Raising awareness about sanitation and water issues in Africa is not the most glamorous cause but with World Toilet Day (19 November 2008) approaching and 2008 being the official UN Year of Sanitation, these are indeed some of the most pressing challenges faced by developing countries. The band Empty Boat came together to raise awareness of these issues.
Empty Boat was envisaged as a collective, a vessel of shared culture, ideas and beliefs. The 15 musicians and vocalists who were involved in the recording of the album Waitless are as eclectic as the sounds they have produced. "They have a taste for exotic and unlikely combinations", says composer, vocalist, accordion and keyboard player Dean Brodrick. Many of the artists, such as Brazilian singer Mônica Vasconcelos (who has recently worked with Robert Wyatt) and tuba and bass guitar player Gideon Juckes (Bellowhead) are established musicians in their own right. Others, such as Brodrick's daughter Madalaine (who was nine at the time of recording), are just embarking on their musical journey. Brodrick's influences are far-reaching and his interest in musical forms knows no boundaries.
Empty Boat first set course for Africa 15 years ago to share songs with villages and townships and learn about sanitation and water. "We believed in the power of music to transform, communicate, heal, and educate, to open doors and to open hearts: and it did", Brodrick - who humorously refers to himself as Captain Brodrick – says "since then we have seen how the efforts and idealism of individuals can really make a difference".
For Empty Boat's return trip to Mozambique in 2004, Brodrick wrote songs inspired by the element of water. The lyrics, in English and Portuguese, are brimming with the magical and practical relationship we have with this element. The music transcends genre and resounds with many different voices: the interplay of women's voices; the voice of a child; even birdsong. The crafted compositions are awash with spontaneity, propelled by African and Brazilian rhythms, moist with unusual and exotic sonorities and harmonies, splashing with enthusiasm, positivity and beauty.
The true scale of the social issues became apparent during their last trip. In Mozambique, the average adult lifespan is just 40 years. Contaminated water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene cause over 80% of all disease in developing countries. Consequently, Empty Boat joined Mozambique’s best-known band Massukos on a "Wash your hands for good health" tour. They continued their collaboration with the band during Massukos' 2008 UK tour; and Massukos’ singer Simão Ribeiro Fontes and percussionist Manuel Dihuaia also feature on Waitless.
Key to the birth of the project has been Brodrick's lifelong engagement with nature and spirituality, and on his musical journey he has remained true to his holistic, environmental and humanitarian beliefs. Brodrick equates the passage of the Empty Boat project as being like a journey on a river – an analogy that informs the philosophy of the project as well as the practical nature of its goal. One of the objectives is to raise awareness of sustainable methods; that is environmentally sustainable methods (such as composting latrines) that will literally sustain life.
