SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/129115
SXSW Benefit Concert to Shine Light on Syrian People's Suffering by Susan Shepard 36 SXSWORLD / MARCH MUSIC 2013 Souleyman said, "I regret they could not come to Syria if they wanted to. God willing, another time soon." VICE Records, Black Lips' label, is a part of the same VICE media company that has become known for its international reporting over the last several years. Its reporting from North Korea was featured on CNN, and the company has entered into a partnership with HBO, where VICE's news show, hosted by company founder Shane Smith, will debut this spring. The company's Syria coverage has outpaced that of other American media outlets. VICE.com has released graphic video reports from Syrian field hospitals and intervews with those on the ground and in November 2012, published the Syria issue of its magazine. VICE will be involved in the benefit as well. The recipient of the night's proceeds will be the Syrian Red Cross/ Red Crescent, which has struggled to provide aid throughout the fighting. The Red Crescent headquarters in Damascus was damaged by a car bomb in December, and volunteers have been attacked while performing their duties. Parties on both sides of the fighting have been accused of attacks on aid organizations. "It seems like both sides are making it really difficult for anyone to help out from what little I know," said Swilley, going on to add that Americans should know there may not be a right side in the conflict. "Even people that are on the ground there don't know what the sides are. It's so tricky. From over here it's kind of impossible to know through all the hearsay and all the fog of who's actually doing what, and what's right and what's not," said Swilley. When asked what he would like people to know about the conflict, Souleyman responded, "I do not view this as an opportunity to educate anyone about the fighting in Syria. This is not my purpose. I would like that people simply pay attention to how Syrian people are suffering." ■ COURTESY OF VICE RECORDS CHRIS PERSON A tlanta rock band Black Lips and Syrian musician Omar Souleyman were last in Austin at the same time in November 2011. Back then, Syria was six months into its still ongoing civil war, Souleyman was making his second appearance of the year in Austin, and Black Lips had just been forced to cancel a planned tour of the Middle East. This year during SXSW Music, both return to town and will headline a benefit for the Syrian Red Cross/Red Crescent. Souleyman is the most famous Syrian Omar Souleyman performer at SXSW and at most of the other festivals where he appears alongside Western rock and dance acts. His visibility began with the hundreds of tapes he released over the course of his career as a Syrian wedding singer, some of which were compiled and released by Seattle's Sublime Frequencies label. From there his music found its way to the ears of fans across the globe, and he regularly performs at festivals ranging from Primavera Sound in Barcelona to Austin's Chaos in Tejas to Glastonbury. Souleyman's music is sometimes described as "Syrian techno," and he often performs with just one synthesizer-and-keyboard-playing sideman. He recently shifted his residence across the Syrian border. "I have temporarily moved my family to Turkey since [the] middle of December. The situation in my town in Black Lips Hassake, very near to the Turkish border, had then become completely unlivable," said Souleyman. "There is no electricity, water or heating oil available. Many of my family and relatives are still in Hassake, and I am in Syria almost every other day myself." Last fall, Black Lips managed to play Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon but were unable to follow through with a planned stop in Syria, initially their hoped-for launching pad for a Middle Eastern tour. "Syria was the main place we were going to be in and out of. We were going through the Syrian embassy in D.C. A couple of the people who worked there were fans, so they were helping us out with the visa process," said bassist Jared Swilley. "Then after everything was starting to look solid, that's when things started taking a turn for the worse, so we put everything on hold for a while." Swilley says that the band tried to visit a Syrian refugee camp in Iraq but were unable to: "When we were there, things were full blown. We were within 15-20 kilometers of the border, but once you got on those highways, there were roadblocks. We wouldn't have had time to drive all the way through there, especially with the potential of being stopped." They are fans of Souleyman and are looking forward to performing with him, Swilley said. "I've seen him a bunch of times before, but we've never actually met. I really, really like what he does." The benefit concert for the Red Cross/Red Crescent will be held tomorrow night (Friday, March 15) at the Long Center for the Performing Arts (701 W. Riverside Dr.).