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Music Rising
by Rebecca Hay
he Gulf Coast area – New Orleans in particular – has long been known for its lively and unique brand of music.
 Bringing the Music Back: Music Rising Auction Raises $2.5 million for Gulf Musicians
The Gulf Coast area – New Orleans in particular – has long been known for its lively and unique brand of music. Whether it’s blues, jazz or Zydeco, music has been an integral part of Gulf life for generations. However, like all aspects of New Orleans and the surrounding regions, 2005’s Hurricane Katrina rocked the musical culture to its foundations.
Luckily, among the outpouring of support for the region in the following months and years, charities focused on reviving the music began cropping up. Among these were the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, the New Orleans Musician’s Relief Fund, and the Gibson Foundation’s Music Rising. Each of these provides resources for musicians who were making a sustainable living performing, but quickly found themselves without any instruments or income after the waters receded.
Music Rising is arguably the biggest of these charities, founded by U2 guitarist The Edge, music producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz on a $1 million pledge from Gibson. The foundation raises money as only a guitar company could do – selling limited edition Music Rising guitars. The original guitars, the Music Rising Les Pauls, were each hand-painted with a Mardi Gras theme. Sold exclusively through Guitar Center, there are only 11 of the numbered exclusives still available.
In November 2006, at the one-year anniversary of the program’s inception, Gibson released an Epiphone Limited Edition Music Rising guitar featuring the Music Rising logo and a Music Rising logo gig bag. The complete proceeds of both guitars go to the Music Rising foundation.
The numbers indicate Music Rising’s efforts have been a qualified success. As of late September 2006, Music Rising had provided replacement instruments to more than 2,500 musicians, and the organization shifted their focus to putting music back into area churches and schools.
And although Hurricane Katrina may seem like a distant memory to many U.S. residents, Music Rising and other charities have realized that there are still years of work ahead. To assist further in these efforts, Music Rising held an auction at the Hard Rock Café in New York City on the evening of April 21, 2007. More than 200 items were sold, and at the end of the day the auction raised $2.5 million dollars for the campaign. The auction, conducted by Julien’s Auctions, featured everything from guitars to sunglasses to awards.
The big-money generators for the auction were all guitars. The Edge’s 1975 cream Gibson Les Paul Custom and his Gibson ES-295 Archtop sold for $240,000 and $105,000, respectively. The auction also featured a Jimi Hendrix-owned guitar that sold for $410,000, and Bono’s signed Irish Falcon Gretsch, which sold for $187,500. Among other auction highlights were President Bill Clinton’s saxophone ($54,000) and Kurt Cobain’s MTV award ($40,800).
As the Gulf progresses in its reconstruction, charities like Music Rising hope to aid in the healing of the area – not only by providing physical instruments to musicians, but by helping to infuse the region with the music that is so vital to the city’s way of life.
Learn more at musicrising.org
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