NATIVE CHILDREN’S SURVIVAL’S MUSIC PICTURE “WHO’S GONNA SAVE YOU” WILL PREMIERE IN CONJUNCTION WITH CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVITIES AND UNITED NATIONS ANNUAL COP17
Music Picture Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25tOG96C8l0
WASHINGTON – Social movements around the world will come together to participate in Global Days of Action for Climate Justice , a call to action for climate change on Dec. 3 and 5 in Durban, South Africa. Eagle Thunder Entertainment (ETE) recording artist Robby Romero will participate in both of these major climate change events and marches in Durban to help create awareness and call on climate negotiators to respect the rights of Mother Earth and to honor and implement the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“Top scientists have recently weighed in on something Indigenous people have prophesized and the world is now experiencing – the devastating effects of global warming,” says Romero. “It’s going to take Indigenous wisdom and modern science working together to lead us into a time of healing.”
In conjunction with these activities, which includes the United Nations Annual Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP17) on Nov. 28–Dec. 9 in Durban, Native Children’s Survival’s latest music picture campaign, “Who’s Gonna Save You,” will have its world broadcast premiere. The music picture will premiere on South African Broadcasting Company’s (SABC 1) Yo TV on Friday, Dec. 2. Yo TV reaches millions of young people daily. In conjunction with the music picture premiere on Dec. 2, Romero will make a live appearance on SABC’s “Sunrise Breakfast” show in Johannesburg.
Romero will make a live appearance on SABC 3 on Dec. 5 in Durban and will participate in Indigenous Peoples Day on Dec. 6 in Durban. “Who’s Gonna Save You” will be shown at a special event on Indigenous Peoples Day, which will include a press conference and screening hosted by the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee and a live performance by Romero.
“On behalf of Native Children’s Survival, this music picture has provided an opportunity and a platform for me to present Indigenous youth from around the world on SABC’s Yo TV to share their respective cultures, experience and knowledge in adapting to the impacts of climate change,” says Romero.
“Who’s Gonna Save You” will also be broadcast on South Africa’s e.tv program “Sisterhood.” The broad appeal of e.tv’s programming has resulted in loyal viewers spanning all age, race and income groups across 80.5 percent of the South African population. The station’s vision is to promote, profile and position itself as the channel of choice and the number one entertainment television network in South Africa.
Directed and produced by Eagle Thunder Entertainment (ETE) recording artist, Robby Romero and executive produced by ETE artist and PBS Native news magazine series host, Stacey Thunder, “Who’s Gonna Save You” is a combination of music video and motion picture presenting an Indigenous perspective to a global crisis and calling for the restoration of life in balance. A teenage Apache Peace Warrior journeys on his skateboard through New Orleans, Louisiana five years post-Katrina. As he travels through the aftermath in the Ninth Ward and the nightlife of the French Quarter, visions of natural and man-made disasters and their powerful warnings fill his mind.
With profound insights from Hopi elder Thomas Banyacya and Onondaga Faithkeeper Chief Oren Lyons, the music picture honors the rights of Mother Earth and all her relations, and commemorates the United Nations General Assembly’s historic move proclaiming Earth Day (April 22) as a day of international recognition called “International Mother Earth Day.” It stars Romero and Apache Skateboards’ Tracy Polk Jr.; and features New Orleans’ first music family member, Aaron Neville Jr., Thunder, and ETE recording artist, Dakota Romero. Street artists Jules Muck, Douglas Miles, and Banksy are also featured.
“Who’s Gonna Save You” was shot on location in New Orleans. “We chose ‘Crescent City’ because this musically historic treasure has become symbolic to natural and man-made disasters, like Haiti in 2010 and Japan in 2011, and because the aftermath of corporate greed, corruption, relocation, and poverty associated with these catastrophic events is a profound warning and should be a great concern to us all,” said Romero and Thunder.
The song was written and produced by Romero and Grammy Award producer, engineer, and musician, Steve Addabbo. The music picture was conceived by Romero and acclaimed actor, Clifton Collins Jr. Funding was provided by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Red Lake Ojibwe Nation, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, and the National Indian Gaming Association.
SABC 1 is South Africa’s favorite and most watched television channel. The vision and mission of SABC Africa is to be a people centered, content driven, technology enabled, strategically focused, sustainable public service broadcaster, broadcasting for total citizen empowerment.
The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17) will be held in Durban, South Africa Nov. 28-Dec. 9 and will bring together representatives of the world’s governments, international organizations and civil society. Discussions will seek to advance, in a balanced fashion, the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan agreed at COP13 in 2007, and the Cancun Agreements reached at COP16 last December.
Founded in 1989, Native Children’s Survival (NCS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization devoted to healing of Mother Earth and all her children through music and film awareness campaigns. NCS’s first project, “Is It Too Late,” a music video made by Romero in response to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the extractive industry’s relentless desecration of Mother Earth, screened at the United Nations Headquarters General Assembly Hall in New York City during the Children and the Environment Project on May 11, 1990. The video earned Romero the title of United Nations Ambassador Of Youth For The Environment and a certificate of appreciation from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) signed by Executive Director, Mostafa K. Tolba. That same year, “Is It Too Late” was broadcast from the Kremlin after President Gorbachev’s historic environmental message at the 1990 Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders in Moscow on ORT Channel One Russia, and via satellite feed to more than 150 countries around the world.
Since, NCS’s acclaimed and award-winning awareness campaigns, public services announcements, ‘rockumentary’ films, and sustainable product development have reached millions of people from all walks of life through live performances, premieres, and broadcasts around the world. NCS has also helped to raise millions of dollars to support Indigenous Peoples, programs for elders and youth, and environmental organizations.
Romero is a world-renowned musician and the leader of the groundbreaking Native rock band, Red Thunder, which continues to be one of the most popular musical groups known in “Indian Country” and around the world. He is the founder and President of Native Children’s Survival, and owner and CEO of the Taos, N.M.-based Eagle Thunder Entertainment, an independent Indigenous entertainment company (entirely owned, operated, and managed by its artists) with four divisions: film production; music label; music publishing; and artist management.
Thunder is the host and producer of the hit PBS weekly news and lifestyle magazine, “Native Report,” now in its seventh season, an actress, and is a practicing attorney serving as general counsel for the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation. She is the President and owner of Eagle Thunder Entertainment, a board member of Native Children’s Survival, a board member of Nike N7, and an award recipient of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s “Native American 40 Under 40,” a prestigious award given to outstanding young Native Americans who have shown excellence and are playing a significant role in shaping Indian Country for the future.
For more information and photographs, visit http://eaglethunder.com/media
