Bands and artists: Badly Drawn Boy + Gideon Conn + Jim Noir + Jo Rose + Josephine + Liam Frost + Liz Green + Silverclub + The Travelling Band

The charity MaK (Manchester Aid to Kosovo) have created a CD compilation album called MaK10 with most famous Manchester based artists and bands which launches next week with parties in Manchester and London on the 5th and 7th April.

The album was conceived at the ten year anniversary of the Podujeve massacre, hence the name, and after two years of work from Jo and the MaK team, is being launched on 4th April with a gig at the Deaf Institute, and on 7th April in London at Union Chapel. A total of eighteen Mancunian acts have donated their music to the compilation, including Doves, Elbow, Stephen Fretwell, Cherry Ghost, The Beep Seals, Nine Black Alps and Keith. A select few will be performing at the launch shows, including Gideon Conn, Josephine, Jim Noir, Liz Green, Silverclub and Badly Drawn Boy.

"Manchester musicians have contributed to the fundraising in many, many ways" said Pam Dawes of MaK. "This is now the second album, we've done lots of concerts, including the Eden Sessions with Damon and Ian Brown which raised £14,000, and we've done many different musical events, so a huge chunk of funding has come from the work of Manchester musicians.

"The park now is nearly finished, the sports field is being sown today, as we speak, and we've planted out thousands of trees and shrubs. We do lots of children's activities out there across the summer and it's a place that's used by the whole community, of about 125,000 people. It's really brought life to the town."

MaK also raise funds through music memorabilia, with some impressive donations made to the cause in the form of music collectibles. One such item is Badly Drawn Boy's gold disc for The Hour of Bewilderbeast, which was kindly donated to rase money for MaK.

And it won't stop when the park is finished because then it's all about programming and how to make the park into a really special place as a Peace Park. There will be drama events, sport, poetry, maybe some comedy, and Pam has organised a new music project with Badly Drawn Boy, who is going to give some exclusives tracks. "So we're really excited about that!" she says.

"We feel really really grateful and involved with Manchester musicians because they've been such a huge part of this whole project" said organiser Pam.

About MaK

MaK formed in 1999 in a pub in Manchester, after some guys had simply been watching the news and had seen what was going on in the Balkans. They couldn't just have another drink and forget about it, so in that moment 'Manchester aid Kosovo' was born, with them as founding members.

A mere three weeks later, MaK took 15 articulated lorries full of supplies over to the camps in Eastern Europe. After some simple food or equipment provision a lot of people would have thought the victims were catered for, but not MaK. As a lot of Kosovan people were evacuated here to Manchester with serious injuries, the charity put a lot more thought into how they and the people of Manchester could help the suffering region a lot more.

Some of the children who survived the awful Podujeve massacre (on 28th March 12 years ago) asked MaK to make a peace park in their home town where they'd lost so many members of their families, and where they were all shot many times themselves. MaK deiced this was a task they could undertake, and the small piece of land initially discussed turned out to be 22 acres, now with a sports field, seated area, coloured flags designed by a local school girl, lots of plants and a series of ongoing activities for the whole of the community including art schemes, IT projects and music showcases.

The Ten album launch takes place at The Deaf Institute, Manchester on Monday 4th April, and at Union Chapel, Highbury, London on Thursday 7th April.

For more informtation visit:
www.makonline.org/ten
http://www.unionchapel.org.uk/events.php?gig=d4f2582e-40d4-441b-bc16-3cf07fb5dcf1
http://www.skiddle.com/news/all/Manchester-Musicians-Launch-Album-to-Aid-Kosovo/8892/
http://www.thecmuwebsite.com/article/manchester-aid-to-kosovo-compilation-launch-next-week/