Sample Tracks from The New Heroes (requires Real Player) "In Good Faith" "A Common Song"

"The CD covers so much ground it’s almost frightening. Christopher Hedge is a very talented individual and he displays an amazing versatility on this CD." - CDReview.com

The rim of a car wheel hangs from a tree in Children's Town in Zambia where it is rung like a school bell every day. Something pops in a fire during a ceremony of the original firewalkers on Beqa Island. A boy, just freed from slavery in India, says his name proudly. These are some of the sounds on The New Heroes, a recording by Christopher Hedge inspired by a four-part PBS documentary with the same name. The series, hosted by Robert Redford, airs June 28 and July 5, 2005. Triloka Records will release the CD on June 14, 2005.

"As musicians, we learn to play notes and instruments to express ourselves," explains Hedge. "But I feel that experiences, moments in time, are powerful instruments in themselves. Instruments that could never be created out of wood and strings."

Most people would think it is backwards to put microphones in your ears, but that is just what Christopher Hedge does. He travels around the world wearing special binaural microphones to record moments in time so they sound just the way he is hearing them. This emphasis on listening is exactly why New Heroes producers Michael Malone and Robert Grove didn’t consider anyone else to compose the soundtrack.

"People call them samples," says Hedge. "People started discovering audio sampling and thought it was convenient and cool sounding. But that does not have much to do with what the sounds actually are, where they come from, what they mean. Like the boy calling his name on "The Voices" (see music video, above). The sound of that boy yelling is the sound of a human being claiming his independence for the first time after a life of bondage. That is one hundred percent real, whether you know the story or not."

While the documentary's soundtrack is intertwined with the film's story line, the CD stands on its own with a separate tempo and order from the film. When you hear the sarod on "India Suite," it references the urgent despair of the world with a tinge of hopefulness. The kalimba, rooster calls, and classroom recordings on "A Common Song – Children's Town" put you in mind of the plight of children, without needing to know the story line. Listening to the real message. Finding connections. New Heroes, the CD, is the perfect musical representation to New Heroes, the documentary. Discovering new meaning about ourselves in light of other's profound experiences.

"It's not about us," concludes Hedge. "These notes, this music, these sounds, they're not about me or Paul or Titos or any of the musicians or PBS or Robert Redford. If you knew anything about Mimi Silbert at Delancy Street, Kailash Satyarthi, David Green, Muhammad Yunus, any of them, we're just a speck, the smallest part. They are the giants... and each of them would tell you that they are nothing compared to the people they see every day. If you get just a hint of who they are and what they're doing, it will change your life. These are the New Heroes, the real Heroes."

Links: Press Release Full review on CDReview.com Purchase the CD!

jimfruchterman - Jun 14, 2005 5:36 pm (#1 Total: 5)
Benetech


I viewed the video and listened to the two sample clips. This is very cool: it's like social entrepreneurs meet Hollywood, but with more authenticity than Hollywood often implies.

I hope this gets some traction outside the converted!

Christopher Hedge - Jun 15, 2005 9:39 am (#2 Total: 5)
The Magic Shop


Hello and welcome. Thank you to Social Edge for hosting this event. The New Heroes CD was released yesterday Jun 14. We had a release celebration in San Francisco at The Delancey Street Theatre, which was very appropriate as Delancey Street was the subject of the song "Ok oK" as well as a segment of the PBS series. We screened videos of the music and were joined by flutist Paul Horn and congolese drum master Titos Sompa.

We focused much of the event on the New Heroes themselves and Robert Grove (series co-creator) gave a stunning introduction the the concept of social entrepreneurship and a segment of the film "Kailash Satyarthi".

Director Bonni Cohen of Actual Films, was present to introduce her film on Delancey Street and founder Mimi Silbert. It was remarkable to be actually in the heart of a social project while being shown a documentary about it. Very moving.

And then the event finished with a bang! The final credits were rolling on the screen, when an alarm went off that San Francisco and the surrounding areas at water level had to be evacuated! Now! There was a Tsunami alert as a result of a 7.0 Earthquake off the California coast!

Amazing actually when you consider that the theatre was emptied, the whole area evacuated, and we were at higher ground with ten minutes to spare before the first waves would have hit. But, thankfully they didn't develop, and all was well.

london calling - Jun 16, 2005 11:02 am (#3 Total: 5)

I missed the alarm bells (sounded very dramatic!). ..but I have to say the highlite of the evening for me was Titos opening speech and drum playing. The guy has great energy and really knew how to get a crowd engaged. People were singing along with the drums, and he explained about the "call and answer" motif in African music. Really interesting.

My favorite video played was Common Song, it was great how they cut in clips from the film etc. and made it part of the song. So my hats off to you and your team Chris! =) 

Christopher Hedge - Jun 16, 2005 11:07 pm (#4 Total: 5)
The Magic Shop


Titos' first call to the crowd was "say yah yah" or "are you with me?" Everyone responded instantly because he was speaking the truth.

In the first moments of the record he says, "Listen... Imagine how life would be... our mission of the world is to learn from each other... to learn about each other". This is why Titos plays such a big part of the record, as well as Paul Horn and all the musicians.

Over the 18+ years we have recorded together, the thing I have learned from them is musical honesty. What you say in your mind while you play the notes is what you record, not your riffs or musical bag of tricks. These stories are real, they're happening now and they deserve musical honesty to speak for them. It's an artistic translation of events that are beyond words, even beyond pictures sometimes.

tonywang - Jul 30, 2005 7:55 pm (#5 Total: 5)
Stanford University


I'm a student, and this is an awesome set of music to work to. It helps remind me of what I'm working towards (in my studies of social entrepreneurship) and keeps me inspired. Props!