ENTER GABRIEL & The Political of Amnesty

ENTER GABRIEL & The Political of Amnesty

Daniel Brogan

Peter Gabriel has always believed his music should have a healthy dose of social consciousness, but lately there are those who would transform the former Genesis lead singer into a one-man political action committee.

Take, for instance, “Red Rain,” the opening track from Gabriel’s latest album, So.

In many ways, it’s a “typical” Gabriel song. Hypnotic, dreamy, full of Third World rhythmic influences. He says the song came to him in a recurring dream about the inevitable surfacing of repressed emotions.

But fans and critics alike continue to see a post-nuclear vision in lyrics such as “I’ve seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town, they tell you this rain can sting” and “it can’t be that cold, the ground is still warm to the touch.”

“I’ve heard that too,” said the 35-yearold singer. “Especially when I was traveling around Europe promoting the album, right after Chernobyl. Everyone was drawing that same conclusion. It isn’t a correct interpretation, but some of the images do seem to fit anyway.”

In a way, that sort of misinterpretation is a tribute to the effectiveness of Gabriel’s past political statements. Though his five solo records have only occasionally commented directly on world events, Gabriel’s few political forays have been so influential that he is fast coming to be regarded as one of the forefathers of rock’s return to political activism.

Both Little Steven Van Zandt, who organized last year’s “Sun City” antiapartheid record, and U2’s Bono, who sparkplugged the Amnesty International tour, credit Gabriel’s work as an inspiration.

“Biko,” a haunting, funereal song from 1980’s Peter Gabriel album about murdered South African activist Steven Biko, has had a particularly powerful impact. Van Zandt says the song was his introduction to the evils of apartheid and his impetus to investigate the situation.

“I’m very pleased with ‘Biko.’ It’s taken a few years, but it’s had an effect,” Gabriel said. “I try to be selective and respond to issues that grab me.”

Gabriel believes most fans are turned off by bands who spew a constant stream of propaganda. “As a consumer, I don’t want to be lectured,” Gabriel said. “I don’t mind information and a sense of social awareness, but I don’t want musicians telling me what to think.”

Information, he says, is the key to bringing about social change.

“I honestly believe that if more Americans were aware of what the Nicaraguan people feel about the government as opposed to the contras, their attitude might change a little bit,” Gabriel said. “Nuclear power, I think, is another issue where simple information could be an effective instrument.”

The need to spread information sparked Gabriel’s involvement in both Sun City and the Amnesty International tour. Gabriel joined the six-city “Conspiracy of Hope” tour after receiving a personal invitation from Bono. At the time, there were any number of reasons why he could have said no.

For one, Gabriel’s new band had yet to begin rehearsals. If Gabriel accepted, the band would have only five days together before the tour opened in San Franciscb last Wednesday.

For another, the tour occurred at a critical point in So’s commercial life.

Less than a month old, the album had been enthusiastically received on albumrock radio and seemed on the verge of becoming a Top 40 smash. Hoping to give So a final push, Geffen Records had scheduled promotional tours for Gabriel in Japan and the United States during the same two weeks as the Amnesty International tour.

“But I screwed those plans all up,” Gabriel said. “I just didn’t see how I could say no. This is an organization I’ve been interested in for 10 years.”

Gabriel and his new band—David Rhodes on guitar, Larry Klein on bass, Ian Stanley on keyboards, and Manu Katche on drums—dove into five frantic days of rehearsals before the tour began in San Francisco. By showtime, he was calling his group “a pretty good scratch band,” but still wasn’t sure if they were ready.

All doubts were erased on opening night. Though performing early in the show, Gabriel’s potent set—which featured “Biko” as its finale—proved to be an emotional highpoint matched only by U2.

“Amnesty is a lot better known in Europe than they are over here, so it seemed like a valuable thing to try to give them a lot more attention,” Gabriel said. “I really do believe that they make a difference in these places where freedom and rights are ignored. Government officials, I think, do respond to world attention.”

The 25-year-old human-rights organization is perhaps best known for its letterwriting campaigns. Local chapters adopt individual political prisoners and write letters pressuring for their release. Gabriel regards that tactic as especially effective.

“Personal stories make it so much easier for you to get plugged into a situation,” he said. “I’ve read Amnesty pamphlets that include diaries of very ordinary people whose lives were ruined for holding points of view which you and I would consider very reasonable, normal and acceptable. They.’re very effective in bringing it home to you.

“With Ethiopia it was much the same. Reading about mass starvation in the Sahara doesn’t mean much to a lot of people. But seeing a child dying in front of your eyes is a whole other matter.”

In the case of Sun City, Gabriel says the record helped spark a chain reaction that began with a shift in American public opinion and eventually lead to South Africa’s recent repeal of its notorious pass laws.

Gabriel is proud of his role in that chain reaction, but is quick to caution against holier-than-thou attitudes.

“It feels good to be a part of that process, no question about it,” he said. “But musicians, I think, should own up to the positive side of it for our egos, as well as for the cause. In other words, we’re getting benefits out if it in addition to helping the cause, even if it’s as simple as being able to sleep better at night.

“It’s the same, I think, with social workers: many of the best social workers are people who know they are doing it for themselves as well as for the people they help.”

He added that “It wouldn’t really matter to me, though, if people were doing these things completely for the wrong reasons. The end result is that we’re succeeding at bringing attention and money for areas that really need it.” 0