As John Lennon remains a symbol of peace, in life and death, so do his songs and lyrics. In remembrance of him and his message, the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, brings together several artists to echo that message of peace to the rest of the world.
The group Amnesty International has a long tradition of activism powered by music. It is more evident than ever with Instant Karma. More than 50 international recording artists and over 30 record labels have come together for this project.
The album will be a benefit project to support Amnesty International’s campaign. It will help focus attention and mobilize activism around the crisis in the Sudan. That crisis has place millions of people outside of their homes in Dafur and neighboring countries. The crisis, beginning in February of 2003, is genocide at the hands of the Janjaweed militias, bands of fighters backed by the Sundanese government.
In addition to spreading awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the project also encourages individuals to take a stand by putting their name to Amnesty International's global petition, at the instantkarma website, which declares, "As a citizen of the world, I demand and end to the killing and mass atrocities in Darfur, Sudan.”
Aside from the cause, the Instant Karma album boasts a heavy line-up of world-wide artists. Big time acts such as Aerosmith, Christina Aguilera, Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Lenny Kravitz, and R.E.M. just to name a few. Other artists like Ben Harper, Jakob Dylan and Jack Johnson also contributed to this double CD collection. All of the acts put their own spin and style on these classic Lennon songs, such as “Power to the People,” “Gimme Some Truth,” and “Mother.”
The 23-track album starts off with an amazing version of “Instant Karma” by U2. The song is about as close to the original as you’re gonna get. Aerosmith teams with The Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars for an interesting version of “Give Peace A Chance.” Aerosmith provides great rock verses while the Refugee All Stars back it with a reggae-style chorus.
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