asking why

i keep coming back

i keep coming back

there are no human rights violations here

tatmadaw said

just a million people hiding in the jungle

amongst the orphaned and the dead

still under attack

still under attack

we are here to shine a light

we will stand between the army and the people

we will give our life

until the army lays down every gun

we will run with the people as they run

to come back out is hard he said

easier on the field

do all you can

no choice but to believe

down on your knees

down on your knees

we are here to shine a light

we will stand between the army and the people

we will give our life

until the army lays down every gun

we will run with the people as they run

we are here to light a fire

hope and love will burn

our spirit will fly

we will pray that justice comes

but until then

we are here to shine a light

we will stand between the army and the people

we will give our life

until the army lays down every gun

we will run with the people as they run

As we plan and prepare for the recordings of the songs for this new album, this song remains a deeply special one to me. I wrote it shortly after meeting an extraordinary man in extraordinary circumstances in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As we shared a meal, in a small upper room above a printing press on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, the leader of the Free Burma Rangers opened my eyes and my heart to the realities of ethnic and religious cleansing inside Burma. After three of the most poignant hours I have been privileged to be a part of, he drove my friend Shelley and I back into the city in his huge four wheel drive, loaded down with dozens of large bags of clothes to take up to the refugees on the Thai Burma border. When we arrived back in town, and as we were getting out of the vehicle, this deeply humble and fiercely courageous man hugged us both and said, ” Thank you for encouraging me and for all you are doing to help us”

ALL we are doing??? At that point Shelley and I had done nothing, except meet him, listen to him and, unbeknown to him then, have our lives changed by him. Afterwards, as we ‘debriefed’ in a cafe, I said, “HE thanked us for encouraging HIM!! What did we do?” Shelley simply answered, “We were there - and you know what? We ARE going to do something, we ARE going to tell people about this, and we WILL use our abilities and resources and time to KEEP doing something”.

In the 18 months since that meeting we have both witnessed the opening of doors to people, places and opportunities which have enabled us to keep ‘telling people’ through conversations, paintings and songs.Two weeks ago, I emailed ‘The White Monkey” and shared with him the news about the progress of the new album and said, if need be, I would bring it to him personally at its completion. Several days later I received a very precious email, “…I have your songs out here with me and look forward to the new album…..and if we can work out a trip inside I will. let me know when you might be here. God bless you, D.”

‘We Will Run’ is written for and dedicated to this man who, in his own words, is not a hero and does not want to die, but for whom truth and the stand for justice are not options…..he and his team will continue to run into the war zones, into the land mined jungles and burned down villages, to bring help, hope and love to the people who suffer.

Since 1996 over 2 million refugees have fled Burma and sought refuge in the camps on the Thai Burma border.

There are over 1 million Internally Displaced People (IDPs)  hiding in the Burma jungles from the military dictatorship of the Burma Army.

Nearly 4 million Iraqis have been displaced by sectarian cleansing, violence and kidnap. 2 million have fled into neighboring Syria and Jordan.

A quarter of Zimbabwe’s population of 12 million have fled to neighboring countries in the last several years.  In 2007 more than 7,000 Zimbabweans applied for refugee status in South Africa.

The UN has stated that more than 240,000 Darfurians have been newly displaced, or have been re- displaced, in 2007, as violence in refugee camps increases.

And what is the difference between me and a refugee? Only circumstances!

african sun poured down like rain upon my skin

the door to change kicked open

and i stumbled in

traded in the freeway

and the smell of the salt-sea air

learnt to walk the red-dust road over there

over there

and they told me this is africa

they told me this is africa

and they said that this is how it’s done

limousines and beggars

cries of peace behind the pointed gun

african song flowed down in a river of hope and tears

and the children smiled at me

sheltered by their years

and the people wrote their dreams

in shades of black and white

no berlin wall was made to fall

across the line between day and night

and they told me this is africa

they told me this is africa

and they said that this is how it’s done

limousines and beggars

cries of peace behind the pointed gun

african journey brought me half a universe away

as i stepped into the night in bombay

a thousand fingers clutched my hands

and begged to walk with me

someone threw some pennies down and said

“hey, just let it be’

and they told me this is india

they told me this is india

and they said that this is how it’s done

limousines and beggars

cries of peace behind the pointed gun

african sun came down, bled its colours across the sky

i looked out on the red dust road

and said goodbye

then the silence that held me

was broken like a toy

as a city fell in flames

and the gun reached for the boy

and they told me this is bosnia

they told me this is bosnia

and they said that this is how it’s done

limousines and beggars

cries of peace behind the pointed gun

In the ten years since this song was recorded, tragically nothing has really changed, especially on the continent of Africa. When the words to this song began flowing out one night, not long after I had returned from a year living and working in Zimbabwe, my experiences and memories of that beautiful country were ones of peace and stability.Zimbabwe was a country where wars had taken place, but which were now ‘history’ to be told around the table after dinner or around a camp set up on the banks of the Zambezi River, after a day of fishing and safariing.
A starkly different country it is now, and just in the last month Kenya has seen the outbreak of civil unrest and ethnic cleansing within its borders. One reporter has gone so far as to compare what is happening there now with what took place in Rwanda in the ’90’s.

