Málefnaritið Red Flags Weekly er tímarit sem hefur það að markmiði að grandskoða heit málefni er varðar vísindi, umhverfismál, listir og pólitík, á þann máta sem menn rekast sjaldan á hjá stóru fréttastofunum sem oftar en ekki fjalla um mál á yfirborðskenndan máta.

Eða eins og þeir segja:
“RAISING ISSUES, FACING CONTROVERSIES, EXPLORING IDEAS
In Health, Science, Environment, Arts and Politics”
og
“This site will raise ”red flags“ on issues that require public attention and debate.”

http://www.redflagsweekly.com

Barbara Lewis er einn af dálkahöfundunum hjá þeim og greinar hennar fjalla mest um tónlist og umhverfismál.

Fyrir stuttu ritaði hún grein undir heitinu heitinu “MUSICIANS TAKE ON THE NATURE DESTROYERS - The Impact Music Can Have On Environmental Issues” sem hægt er að lesa hérna: http://www.redflagsweekly.com/lewismusic14.html

Í þessari grein fjallar hún það hvernig tónlistarmenn geta komið skilaboðum á framfæri í tónlist sinni og tekur sem dæmi þrjár hljómsveitir sem hafa gert slíkt og tekur dæmi úr textum þeirra. Þessar sveitir eru Eurythmics, Barry Hertz og svo Pain of Salvation. Endilega lesið þessa grein þarna (sjá link að ofan), ekki svo löng lesning. Ég ætla þó að birta hérna það sem hún skrifar um Pain of Salvation þar sem þessi hljómsveit sótti Ísland heim á síðasta ári og er ein besta rokkhljómsveit sem hefur komið frá Svíþjóð á síðustu misserum.

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MUSICIANS TAKE ON THE NATURE DESTROYERS
The Impact Music Can Have On Environmental Issues
By Barbara Lewis


Impact. That's what music often has. It can move mountains. It can cut to the heart of things - beyond the political dogma and posturing. Beyond the density of even well-spoken words.

This is particularly true of the impact music can have on environmental issues.

Some well-known musicians take on causes as a one-time event. Using their fame and sometimes their fortunes, they can have impact. And it can be important and long-lasting.

.
. (umfjöllun um Eurythmics og Barry Hertz)
.

On a very different note, the Swedish heavy-metal band, Pain of Salvation, created an entire recording entitled, “One Hour by the Concrete Lake,” about a haunting nuclear waste problem at Russia's Lake Karachi that could potentially cause devastating consequences for Russia and neighboring countries.

The waste that had been dumped into the lake was so dangerous that the water was filled in with rocks and concrete. However, in 1999, poison was still leaching into surrounding ground-waters.

Pain of Salvation's music is a theatrical and highly-creative blend of heavy-metal sounds with progressive rock. The unique style matches the complexity of the environmental problem they sing about.

From the song, Shore Serenity:

This is all that is left of me
a broken man at a concrete sea
But now I know that one cell can kill
and a big Machine stands and falls with a wheel

Judging from the amount of press the CD received and the numbers of chat rooms dedicated to the band's work, this musical approach has proven invaluable in focusing attention on an important environmental issue.

Yet more evidence that music and politics mix very well.