
MONKEY MAJIK – a disaster-affected band demonstrating "Vibrant Japan"
MONKEY MAJIK is a hybrid band of two Canadian brothers (vocal/guitar), Maynard and Blaise, and the Japanese rhythm team tax (drums) and DICK (bass).
It was formed in 2000 and has based its activities in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, in northeastern Japan.
Although they were also affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, each member energetically engaged in volunteer activities, living in tents at various places in the Tohoku region, including the Ishinomaki Senshu University campus.
They believe that they can do a great deal by putting forces together, even though what one individual can do is limited.
They asked themselves what music could do and launched a "SEND Ai" (Send love) ("Sendai" is the name of the city, and "Ai" is love in Japanese.) project to encourage many people with their activities and music, aiming to act on a continuing basis.
On July 3, they held an enormously successful charity event at the open-air music hall of Osaka Castle (which attracted 3,000 visitors and the proceeds from tickets sales, 12.9 million yen, were donated to the government of Miyagi Prefecture.
The proceeds from the sale of event goods and donations received on the day of the concert, about 1.94 million yen, were donated
to the Tohoku Office of the Ashinaga scholarship society, that helps pupils and students who have lost their parents).
Since then, MONKEY MAJIK has held charity auctions as "SEND Ai" activities, with proceeds all donated to Ashinaga to help build Tohoku Rainbow House where students receiving the scholarship can live together.
It also held a charity live concert in Sendai last year. In 2012, MONKEY MAJIK was appointed as a KIZUNA ambassador (ambassador of RESILIENCE) by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On 19th and 21st February, it held an admission-free concert in Toronto and Ottawa in Canada to express Japan's gratitude for the support it had received from all over the world after the earthquake and demonstrate "vibrant Japan" working toward its rebirth and reconstruction.
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