New Song and Video By Makana - "Fire Is Ours" - Takes the 'Bern' to the Next Level

Ever since we humans first learned how to express ourselves in song, we've used our voices and instruments to communicate with others how we feel about the state of our world. For Hawaiian singer-songwriter and musician Makana-called "a dynamic voice" by the New York Times and "the greatest living player of slack key guitar music" by Esquire magazine-among its many functions music should "give voice to viewpoints that corporate media largely attempts to ignore and even silence." With that in mind Makana has written and recorded "Fire Is Ours," a new song and video that he hopes will serve as something of an unofficial anthem for the presidential candidacy of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

"Bernie has the ideas, values, integrity and drive to lead a people's movement that creates our best future. Let's make that spark our fire," Makana says. "Before anything, he's a humanitarian. He lifts people; he humanizes them; he cares. He wants to level the playing field and we need that."

In "Fire Is Ours," written entirely by Makana and produced by Rubi Reeves and Satch Romero, the artist sings, "The love of power is a puppet string/But can't control the love we bring/The fire is ours/The hour is now/The tide is set to turn/And I feel the burn/To cast aside the chains/And salvage what remains/Of a dream worth defending."

Makana recently spoke about the song and video on Hawaii News Now:
(http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/clip/12209188/makana-gets-national-attention-for-pro-sanders-ballad?autostart=true)

and the generally Sanders-averse Fox News:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4757946102001

"I was inspired to write 'Fire Is Ours' as a response to mainstream media's attempt to distract voters from issues of real importance," Makana explains. "The music video" - which can be viewed at www.fireisours.com -"is bookended by a scene in a voting booth, something everyone in American relate to. The entire story takes place in the voter's imagination, that timeless moment when we look at the ballot and review our options."

Although "Fire Is Ours" was written specifically with Bernie Sanders' run for the White House in mind, Makana is quick to point out that there is also a larger significance embedded within, that the song could be applied easily to any agent of change whose concern is the greater good. "Fire Is Ours" speaks to freedom of speech, artistic expression and who we are and want to become as a people.

"Thomas Mapfumo, the famous Zimbabwean musician, talked about the responsibility we as artists have to sing about what is happening in the lives of people," says Makana. "I agree. It's not about politics, but rather, relevance. Very few artists are singing about that thing, I wonder why. I see a void, I see a responsibility, and I act by creating art."

The "Fire Is Ours" video was directed, shot and edited by Zac Heileson. Says Makana, "The two of us found a used piano in the classifieds that some guy was trying to give away, borrowed Zac's dad's truck and spent an hour struggling to lift the 700-pound beast into the truck bed. Then we drove out to a campsite and filmed in icy, snowing conditions. I was freezing until we lit the piano, then I was cooking! We only had a brief eight minutes or so before the smoke and flames completely engulfed the piano so we had to move fast. Luckily we got what we needed on the first take. I'll never forget that day. We didn't have any crew but somehow we managed to pull it off."

Makana has spent his entire career challenging himself and the various boxes into which music is often placed. On such acclaimed albums as Different Game (2006), Ripe (2013) and 25 (2014), he has fused indigenous Hawaiian slack key guitar virtuosity with elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, jazz and blues - all within poignant, original message songs - to create a brand new genre of music. His fans include musicians within all genres, among them guitar great Joe Satriani, who calls Makana "absolutely amazing," and Metallica's Kirk Hammett.

Makana's name, in Hawaiian, means "a gift given freely." That description can just as easily apply to "Fire Is Ours," a song that so perfectly illustrates the passion and poignancy behind the burgeoning movement to free the American political system and corporate media from its chains and point us toward that "best future" we so desperately need.

http://www.makanamusic.com

http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=189573