Marlon Williams + The Eastern To Play 'How Can I Keep From Singing' Fundraiser

Lyttelton superstar Marlon Williams and folk figureheads The Eastern are among the many local musical icons coming together for a special fundraising event titled How Can I Keep From Singing?, happening this coming Saturday 30th March at Christchurch's Blue Smoke. Conceived as "a solidarity grower, a hope builder" following the devastating terror attacks in Christchurch, the first in an ongoing series of shows will invite artists to sing works by socially conscious US folk legends Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, "because those songs speak to our highest ideals, our deepest truths and the idea that from the smallest to the biggest we are all important, equal and bound together." All profits will go to Victim Support and the Muslim Association of Christchurch, scope out the full lineup here...

How Can I Keep From Singing?
Featuring... Marlon Williams, Dark Tower, The Eastern, Holly Arrowsmith, Adam Hattaway, Adam McGrath, Alice Andersen, Al Park, Ben Brown, Caleb Issacs, Isla Martin, Jess Shanks, Lindon Puffin, Matty Smith, Tom Maxwell + more to be announced
Saturday 30th March - Blue Smoke, Christchurch
Tickets available HERE via UTR

Here's a clip of The Eastern with Aldous Harding and Marlon Williams in the mix playing a rousing rendition of 'The Waterside' for TV3's Hope and Wire...

Watch a 2016 live clip of Marlon Williams playing his song 'Arahura' for RNZ...

Experience a live clip of Holly Arrowsmith playing her 2017 single 'Love Together'...

Press release:

A tribute, a fundraiser, a solidarity grower, a hope builder

Marlon Williams, Dark Tower, The Eastern, Holly Arrowsmith, Adam Hattaway, Adam McGrath, Alice Andersen, Al Park, Ben Brown, Caleb Issacs, Isla Martin, Jess Shanks, Lindon Puffin, Matt Smith, Tom Maxwell, & more

This show sees local and upcoming singers and songwriters shoulder to shoulder with nationally and internationally known performers as well as a reunion of local legends.

This Show will be the first in a series under the banner ‘How Can I keep From Singing?’.

These shows will take place over the next few months in chch and will feature local and national acts. All shows will have a fundraising component.

The best tool is the one you already know how to use. Pete Seeger said How can I keep from singing?.

Woody Guthrie said This machine kills fascists.

Joe Strummer sang Yalla Yalla

Joe Hill asked us to organise in his memory

Mother Jones said Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living

Chuck D Said If you ain't in the battle, don't comment on the war.

These people ask us to action, they are heroes to many, you probably have your own, you have your own powers, your own tools, your own calls to action...in fact not probably we know you do...

Builders build, singers sing, translators translate, bakers bake, sewers sew, writers write...you get it...and you've got it, right now whatever it is you've got it, whatever it is its necessary and important. You can't do anything? not true, your built with love, go get loving. It's degrees upon degrees and shoulders upon shoulders.

We’re singers, that means we have to sing. We join in solidarity to offer an excuse for anyone to join us in song and story but most importantly togetherness. A push against despair, we want you to push with us and hopefully in the process we can raise a little money.

This spirit is tempered by the times and the events of the 15th, thus we choose to offer the songs of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, rather than our own, because those songs speak to our highest ideals, our deepest truths and the idea that from the smallest to the biggest we are all important, equal and bound together.

ALL PROFITS WILL GO TO VICTIM SUPPORT & THE MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF CHCH