Love, food, and music are the best ambassadors of any culture. International affairs with beautiful people, wonderful foods, and inspirational sounds from foreign lands have made many of us conscious of the rest of the world in a way we can feel.

Can you imagine life with out music? Every culture around the world holds a special relationship with its music. Music is often the bridge between cultures and allows savvy travelers to better acclimate themselves with their new surroundings.

However, Finding a balance between art and commerce is a difficult task, one that the music industry has historically done badly. Now record labels are struggling against a tide of technological “piracy” to remain profitable and new models for sustainable business solutions that protect artists are all the more critical.

Fortunately, the enterprising social entrepreneurs at Calabash Music are working give us new music packaged in a fair business model.

Calabash Music’s tastefully designed and easily navigated website allows users to explore globally significant music that would be near impossible to gather otherwise. In a similar format to iTunes users can purchase individual songs for $0.99 or purchase album packages with one MAJOR difference. The artists keep HALF the money.

So what does Fair Trade music mean? In there own words, this is what Calabash Music means when it says Fair Trade.

“Our equal exchange business model and focus on international artists is revitalizing the music industry in developing nations around the globe. When our artists sell their music directly to you, they keep half the money from each sale and they avoid the high costs of manufacturing, marketing and distributing their music on CDs.”

If you hustle down to the site this week you’ll find a free track from a tremendous project called Bole2Harlem. The brainchild of mix master and international music impresario, David Schommer, Bole2Harlem respectfully braids the work of Ethiopian musicians who have relocated to NYC with the sounds of their new home. The result is a tasty cultural exchange that is world music at it’s finest.

Full disclosure: The FN Group is proud to have worked with David and Bole2Harlem on the soundtrack for the short movie PURA VIDA Coffee Profits Children which can be viewed at www.eq.tv under “Originals”.

For a more information on Calabash Music visit their web site at http://news.calabashmusic.com/world/fairtrade

Much respect, Papa Ganda

Testimonials/ Reviews

“Calabash Music™ is the online reincarnation of your favorite backstreet music store: that long-lost specialist record emporium whose walls were plastered with community music notices, whose access was by means of some rickety old stairs from street level and whose salespersons were as keen to talk to you about what they were selling as they were to part you from your money.” – Andy Morgan, The Independent