Messenger Band: seven textile workers set to music their daily life in Cambodia

[dcsmart]

Their look stands nowhere near the fashionable creatures constantly seen on the television in Cambodia. The girls of the Messenger band prefer by far their jeans and traditional a cappella songs to flashy dresses and well-known western tunes covers. Hair soberly tied at the base of the neck and faces devoid of any artifice, the band shyly shows up on the small improvised stage of the Meta House, a cultural and artistic centre located in Phnom Penh. One of the girls even kept her big satchel with her. “My boss forces me to work all the time, I never stop, mother. I work without telling daytime from night time. Every month, I am careful with my salary, but after having paid the rent, electricity and water bills and the food, there's not much left. Still, I send it to you, my family”, they started singing.

This is how the textile workers who form the “Messenger band” opened the gig. “Cruel Karma” is about the difficulty to make ends meet for their fellow-workers. Altogether, they receive a few dozen dollars which they share with their family, living in the provinces.

Drawing inspiration from everyday social issues
This band, formed in 2005 by Womyn's Agenda for Change (WAC), a NGO working on the defence of women's rights, uses simple words in its songs and aims at making the voice of the silenced heard. Messenger band draws its inspiration from the many causes that WAC crusades for and concentrates on current issues such as the accumulation of debt, AIDS, prostitution, domestic violence or job insecurity. This mainly educational and active approach can easily be felt in the informative, accusatory but also imploring lyrics written by the band.
Text

FULL ARTICLE
http://cambodia.ka-set.info/culture-and-society/cambodia-messenger-band-singer-textile-garment-factory-worker-rights080929.html?comment_id=142&joscclean=1

You can hear them sing here:
http://www.voanews.com/Khmer/archive/2008-10/2008-10-14-voa4.cfm
(you can click the "listen" to hear them...there is some talking first....of course it is not in english...but the music and singing is nice.
i saw this article and the one i posted about green jobs at site below:

http://www.labourstart.org/