The journey this song has taken, from the time I first played it to a dear friend on her piano, to now, has surprised and amazed us. I have often said to friends that I could easily write a book about the places it has traveled to and the extraordinary people we have met through it.
This is, in fact, the song that introduced us to Crossroads and eventually brought us as a family to Hong Kong. As we prepare to record a new version of this song, we realise totally that the original recording will always be THE recording and cannot be replaced or, I suspect, bettered. It will remain a testimony to the passion, dedication and skills of our friend Nonda, who engineered and produced the entire album, and of the musicians and singers who gave themselves so unreservedly to its recording.

]]> http://www.helenmottee.com/2008/02/14/a-new-recording-of-they-told-me-this-is-africa/feed/ http://www.helenmottee.com/2008/02/12/recording-for-new-album-has-begun/ http://www.helenmottee.com/2008/02/12/recording-for-new-album-has-begun/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:14:08 +0000 helen Music http://www.helenmottee.com/2008/02/12/recording-for-new-album-has-begun/ Victor Hugo said that ‘music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.’

I feel this is a very apt summary of why we have begun planning and preparing for the recording of a new album.

In the year my family and I have been here at Crossroads as full time volunteers,

we have had the privilege of not only meeting many extraordinary people from  around the world, but also slowly gaining  a deeper understanding of what the ‘real’ world is for the majority of this globe’s population.

Refugees, child soldiers, Aids sufferers, those who have experienced the horrors of ethnic and religious cleansing –these are no more statistics on a page or stories in a book. I have been privileged to meet, talk with, share a meal with people who are, or have been, these things, and it is from such experiences and relationships that the new songs have been born.

The vision for this album is that it will be like a collection of musical letters or photographs, and that those who listen to the songs will be not only moved by the message, but inspired, even spurred on, to act in some way themselves.

We hope to record most, if not all, of the album here in Hong Kong, as many of the songs were inspired and written here. Our dream is to involve musicians and singers who, like the community of Crossroads, come from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

It is also our desire that a significant percentage of the sales of this album will go directly to humanitarian relief, especially refugees.

Our deadline for completion is June 1^st and the logistics of having everything done by then is daunting.

A very special team of musicians is on standby in Sydney and ready to come to Hong Kong and record if the way is made possible.

We are also amazed at the enthusiasm and willingness of a wonderful man here in Hong Kong who will be involved with the arranging of the music for the album.

There is already a very tangible growing anticipation and excitement for this project and we welcome your partnership with us.

Why become involved in a cause or a mission or anything remotely satisfying or noble? To get out of mundaneness (whatever that may mean to us); to feel deeply that we have actually achieved ’something’; to add some legitimate excitement and value to our days; to even vindicate a deeply held belief or idea that is worthy enough to sacrifice for.

For many months now the word ‘refugee’ has dominated much of my conversation, thought and even songwriting. What started out as an interest and desire to learn more about what it means to be a refugee, has now become….what HAS it become? I am now asking myself this question because it very much ties in with the title of this post, ‘If I know, am I responsible?’ Without any conscious realization of where this ‘learning more’ was taking me, without any road map or signs to warn me where my heart was heading, the desire to know increased…..and THEN…… I was privileged to meet and spend three amazing hours with the leader of the Free Burma Rangers when I was in Thailand last year. I met his Karen medic and saw the bullet holes in his body, fired from Burma military guns. I heard stories about the one million internally displaced people (IDPs) hiding in the Burma jungle. Stories of villages destroyed by fire; fathers and grandfathers and brothers shot or tortured by the Burmese soldiers; children abducted and made to be porters and human minesweepers for the Burma army; young girls forced to join the army to service the junta’s soldiers as wives or concubines; schools and churches destroyed and rice barns burnt to the ground. In three incredible hours I gained much information, and from a man I had never dared to even hope to meet. But what does one then do with all this knowledge and awareness? I began to meet refugees from across Africa, and began talking with them, and having lunch with them…..and then one day I sat at the piano and the words and music to Do You wove themselves together.

At that time in April last year, I remember thinking that this song might be useful here at Crossroads, especially as we have a powerful simulation called Refugee Run, which allows people to experience something of what it would be to ‘have no face’ and ‘have no voice’.

No one could have imagined the journey this song has been on ever since, and the fact that it has led to the recording of a new album, which we  plan to be ready by the end of May.

I also could not have imagined that I would be privileged to make two trips to meet the Kachin refugees in Malaysia and see, hear and experience myself what it is to be a refugee in a country where you are not welcome.

The transition from awareness to desiring to be involved has been a slow one, and began with the inevitable news reports and statistics. These are necessary, but for me it only became ‘real’ when I began meeting the people -both those who are dedicating their lives to humanitarian relief and the battle for justice, and those who ARE on the run, dispossessed, living daily in fear, with no rights or access to even the most basic of services.

The knowing is no longer just in my head. My life is being changed by these people, especially the Kachin in Malaysia.

And I want to tell their stories…and I want to go back!

