25 years on... have we learned anything from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster?
Remember Chernobyl is a charity compilation aiming to raise both money and awareness of the lasting horror of nuclear disaster, All proceeds from the compilation go to charity. On April 26th 25 years ago the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in what was then the Soviet Union went into meltdown, killing the workers and covering a vast amount of Europe in a radioactive cloud.
The threat of radiation isn't an immediate one, it's not an explosion where the damage is instant, radiation causes long lasting devastation. Those exposed can develop cancers and physical deformities, infertility, or possibly worse, exposure to radiation can cause victims future children to be affected also.
Proceeds from the Remember Chernobyl compilation will go to Chernobyl Children International and help toward medical programs and further research into caring for those directly affected by the radiactive tragedy of Chernobyl.
But have we learned the dangers of nuclear power and the horror of radioactive fallout?
The true horror of Chernobyl is that it was a man-made tragedy, caused by foolishness and human error. To have this kind of tragedy where the world is still feeling the effects of it 25 years on is something that we need never to forget. When it happened, the Chernobyl disaster shook the world (literally with a lot of Europe being affected directly through irradiation of crops and livestock as well as acid rain), recently those of us still carrying the torch for Chernobyl have been reminded of the danger of nuclear disaster by the recent incident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan following the great TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11th 2011. These incidents occured after the Remember Chernobyl compilation had been finished however the tragedy focussed all the contributing dark ambient musicians into knowing that this was a worthy cause they had dedicated their time towards.
Why is electronic soundtrack artist Synoiz involved in the Remember Chernobyl charity compilation?
I was approached by Valenten of Ambientaria Records who has been the mastermind and bleeding heart behind the Remember Chernobyl compilation around last June. He'd been a fan of my work for a while especially the art soundtrack I'd done on the Chernobyl disaster myself (click the cover to view more), and asked me whether he could use one of the tracks from it for the compilation, instead I told him that I'd be happy to write a whole new track for the charity compilation but in the same vein as the sound I'd done some 2 years earlier.
The track that I have on the Remember Chernobyl charity compilation is called "Reminiscence Amidst the Debris" and is a piece that I'm very proud of. I wanted to create a soundscape, a kind of atmosphere of being around the reactor and feeling the devestation of surrounding areas like the town of Pripyat, while telling a story of what the visitor is remembering or what ghosts they are experiencing. The track uses a lot of the sounds and themes that I'd used in my personal Chernobyl release as I really wanted to use them again and this was the sort of sound Valenten had asked if I could go for.
I'm very pleased with my work on the compilation and if you'd like to hear it and have another exclusive Synoiz track for your collection, please do the good thing and help out a worthy charity by buying a copy of the Remember Chernobyl charity compilation by Ambientaria Records. Personally I have already donated to the cause by buying both the digital download and reserving and purchasing one of the limited edition double CD packages, I'm a firm believer in practicing what you preach!
Thank you.