Ani DiFranco

Elizabeth May

My knowledge of popular musicians is generally issue-linked. I didn’t really know Sting’s music until I met him in the effort to stop a dam in the Amazon. I became a Midnight Oil fan when Peter Garrett toured Canada to help stop clear-cut logging in Clayoquot Sound. And now I am an Ani DiFranco fan.

At Ani’s request I attended her two back-to-back Toronto concerts last week. She has dedicated her current North American tour to clean energy – acting on climate change and opposing nuclear energy. At each concert, she has invited a speaker to deliver that message, with a portion of ticket sales to the Nuclear Information Research Service (NIRS). Ani’s manager/friend Susan Alzner and I are on the board of NIRS, one of the most consistent and credible anti-nuclear watchdog organizations in the U.S. And I suppose that is how I was their choice for speaker.

I talked about Donna Dillman, member of the federal Green Party Council, on her 34th day of a hunger strike against the threat of uranium mining in Sharbot Lake on Algonquin Territory. We need the McGuinty government to commit to a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining.

The packed house at the Danforth Music Hall was clearly in the committed DiFranco fan base category. They knew the songs, called out requests and were clearly over-joyed just to hang out with her. Even in a hall of over 1,000 people, an Ani Difranco concert has the sense of intimacy that comes with hanging out with an old friend.

This old friend has just had a baby. The road tour now includes 14 people -- the band, crew, mother and 9 month old baby girl. This resonated for me, of course. I dragged my baby around with me from my first day back to work when she was fourteen days old until I stopped nursing, when she turned three. It was a joy never to be far from her, never spending the night away from her in those first three years.

What was great about the concerts was the mingling of an amazing musical talent with hard edged political message. Her song, The Atom, is probably the best anti-nuclear song I have ever heard and likely one of the strongest environmental anthems ever. “Human beings are a cross between monkeys and ants. You can see us from outer space melting the polar ice caps with our arrogance. May the religious get religion. May consumers get a clue. May the Earth inherit the meek.”

Check out Ani. Support her tour and her music, and her own record company (Righteous Babe records to avoid corporate control). And help the anti-nuclear movement (strongest Canadian groups -- Greenpeace, Sierra Club of Canada, and Energy Probe).