Kiwi singers revive 'protest song' with album by Anti-Poverty Organisation

A new single by Jamie McDell was released today as part of the Global Citizen Movement.The well loved surf-pop songstress has written and recorded a new song called "Ode to the Lines" which she hopes will inspire her fans to take action against extreme poverty.

The song is the first of a dozen tracks of original contemporary political anthems designed to catalyse a movement to help the worlds poor. The Global Citizen Album is a New Zealand initiative that's part of the world-wide movement to foster a sense of international civic duty. The Global Poverty Project (GPP) is the charity that's driving the suite of concerts, albums and festivals that make up the Global Citizen movement.

"We're honoured to showcase Jamie McDell's original song on this project," said NZ Country Director for GPP Will Watterson. "Musicians have a unique role to play in waking people up to make a change and Jamie's song seamlessly weaves artistry and action together for an incredible result."

The songs for the Global Citizen collection have been recorded, mixed and mastered at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studio and York St Studios in Auckland, who generously offered their patronage to the project. Artists and engineers have donated their time and talent to the album and all proceeds from sales go to GPP, a registered charity, to help in the movement to end extreme poverty within a generation.

Ella Rose is the Creative Director of GPP NZ and the originator of the album concept.

"Global Citizen has a very strong kaupapa, it's about opening our minds and our hearts to the fact that we're all connected to the same global family," said Rose. "The challenge was to distill this feeling into a single song and get through to people in this world of cynical consumerism and over stimulation."

Rose pulled together an impressive list of New Zealand musicians to take part on the album. Tiki Taane, Anika Moa, Seth Haapu, Aaron Tokona from AhoriBuzz, Paul McLaney and many others have all written and donated songs for the initiative.

The collection is strongly connected to the Global Citizen Concert on August 4th at the Auckland Town Hall. Artists playing at the concert will be performing these new tracks live for the first time, in addition to their regular material.

The Global Citizen album has been a source of inspiration to other GPP teams around the world, including staff in the US, who are currently building up to the Global Citizen Festival in September in NYC with Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keyes, John Mayer and others. Discussions are underway to take the Global Citizen Album to a wider audience outside NZ.

"New Zealand has some incredibly talented musicians along with a very strong tradition of protest and activism" said Rose. "We're so glad that we're able to showcase this talent and this passion for social justice on the world stage."

For McDell the Global Citizen experience has been a revelation.

"For me, I take into play the responsibility I have as an artist to have a message, and to write things that I care about," said McDell. "I've got a lot of young people following me, I'd love them to get involved."

The popular singer-songwriter sees the project as a chance to use her skills to creative positive change.

"I love writing music, that's my passion, but now I'm in love with the fact that I'm able to say something and have people listen to me, so that's what so beautiful about this concert and this project: I'm able to write songs that are important and that have a message, and people can listen and get involved too"

The collection of tracks for Global Citizen will be released later this year, but singles will be released at regular intervals, starting with this first release.

The first track, "Ode to the Lines" by Jamie McDell is available for sale on iTunes.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/ode-to-the-lines-single/id679511969

Tickets to the Global Citizen Concert are available at:

http://www.the-edge.co.nz/globalcitizen.aspx

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