(...)

 

7- Samite Mulondo - Endless Road - 3'59" - 2012

 

 

 

"Addiction Incorporated" is a documentary about one of the most important whistleblowers in American history, at least in terms of lives saved.

 

Victor de Noble was a scientist at Philip Morris who was tasked with experimenting with how to increase nicotine addiction in mice. The more his research progressed (using substances that exceptionally increased the rodents' cravings for nicotine), the less his bosses liked the idea of ??the results being made public. (Imagine! Letting it be known that these substances would be found in the apparently beneficial filters of Marlboro cigarettes?!)

 

To make a long story short, Victor found himself without a job and with the risk of a huge lawsuit for damages on his shoulders. Today he travels around America - without getting paid - to explain to children the mechanisms in our bodies that trigger the addiction switch.

 

Samite Mulondo is the Ugandan multi-instrumentalist who wrote the CD "Trust" (www.trustcd.org), soundtrack of the documentary, produced together with Tony Cendras, formerly with Paul Simon, and Charlie Evans Jr., the director and mind behind of Add.Inc.

 

Similar to Charlie (who, after producing the documentary at his own expense, donated the rights to an NGO active in the fight against health disinformation in favor of minorities), Samite also did everything for free, donating the proceeds to the humanitarian organization "Musicians for World Harmony", an NGO focused on the concept of music therapy.

 

Which means, for example, how to avoid stress, depression and suicide in children forced to become child soldiers through terrible violence used against them.

 

Listen to the four measures repeated endlessly of this "Endless Road" - they are inconsolablely happy. Semite uses them, together with his friends, to bring a little happiness to those villages in East Africa that have suffered the destruction of their own tribal life: "people today face problems they have never faced before, like children who have been forced to kill their parents and relatives".

 

Also this kind of stuff happens, behind the news.

 

Says Samite:

 

"Music can help these children: on a recent trip to a refugee camp in Mubende, Uganda, we took 20 musicians with drums and dancers on a pick-up truck. People started running towards us, jumping, clapping and dancing. Then, at least, for 5 hours they forgot their problems."

 

As a refugee in Kenya, Samite has known his share of sadness, which is why his music is so sunny: "I know what it means to sing and dance when you have had to deal with so many bad memories. It is very important".

 

Equally important for us to know that there are still people like this around.