When hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian protesters were squaring off against riot police in cities across the country on the week of the 10th anniversary of the Orange Revolution, Almonte musician Nathan Sloniowski released his song “Orange Ribbon” on YouTube. Ukrainian citizens were protesting against the government’s move to delay an association deal with the EU under pressure from Russia.

“I am very inspired to see the spirit of the Orange Revolution rise among the Ukrainian people once again,” said Sloniowski. “As my contribution to the current struggle for social justice and the rule of law, I have posted “Orange Ribbon” to YouTube.

Sloniowski’s newly released song is dedicated to the courage of Nataliya Dmytruk and written for the people of Ukraine. In a shaky democracy where peaceful acts of democratic defiance are rewarded with threats, imprisonment, or worse, this brave single... (continuer)

Copyright 2004 by Nathan Sloniowski
From/Da Centre For Political Song
"This song is a very Canadian one - somebody watching television at dinnertime as planes crash into buildings, people starve in different parts of the world, and digesting the evening meal of mayhem with a very cynical, passive and I think Canadian 'gosh, shucks, glad it's not me and I live here not there, pass the peas please' sense of detachment. It's a form of detachment that is utterly deadly because if the majority of people in developing countries take the screen-zombie approach, powerful countries like the United States will increasingly drape their flags around death and destruction to secure resources and other geo-political objectives with nary a peep out of the rest of the world (except perhaps, activist songwriters!). I chose a bemused, satirical approach to the lyrics, including the blatantly country &... (continuer)