DROP THE DEBT. Various Artists. World Village. Similar to Putumayo World Music, World Village is a label interested in producing records that talk about our cities and towns and our place within them. More than just putting out music for the radio station “hit cycle,” World Village is devoted to making an impact on our lives and the way we interact with society. Accordingly, the label’s catalog over-flows with many worthy selections, including Drop The Debt.

This August 2003 release serves as a fund raiser and features a group of international musicians coming together in an effort to change world policy regarding debt collection. Many developing nations are shackled by old obligations that see the majority of their capital used to repay loans instead of allocated toward the betterment of their people. According to United Nation reports, most developing nations spend more money on the repayment of government debt than they do in support of education, health and social service programs for their citizens. As a result, people in far away countries like Africa literally starve in the streets because the limited resources their countries have are used to feed creditors.

The artists on Drop came together to bring attention to the plight of these hidden nations, focused on the possibility that world debt policy can be changed in the interest of Man. Inspired by the thought of being able to stop the suffering and death for millions of faceless people, the players on Drop have presented us with some awesome performances. Chico Cesar of Brazil simply steals the record with “ll Faut Payer,” a magnificent piece that draws the listener from his chair and suspends him in mid-air: lost in the sweet echoes of song, we have suddenly transcended nations and politics and government agendas. Additionally, Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi speaks as the conscience of his people and his nation with the beautiful “Murimi Munhu.” Sally Nyolo’s chilling “Tilma” is also memorable, as is Soledad Bravo’s “Gracias a la vida,” which closes the record.

Like a choir in a church summoning the mercy of God through private prayer, this CD calls us to re-examine the systems of government that have, in effect, remodeled “nations” into debtor’s prisons - these places where the innocent and the sick and the haunted die in the streets of the world anonymously. Drop The Debt sets out to give them all faces and names.

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