It was the gentle persistence of Wauchope’s Art Council’s Krissa Wilkinson to finish the poem that inspired its completion and subsequent rebirth as a new song.

Having seen and heard news commentaries on the seriousness of the world’s water situation, and in fact living in a country that is suffering its worst and longest drought in a century, led me to thinking on the issues of war and resources and how often the two go together.

Since arriving in Hong Kong  I have heard comments such as “the next world war will be fought over the issue of water”.

When two of our team were in Beijing recently, they saw and photographed the billboard which I have posted in the photo gallery. To actually see these words as a public statement was almost a shock.

And so I have posted the lyrics to “IF” and hope to have this new song recorded in the coming months. We have actually started but there is more work to be done re arrangement.

If There Was Oil In The Sky

Would We Let The Birds Fly?

If There Was Gold In The Clouds

Would We Glimpse The Sun Through The Desperate Crowds?

If There Was Trouble And Strife Somewhere

Would We Fight For Anonymous Lives?

Would We Cross The Politically Correct Divide

To See From Another Man’s Side?

If Our Water Became Like Our Oil

Would We War On Another Man’s Soil?

If Our Water Was Traded Like Gold

Who Would Go Thirsty As H2O Shares Were Bought Up And Sold?

If There Was Someone Who Dared

To Rock The Status Quo Just Because They Cared

No Oil Or Gold To Gain

Just A Conscience Purged Of Shame

If We Could Leave Alone Another Man’s Soil

Up The Value Of Life Over A Barrel Of Oil

If We Would Stand With Those Who Are On The Run

Use The Power Of Our Voice Against The Terrorist’s Gun

Amin And Pol Pot Never Died

Their Spirit Rising Up In Another Genocide

Their Will Be Done

Stalin’s Ethnic Cleansing Policies

Are Alive And Well For Burma’s Idps

Fifty Years On The Run

If We Could Live Tomorrow Now

What Would We Change?

What Would We Allow?

Would We Take What We Want Because We Can

Or Would We Stand With The Weak And Bless Their Land?

If There Was Someone Who Dared

To Rock The Status Quo Just Because They Cared

No Oil Or Gold To Gain

Just A Conscience Purged Of Shame.

When i played this new song to Sal Begbie in our apartment in mid April, neither of us could have imagined what the following weeks would bring.

When the directors of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) rang DJ and arranged to meet him at Crossroads to see first hand what is being done here to raise awareness for the plight of refugees, DJ was able to bring them down to this same apartment, where i was able to sing them “Do You”, in spite of a flu and bronchitis which I had battled for several days.

The directors asked permission to use this song in their national campaign for refugees which will run across Hong Kong the week of June 20th.

AS I was flying to Sydney the following week, DJ made the strategic phone call to Warren Barnett,a precious friend to both me and Crossroads, to discuss what the chances were of recording the song.

Warren replied, “Give me 48 hours!”

Since then, the journey has amazed us all and we are in awe of what is happening.

Damien, Glenn, Woodsey, Guy, Brom and the Green Valley Youth Choir have all given their time and their extraordinary passion and skills freely.

The violin arrangement has been written in London and sent to Steve Woods to record, an extraordinary gift to this song.

Richard has given his time and expertise to design the jacket as his gift to this project.

Guy has once again given his brilliance to the recording and mixing of “Do You”.

And Warren is the heart that has drawn all these people together and he is the one who will master this song and send it to us here in Hong Kong so it can be given to the UNHCR, have visuals put to the lyrics and be ready for television broadcast in June.

All this in just over a month!

Our fervent desire is that this song will continue to journey far beyond anywhere we can imagine.

Thank you everyone - and to Crossroads International, whose joy in this project has known no bounds!

‘Basti” means slum and this game simulates the typical life of a slum dweller in places such as India and Nepal.

Making bags out of any paper that can be found and selling as many in a day to the shopkeepers, who pay them according to their mood or whim, is the life of countless millions in this world.

Thousands in Hong Kong have already experienced the pressures and discovered the lessons in Basti Life, and this new song was written in an attempt to capture a glimpse of a life that I, certainly, cannot begin to really comprehend.

As someone has expressed, the poverty of those living in a slum is both cyclical and exponential. Children are born to slum dwellers and they in turn grow up without opportunity for education or change, eventually marrying within the slum and then having children of their own. And so the cycle is never broken and there is an ever-increasing population who continue to live on less than one US dollar a day.

Not that there is a complete absence of hope or joy in these circumstances. People still get married, celebrations are still had….but the reality for most is that they will never leave, and that making paper bags will be what they and their children and grandchildren will continue to do just to survive another day.

This song is usually sung following the simulation, either by myself or Bethan Davies and is performed in the actual slum area that Crossroads has built on site.

It is a common question to hear one of us asking DJ or Helen Tozer, “Are we singing in the slums today?’

And whether it is to school groups or university students and their lecturers, to Disney corporates or senior management in business, it is always a privilege.

The choir, over the past several years, has recorded and now performs a number of Helen’s songs, and came in the top 5 of the Schoolies Category in the 2004 Australian Musicoz Contest with their performance of “Don’t Tell Me”

www.gvyc.org