AOMUSIC and HavServe Unite to Support the Children in the Villages of Haiti

Asheville, NC, February 09, 2011 --(PR.com)-- On the eve of their third album release, AO Music’s founder Richard Gannaway announced an alliance with the non-profit HavServe, founded by Carline Brice, to support the organization’s music initiatives for the children of Haiti. AO Music’s new release "...and Love Rages On!" features several children’s choirs, but none from Haiti – yet.

Gannaway, whose works have fused the voices of children from around the world, sees this as a natural partnership. "I'm really inspired by the prospect of this campaign making a difference in Haiti’s villages," Gannaway, who is based in Asheville, NC, said, adding “The international presence of children in our compositions has broadened in scope over the years, and often the choirs we encounter come from a cultural backdrop of challenge on several fronts - but none like Haiti. There is something extraordinary in the Haitian people - a tremendous spirit of prevailing that is tested time and again, seemingly without pause. Music and dance often become the great counterbalance to generations of adversity in a developing nation like this, and it is our honor to work with these children. Such blooms of joy and hope are what fuel the sound of AOMUSIC. HavServe's sustainable initiative in Haiti is hybrid and progressive, which we also strive to be; it’s a good fit all around."

HavServe supports sustainable development, one village at a time, through goal-oriented, volunteer-staffed projects aimed at empowering rural villagers. HavServe recognizes community-based development as a moral, strategic, and economic imperative and fully embraces the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as an effective benchmark for improving a country through its villages.

Brice, based in Silver Springs, MD, applauds this initiative by AO Music as an innovative partnership, stating, "It is my hope that this alliance can serve as a model and will inspire many other entertainment companies to get involved in similarly meaningful collaborations in the area of music, sports, and the arts in general, which enrich the lives of kids around the world."

In the first stage of the alliance, AO Music will direct their fans to HavServe’s secure fundraising location on FirstGiving.org, in an effort to raise $5000 to launch a pilot program for which Gannaway will travel to Haiti to work with the children and to capture the uniquely joyous sound of Haitian music. The organizations are using a customized AO Music page and widgets from the secure fundraising site Firstgiving.org to safely collect and track donations under the search-able page AOMusic4Haiti.

Ultimately, HavServe’s goal is to repeat the music program in villages throughout Haiti on an ongoing basis to focus and uplift the tens of thousands of children displaced by the earthquake in 2010. Within five years, the partners resolved to create a “best of the best” Haitian children’s choir to perform throughout the world, and to be featured on future AO Music albums.

Children’s choirs from around the world are an important element in AO Music’s unique world fusion sound, along with deep rhythmic textures and the dynamic multi-layered vocal tracks of Miriam Stockley. Their latest album “…and Love Rages On!” contains music from five children’s choirs, two in the United States and others in Africa, China, and The Republic of Georgia.

Beyond financial support, HavServe and AO Music also seek “Angel” volunteers with music expertise to help with on-site training in Haiti for a week or two at a time over the next few years. Equally important are donations in the form of new or used instruments, and music teaching materials like sheet music. Interested parties are welcome to contact Beth Hilton at The B Company for further details, or to visit the partner websites for more information.

Through his alliance with Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace, HRH Prince Frederick von Saxe-Lauenberg, Royal Patron of HavServe, introduced the parties leading to this historic alliance between HavServe and AO Music. The B Company represents AO Music in public relations, and provides pro-bono publicity services to both Musicians and Fine Artists for World Peace (MFAWP) and HavServe.

"May I as Patron add my deep gratitude to Beth Hilton of The B Company and Richard Gannaway of AO Music for connecting with us at HavServe. The children are stars - an extraordinary constellation of youngsters who all radiate a limitless sense of energy with a zest and passion for life guided by their dreams for a better future. Their imaginations are fertile with aspirations of a world free from war, poverty, pollution and hunger," said von Saxe-Lauenberg, from his home in London, adding, "This project launched by AO Music to give Haitian children a chance -- to be heard singing their music by the wider world -- is to be saluted. I wish you all a successful and fruitful collaboration with Haiti and her children."

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