colleen

Here is the message I posted to my Bandcamp followers, and which I would like to share with you too here.

Dear everyone

I hope this message finds all of you as well as possible. 

I actually don’t “do” Christmas, for a mixture of family reasons and personal beliefs on so-called “celebrations” and “special days”. What I did do today – and I guess that somehow it *is* connected to Christmas – is send the money that slowly accumulated over the months I put aside the animal shelter initiative to an organization I have long wanted to support, Las Almas de Tara, in Ubeda, Andalucia, Spain. 

Earlier this month, the amount of support you gave to the “Special versions – Live at ACCA, Brighton”‘s fundraising for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (for those new here: more than 1500$ collected in 24 hours!!!) helped me muster the willpower to look at the small donations I occasionally receive for the FOR ANIMAL SHELTERS songs here on the platform.

Again, if you’re new here, this is how I started fundraising, in July 2023: just deciding I would give 100% of what you pay to animal shelters for certain songs that belong to me fully. I did it non-stop every month for nearly a year, then kind of burnt out and put it to the side, even though this is in perpetuity, so at any point in time, what you give I give.

Long story short: there was a total of 81$, and – I am very happy to tell you – this means that in total, thanks to your generosity, we have together fundraised a grand total of 2067.28 $ which I have sent to 12 different animal shelters.

Last night I chanced upon a reel by Las Almas de Tara, of 6 newly-born pups that were born early in the morning from a dog that they had rescued 2 days earlier. Spain has one of the worst European records when it comes to animal abandonment and ill treatment, with Andalucia being a particular hotspot, and most of the work is done by very small private organizations. Temperatures go down to – 3º Celsius at night right now, so keeping those puppies alive is no small feat for organizations like these, so today I sent your money and added a little extra to round it to 100 €. Isa, the lady who runs the shelter, wrote back immediately to say thanks (and apparently she loved my music too!).

Here is a portrait of her hugging one of the dogs of the shelter, taken by the mindblowingly-talented photographer Andrés López, through whom I have discovered many shelters here in Spain.

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A post shared by Andrés López (@andreslopezphoto)

As she so eloquently says in the video (reel below): “Ayer os pedía sensibilidad y humanidad. Os decía que los 15 euros que podeis gastar en una caja de gambas, lo invirtiesen realmente en estos ángeles que necesitan ayuda. Ese realmente debería ser el espíritu navideño: compartir lo que todos tenemos con los más desprotegidos.”
Rough translation: “Yesterday, I asked for your sensitivity and humanity. I was telling you that the 15 euros you can spend on a packet of prawns, you could truly invest in those angels who need help. This is what the true spirit of Christmas should be: sharing what we all have with the most defenceless.”

I am an atheist, but I strongly suscribe to this thought and feeling.

So I will close this message by telling you that fundraising here has been a highlight of my year – as it was last year too, but even more so this year with the human aspect of this year’s fundraising. I am sincerely grateful to all of you who have contributed, not least because through your own giving here, you are helping me get better at giving more, and more often. The fact that this is happening through my music makes it even more special for me on both a professional and personal level.

I will also add that you are very welcome to keep giving to both the animal shelter songs *and* the Special versions recording (next round will go to Lebanon), since Bandcamp have not indicated if or when there will be a new Bandcamp Friday. I personally think it does make a great “Christmas present”.You can also donate money directly to any of those organizations we have helped here in the past – if you live in Spain, a super simple and fast way to donate to Las Almas de Tara is through Bizum, as they are a registered charity (código de donación 02968), and they also have various Teaming projects where you can give 1 € every month.

And that’s it from me

Cécile (hard at work on LP9 too!!!), Sol and Klee (who are both sleeping next to me as I write these lines)

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A post shared by ALMAS DE TARA (@lasalmasdetara)

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