UK underground scene pull together for Haiti

by James Benenson

Three weeks ago many of us wouldn’t have been able to say which continent it was in, let alone place Haiti on a map.

But on Tuesday 13th January 2010, the Caribbean nation found its place in modern history for all the wrong reasons, when a devastating earthquake tore through the country.

Measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale and striking 10 miles west of the capital Port-au-Prince, the quake left between 150,000 and 200,000 dead and 3 million people in need of emergency aid, overwhelming an already struggling nation in which 80% of the population live below the poverty line.

Charity

UK charities such as the British Red Cross and branches of Oxfam and UNICEF are amongst a string of larger organisations to have launched prominent fundraising appeals.

Here in the "Big Smoke" the plight of Haiti has stirred London’s up-and-coming urban music industry, as a united underground have come together like never before in support of the Haitian people.

2009 heralded mainstream chart success for the British urban music scene through the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk and dare we say it, N-Dubz.

Though, whilst rising genres such as dubstep, drum and bass, grime and garage become ever popular on the city’s nightlife circuit, the underground genres defining the sound of ‘urban’ London aren’t often synonymous with charity.

Clubbing for Haiti

Nevertheless, the efforts of forward thinking magazine Ctrl.Alt.Shift, one of London’s premier underground club promoters SOMEnight and dubstep label-slash-DJ collective, True Tiger, have seen over 40 of the scene’s most influential artists join forces to raise money for Haiti.

On Wednesday 20th January, the UK Music Fundraiser for the people of Haiti, dubbed ‘Clubbing for Haiti’, drew over 1200 clubbers to central London nightspot, Den & Centro, formerly The End, with an enormous line-up of top DJs, bands and MCs, all of whom who agreed to ditch their fees in the name of charity.

BBC Radio 1 selectors Mistajam and Nihal, UK hip-hop front-runner Sway and indie band Mystery Jets are just a handful of acts to jump on board the event.

Compiling so many big names in such a short space of time was no mean feat:

“I woke up on Friday morning and it hit me that I could arrange an event to raise money for the people of Haiti” said Stanza, the True Tiger head honcho responsible for thinking-up the epic night.

“I also wanted to prove that the UK music industry could pull together no matter of what genre, label or agency.” Added Stranza.

Chantelle Fiddy's involvement

Of course, this isn’t the first time music’s brought people together to raise money for a charitable cause; Clubbing for Haiti co-organiser and Ctrl.Alt.Shift editor Chantelle Fiddy was described by Kiss 100’s dirty electro DJs, the Loose Cannons as “club land’s answer to Bob Geldof!”

Okay, so it’s not quite Live Aid but regardless signifies a huge achievement on the part of the organisers, artists, volunteers and all involved in pulling off what might just be the one of the biggest underground music line-ups to have ever hit London and within just four days of the night’s conception.

Stanza adds, “The volunteer requests were also amazing from people all over and the press and radio really helped us promote the night in the short space of time we had.”

In the past, genres like UK hip-hop and grime have frequently been the subject of negative press coverage, often stereotyped as promoters of violent lyrics and a negative lifestyle, with London’s Metropolitan Police targeting particular styles such as garage and r ‘n’ b, with the introduction of Form 696 in December 2006.

Form 696 requires club promoters and event licensees to stipulate the names, private addresses, and phone numbers of DJs and artists.

Controversy

Controversially, the original form went as far as to demand descriptions of the different music styles on offer and details of the ethnic groups a night was likely to attract, until widespread outrage led to its revision in December 2008.

The Haiti fundraiser successfully shunned the stereotypes and unified scrutinised genres like garage and grime on a grand scale to raise £10,000 to provide invaluable disaster relief.

It was dedicated to getting a devastated Haitian population back on its feet with well needed medical supplies, water purifiers, food and shelter.

In the wake of an earthquake that’s being described by the United Nations as one of the worst disasters it has ever had to deal with, it seems the UK music industry has stared adversity in the face and laughed.

To donate money to Ctrl.Alt.Shift's Haiti appeal then please click here.