Mixtapes for Aceh!
Photograph: Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images
Over the past couple days we’ve received emails from several friends alerting us to the recent incident in Aceh, Indonesia in which several punks were rounded up at a show, had their heads shaved and were shipped off for some sort of forced re-education. We know it’s still hard for punks in many places around the world where the local cultures look down on anyone who is different, so we want to express our support for and solidarity with those detained punks in Aceh. Our friends over at Aborted Society in Seattle have set up a collection asking people to compile and donate mixtapes for the kids who were affected. Their government may tell them it is wrong to be punks but we can let them know that they have friends around the world who support them.
We are calling on kids in China to make mixtapes of some of the great local punk, post-punk and metal bands in this country (if you don’t have a tape player you can also make a CDr). We’ll send them over to Aborted Society who will ship them along with mixes from punks around the world. We need to gather all the tapes from China by December 27th so we can get them included in the bigger shipment. Don’t forget to include your name and address on the tape, and you might end up with a penpal in Indonesia.
Why mixtapes? Mixtapes are an important part of the punk underground and have always helped to spread information about new bands and local scenes. In our opinion there is no greater feeling than receiving a hand-made mixtape, and it is a powerful show of support from our worldwide community. Tapes in general are also important for the Indonesian scene where less-expensive tape decks and cassettes are still the norm for punk and hardcore music.
Take an hour, make a mixtape and mail it to us before December 27th. Show your support for the kids in Aceh and let them know that even if everyone around them is telling them they are fucked-up they have an international community to offer them support.
Please send your mixtapes to Genjing Records at:
Genjing Records
attn: Mixtapes for Aceh
Room 1702, No. 3 Bldg Hua Qing Garden
Hai Dian District Beijing China 100083
phone: 135.8174.6142
