Bottletop

Who really admires 21st century charity chic? The Band Aid bandwagon of celeb crusaders supplementing their high consuming lifestyles with a publicized concern for the poor – it can be offensive. But sometimes an A-list spin really can be put to good use. With the support of political figureheads, glossy fashion mags and chart-topping musicians, Bottletop’s approach is so fun and innovative that you can’t help but be impressed and inspired by their efforts.

Bottletop is a charity with a difference. They’re more likely to get people to party than to pity. From Brighton to Brazil, the Bottletop brand is bringing great music and fashion to people all over the world. Funds raised go towards grassroots youth projects that promote education about HIV and sexual health in Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, Brazil, and the UK. “We’re trying to turn charity on its head a bit” says Music Director Oly Wayman. To generate cash for their sponsored projects, Bottletop have produced two albums, the first, ‘Sound Affects: Africa’, focused on Ghanaian and Nigerian Afrobeat, and the second, ‘Sounds Affects: Brazil’, is a compilation of the country’s classic and contemporary sounds. Both albums also feature high profile remixes, tracks contributed for free by the likes of Fatboy Slim, Bonobo, Adam Freeland, Paul Oakenfold and Quantic.

Both compilations are full of old rarities, such as Ghanaian keyboard player Ernest Honny’s 1973 ‘Psychedelic Woman’. The African album also contains celebrated saxophonist, flautist and composer Kayode Olajide’s ‘Olufela’ and fellow Nigerian legend Orlando Julius’ anti-racism song ‘Selma to Soweto’. The album is a valuable resource for those looking to explore deeper into the realms of the renascent Afrobeat genre, whose popularity has lately been revived with the rise of Fela Kuti offspring Seun and Femi and the acclaimed re-emergence of Tony Allen.

The enormously diverse Brazil album was put together with the help of the specialists at Mr Bongo Recordings. The first track by Amazonas, ‘Batida do Corpo’, is Portuguese for Beat of the Body – all the strange percussive sounds evoking jungle canopies are made by people. ‘Cosinha II’ was produced by Dom Um Romão, the bossa-jazz drum stylist who played with the likes of Sérgio Mendes and Astrud Gilberto. ‘Ingeção’ by favela songstress Deise Tigrona captures the energy and originality of the contemporary Brazilian music known as Funk Carioca. Using rapid beats and the horn riff from Rocky, this track was a big inspiration for British artist M.I.A.

But Bottletop has been making waves in the fashion industry too. In this arena, charity has never been so cool. “Generally the products that charities produce or import are of questionable quality. Most of the time people are buying because they want to be helping; it’s a gesture”, says Wayman, “We’ve decided to focus on the quality of the product because that’s what’s going to ring true in the long term.” They also source all their products from local producers, generating employment as well as funds. A women’s cooperative in the Dona Aurora district of Salvador produces the handbags made of recycled ringpulls, with their distinctive turquoise bottletop attached. Endorsement or not, the fact that Paris Hilton has one means their marketing is good. Which comes as less of a surprise when you realise Bottletop has been working with Mulberry and Fenchurch.

 
Bottletop project in the Dona Aurora district of Salvador, Brazil
Photos: Andre Viera

How did this amalgam of idealism and ideas come about? The name came from the initial product, a handbag made of bottletops from Uganda, that founder Cameron Saul got leading UK fashion house Mulberry to market in 2002. Shifting thousands of units and generating sales in excess of £250,000, the ‘luxury fashion meets recycled waste’ item quickly emerged as a landmark charity product. Yes, Peaches Geldof and Annie Lennox have one.

Wayman was brought on board by founder Cameron Saul to start up the music side of the charity. The two met in Brighton, where Wayman was working as a scout for Island records. Here they organised several beach parties and club nights for fundraising purposes and they’ve since taken their parties to Salvador in Brazil where Fatboy Slim, a Bottletop champion, has been playing out to tens of thousands.

Wayman is bright, thoughtful, open-minded and easy company. He speaks of his time as a volunteer radio producer in Ghana and his undergraduate thesis focusing on Intellectual Property, which helps to explain his eye for detail and market awareness. He unravels the nuances of ‘fair trade’ policies for me and his concern that people should not be “greenwashed” by big companies. I point out that Bottletop must get the best out of the people they work with, both financially and ethically. “If we’d monetized the various tracks and how much we’d have to pay to commission them we would have made a massive loss! It just wouldn’t have been viable” says Wayman. Bottletop are currently preparing their next music release, a collaborative recording with UK and Brazilian artists including Kassin, Mario Caldato, Gruff Rhys, Matt Helders from Arctic Monkeys and Drew McConnell from Babyshambles. Watch this space.

Running a charity like a business seems smart, provided it stays in the right hands, and with endorsement from Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton, the Bottletop model has credibility. Combining great music, hip fashion and the loftiest ideals, Bottletop funds sustainable community projects to effect real change at a local level - who wouldn’t back them?

The next Bottletop fundraising event is ‘Full Circle’ at The Roundhouse, London on 1 October 2009.
 

Sound Affects: Africa and Sound Affects: Brazil are available from mp3.mondomix

  
www.bottletop.org

Harry Johnstone

Comments  

PUBLICITÉ

PHOTOS

Bottletop project in the Dona Aurora district of Salvador, Brazil

// ALSO

• Black Man’s Cry - The Inspiration Of Fela Kuti
• People & Things
• Seun Kuti Interview - October 2007
• Quantic and his Combo Barbaro album launch tour starts Friday 5 June at the ICA
• Joe Bataan & James Pants live at Cargo 11 June plus dates in Leeds and Birmingham
• Mr Bongo, Mr Bongo - Twenty years of Bongo beats
• New Awards for World Music
• Tony Allen, Afrobeat ace
• Oliver Mtukudzi, Oliver Mtukudzi - African Soul Rebel



---




// POST A COMMENT





Nickname *


Your comment (2000 char. max) *


Security code   





---


>> comment it on the forum>>