We dedicate this week's show to airing the 2002 documentary The Fire This Time. The documentary arose as a result of Grant Wakefield's efforts with pioneering activist Miriam Ryle to publicise the devastating effect that the bombing of the 1991 Gulf War and subsequent sanctions were having on the civilian population of Iraq.
From Grant Wakefield:
"Faced with intransigence, ignorance and outright hostility from mainstream media, a planned visual documentary was abandoned in favour of an audio odyssey that took us from the heartbreaking hospitals of Baghdad to the depths of US foreign policy archives, from the stunning kindness of a UN official to some of the best musical talents of the UK electronica scene, all of whom contributed to the project for nothing, and donated their royalties to MEDICAL AID TO IRAQI CHILDREN.
Garnering the kind of reviews one can only dream of, the album took over 3 years to make, half of which was spent fighting legal battles with music companies over rights, whilst 3000-5000 children died every month from malnutrition, dehydration and easily preventable disease in a political climate that, not just in retrospect, was completely and utterly insane, and ultimately totally pointless and counter-productive.
Listen, and judge for yourself.
The project is completed, and features original music by MICHAEL STEARNS, HIGHER INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, BASS COMMUNION with NASEER SHAMMA, SOMA, BARBED, KAIT GRAY, TOM MIDDLETON and BOLA, with exclusive re-mixes of ORBITAL and APHEX TWIN."
http://www.grantwakefield.com/projects_fire_this_time.htm
