Amplify Peace Tour heads to Midtown Scholar Bookstore


Written on July 11, 2011 – 1:38 pm | by Jaxon Hallahan

A good dose of perspective is never a bad thing, and speaking with musician/advocate Andrew Koji Shiraki about the inspiration for his Amplify Peace Tour gave me just that. The tour will hit the stage Tuesday at Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg.

Kojis Amplify Peace Tour aims to raise money and awareness about the Lords Resistance Army, a sectarian group active in central Africa. The LRA abducts children to fill ranks and forces them to fight, Koji said.

  • The Amplify Peace Tour is Kojis second project in this vein. In March, Koji partnered with advocacy group The Resolve and led The Resolve Tour, which urged audiences nationwide to call on their members of Congress to pay attention to the LRA and to take action on it.

    We were educating people on advocacy, giving them action steps to help create change on this issue, Koji explained.

    While on tour he met Hunter Heaney, founder of The Voice Project, a nonprofit aiming to raise awareness about the LRA through music. Its a really beautiful project.

    When [Hunter] was traveling in central Africa, he met a group of women. Some of them were mothers of children who had been abducted, others had been abducted themselves, Koji said. They created songs that were played over the radio, encouraging the children to come home. [Hunter] spoke with children who had defected from the LRA and many of them said it was because of the songs they heard on the radio through the power of music.

    Koji was touched so deeply by this manifestation of music as a tool for positive change that he and Hunter decided to team up for the Amplify Peace Tour.

    Its amazing, Koji said. Music has been the most effective tool to create positive change in this situation. Its the universal language.

    While the Amplify Peace Tour wants to raise funds and awareness, each audience he and Michigan-based musician Jeff Pianki perform for on the tour will be involved in an exciting media project.

    Each audience will be able to use their voice, saying the words Dwog Paco, which means Come home, Koji explained. Our voices will be played over the womens songs and played over the airwaves in Africa, encouraging the children to come home. Were raising money on the tour to get more FM coverage, to really help get the music out there.

    A Harrisburg native, Koji is thrilled to return to Harrisburg for the Amplify Peace Tour.

    This show is really special for me, Koji said. I grew up on Capital Street, very close to the Midtown Scholar. Im so beyond stoked to return for this tour, Ive never played my hometown, and growing up there was a very special experience.

    Koji is a really, really busy guy. Besides the Amplify Peace Tour, hes constantly writing and recording hes released four albums since September, the most recent being a split 12 with the band La Dispute titled Never Come Undone, and he plans to head into the studio soon for another release. Keep up with him at kojisaysaloha.com.

    If youd like to learn more about the plight of children abducted into the LRA, visit discoverthejourney.org there are scores of moving videos and other information about how you can help.

    Researching this column was a truly eye-opening experience, and I was so inspired by the works of activists such as Koji, who are fighting hate and fear with love through music.

    Alexis Dow-Campbell is director of creative programming at The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art.



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    Tags: Amplify Peace, Amplify Peace Tour, Peace Tour, Tour

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