About Music Rising
Music Rising is a campaign that was launched to rescue the musical culture of the Central Gulf region of the United States from the destruction caused by the catastrophic hurricanes of the summer of 2005 by replacing the musical instruments lost or destroyed in the deluge. It was created in November of 2005 by The Edge, Bob Ezrin and Henry Juszkiewicz with inaugural partners Gibson Musical Instruments, Guitar Center Music Foundation, MusiCares and Musicians Friend. Through these partners’ generous contributions of money and time – along with the contributions of many other wonderful individuals and organizations - Music Rising was able to provide replacement instruments to nearly 2,500 professional musicians from the Central Gulf region many of whom had been displaced to over 34 States. That was Phase One.
On September 25th, 2006 Music Rising heralded the commencement of Phase Two with an historical performance by U2 and Green Day at the Superdome in New Orleans saluting Music Rising, the people of New Orleans and the New Orleans Saints who were returning to their home building for the first time since the devastation. Phase Two is dedicated to helping churches and schools who were affected by the hurricanes to rebuild their music programs by replacing the instruments that they lost in the devastation. Phase Two is being administered by The Gibson Foundation and enjoys the continuing support of The Guitar Center Foundation, Musicans Friend and now includes new partners The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, All Congregations Together and The Bush Clinton Katrina Fund.
When Music Rising first launched in November 2005 Gibson Guitar pledged one million dollars to be raised by the sale of a limited edition Gibson Les Paul Music Rising Guitar offered to the public through partner Guitar Center at its locations around the country. To mark the one year anniversary of the campaign Gibson Guitar is now offering a limited edition Epiphone Music Rising guitar with all proceeds going directly to Music Rising to raise another million dollars. These Epiphone Music Rising guitars are being sold through Musicians Friends and feature the official Music Rising logo worn by The Edge at U2’s last Grammy performance. Details are at www.epiphone.com or www.musiciansfriend.com.
Music Rising is proud to be the recipient of the 2005 Gold Halo Award for Cause Marketing. The campaign was honored at a special celebration in New York in June and was once again honored in November, 2006 when it received the prestigious Billboard Humanitarian Award.
Many other partners throughout our first year and a half have worked very hard to raise awareness for our initiative. We celebrated the success of a Ticketmaster worldwide ticket auction where the four major US promoters came together as one for the cause. And President Bill Clinton has supported Music Rising both personally and through his efforts with the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund. He is a true partner. We remain thankful to these and all of our partners who have worked so hard to help support our cause. They know who they are and we are forever indebted to them for their kindness.
In April 2006 we official re-opened the historic Preservation Jazz Hall in New Orleans. This landmark survived Katrina but lost all of its instruments which were replaced by Music Rising. In celebration of the re-opening The Edge joined founders Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz in the official event and later The Edge made a surprise appearance at the New Orleans JazzFest. Music Rising raised the spirits of all who attended on that special day. We were also able to replace the precious Baldwin Piano that Fats Domino, one of New Orlean’s most famous musicians, lost when his house was destroyed during the hurricane. We even adopted a new slogan which reads “Rebuilding the Gulf Region Note by Note.” And many of us joined The Edge in walking the 9th Ward last Spring to see firsthand how much more work needed to be done and how much more help the people of that area need.
Since starting Phase Two only 7 months ago, we have already helped to give music to tens of thousands of Parishioners and Students in the region. But our work is far from finished.
On April 21st, 2007 at New York’s famous Hard Rock Café, Music Rising hosted the Icons of Music, a magnificent worldwide auction featuring an unprecedented collection of some of the world’s most sought after instruments and music memorabilia, that raised over $2.4m for our initiative. We thank all of our friends and supporters and all the great artists, especially the members of U2, who gave so generously to the auction. And we thank Darren Julien of Julien’s Auctions for creating the fundraising event of the year on our behalf. We are overwhelmed by the success of the auction. This money, along with the money from the sale of the Epiphone guitar, will go a very long way towards accomplishing our original goal. We could not be more excited.
In closing, we wish to say that creating and building Music Rising has been a profound honor and one of the greatest experiences of our lives, and that we have never ceased to be astounded by the beauty, resilience and strength of the citizens of that beleaguered region and the generosity, commitment and good will of our many supporters in this effort.. We remain dedicated to our mission of helping the music rise again on the Central Gulf Coast.
We look forward to hearing from you on our blog.
Best wishes,
The Music Rising Team.
Music Rising is a national campaign that was created by U2’s The Edge, producer Bob Ezrin, Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz along with support from Guitar Center Music Foundation and MusiCares. Inaugural partners MusiCares, Gibson Guitar, Guitar Center, Musician’s Friend, VH-1 Networks, MTV Networks, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Ticketmaster, and Live Nation constituted the most dynamic and comprehensive organized group to launch a relief program since the Hurricanes hit the United States. The campaign’s goal is to help rebuild the musical heart and culture of the Gulf Region by replacing the musical instruments and gear that were lost in the Inundation of 2005. Music Rising is now administered by The Gibson Foundation and is in its Phase Two which is aimed at giving instruments to churches and schools in the region.