Founder – Birdsong New Music Foundation
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, a bird only sings because it has a song.” – ancient Chinese Proverb (reassigned to Maya Angelou, 2001).
Live Event Photo Credits: Allan Tong
A message arrives from Mae Martin, co-creator, co-writer, and star of the Channel 4/Netflix tragi-comedy series “Feel Good” and one-third of Handsome Podcast with Tig Notaro and Fortune Feimster: “Margaret, December 15 works for me, I am so excited and thrilled to host the Birdsong New Music Foundation fundraiser in Toronto and I’ll fly in from Los Angeles to do it!”
How do I feel? Stoked, of course - elated, and nervous!
Another text: “I miss David, and your work is important. See you before Christmas.” Imagine my excitement!
Speaking with Mae Martin vividly brings back my son, David Martin. The two loved each other; both were gifted, handsome and unique creative spirits. For David it was all about his own brand of simple indie songs about the human condition. “David was that funny kid who always had a guitar strapped to his back,” says Mae. “And he would send me songs and we would encourage each other to be creative, especially during tough times. He was radically cool, and I wanted to be just like him. His mom is doing important things for people who struggle, and I will support this charity with all my heart.”
Now with an ever-growing following, Mae came out as non-binary in 2021, sharing, “The way I feel about my gender identity is ongoing and evolving, and it’s personal, but I thought it might be good to say for clarity and in case anyone finds it helpful – I’m non-binary, my pronouns are ‘they/them’.”
Finding celebrities to be part of a fundraiser for a unique but fledgeling certified charity isn't easy. I had asked several artists, but their management had other plans. To my surprise, after Mae says yes, Canada’s renowned baritone and incredible soul Russell Braun texts me from Germany that, as this charity speaks very deeply to his and his wife's heart (pianist Carolyne Maude), they will fly together from Frankfurt to perform a set for the show. “There is a lot of mental illness within the opera community,” he stresses. “And we want to help!”
I levitate after reading that note. Even our small board of directors’ seven years of work with a beautiful idea hasn’t made funding easy for an organization that depends on small donations. Continuing during the pandemic in Canada, we published a pleasurable double CD dubbed FIRST FLIGHT 101. Showcasing thirteen unknown Birdsong artists, it has become our calling card for performances featuring their indie music with bands assembled ad hoc. Our first occurred during Canadian Music Week in 2022 at The Duke. Struggling with trauma from mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar, borderline, schizoid-associative disorder, anxiety, depression, substance use disorder and TBI, all our songwriters share in our profound love of music and mutually generate profound healing.
But the stage is now set for both those with us since our inception and some new ones. By 8 September, David's birthday, two celebrities have confirmed performance plans with us. We contact seven of our artists to see if they will participate in our second Toronto show fundraiser. Two months ahead of the show, spearheaded by one of our Birdsong music producers Bryant Didier, The Birdsong Village Band begins rehearsals in Toronto of the songs available on our website for sale at birdsongnewmusicfoundation.ca .
In early 2024 a new artist qualified for our grant – Robert Priest, known in many circles for his great work as a singer, songwriter and poet of the people. His involvement with the charity as an artist and ambassador has been nothing short of uplifting. “I know from my own bouts with it, that mental illness can be a terrifying experience,” says Priest. “There’s no telling when it comes or if it goes. It can come to people of any profession. Not every profession is afflicted equally though and statistically, songwriters and musicians are much more likely to go through its ravages. Frequently, it is accompanied by a feeling of having become irrevocably detached from the workaday world. Regaining one’s abilities can seem impossibly out of reach. It is a sure sign of returning wellness when one can dare to begin taking on formerly normal activities.
“For musicians this means singing and playing again and ultimately, this means recording. Unfortunately, the loss of income at times coming with disabling illness can make taking that final step towards wellness – recording a song – all but impossible. This is where Birdsong Foundation flies in and attempts to fill that gap with small grants to pay studio, production and video costs. It is amazing how getting back to work can help get a musician back to mental health.”
The lyrics of “Simple Human Kindness,” one of the two Birdsongs written by Robert Priest and Allan Booth in early 2024, struck me as the perfect theme for our good fight, through help with music production for songs by people with mental illness or substance use disorder, against the stigma that prevents them from having as many opportunities as the healthy have. We were also lucky enough to attract the attention of award-winning music producer Greg Kavanagh (and film director Peter Lynch (Project Grizzly) for a fraction of the cost of “Simple Human Kindness” expensive professional video production.
By November 2024 we decide our unique fundraiser’s title is The Simple Human Kindness Show, on December 15, 2024, hosted by Mae Martin and starring our own confirmed Birdsong artists. Meanwhile, Russell Braun and Carolyne Maude select one of my son David’s songs, entitled Pray For Your Peace, as part of their closing set for the show, along with Samuel Barber’s Sure On This Shining Night and Imagine by John Lennon.
I am touched by their selection and ask why this song of David’s, especially for an opera star. “I sing other people’s music, that is what I do,” Braun says. “I give music a voice. What I found remarkable about David’s song Pray For Your Peace is that I have sung many songs about helping others and spreading love and it is the first song I felt that was actually directed at me. The song is about your own self love, I think. David writes in the lyrics about the artist underneath an hour before the show – pray for your peace. We all get nervous especially before a show and if you don’t have peace within yourself, it is hard to convey it to others. This is a brilliant and beautiful song, and I am privileged to sing it.”
The doors open at Lula Lounge in Toronto’s west side to a sold-out audience of over 350. Curtains open as magic and excitement spread like mesmerizing wildfire. Taking the stage, I vibrate with excitement and welcome both audience and performers, many joining us from far away this special night.
Watch the video trailer here: instagram.com/reel/DEQxIdTRK3B/
I introduce Mae Martin, who sings two of David’s songs, “So Good Looking Man” and “Searching for a Better Life” (his only album can be heard on our website at birdsongnewmusicfoundation.ca .
Having lost all hope on September 24, 2017, David ended his life a block from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, just 30 years young. I knew that if I was to survive, the answers could be deciphered somewhere between meditation and recollection of my son’s life with bipolar illness and substance use disorder and contemplation of his lyrics and music. Birdsong became an idea that came to me when I took 18 months off after his death and lived in my trailer in the Arizona desert. Beautiful desert birds and migrating songbirds spoke to me through their fragility and pure song and the idea of helping musicians who live with mental illness took shape.
We are all deeply moved and humbled by the genuine love Mae shows her friend. Hearing her sing David's songs reminds me of a better life I too am searching for, now without him.
I can sense David in the concert hall this night, very happy, smiling; now everything is somehow all right.
From that point on it’s a two-hour blur as the session band takes the stage and joins the voices, instruments, and lyrics of Robert Priest, Dustin Harder (called Prairie Soul – from Winnipeg), Allan Kinney (from Ottawa), Robin Benedict (from Hamilton), Ashley Bell (from Haggersville ON), Jhmal King (from Toronto), and D.M. Lafortune (from Toronto) to send love and hope into the audience. We have three cameras shooting the show to showcase the indie music of our performers.
This magical night is forever engraved in my consciousness, a weapon against my own trauma from burying my only child after he lost all hope on earth. My greatest gift in this life was being a mother to David. Now through me and the people that work with the organization, I find he amazingly creates hope and healing again through music. Many others are drawn to this profound power. It’s not just our organization – it’s bigger than that.
We will be creating another fundraiser in Toronto next December. Join us on social media, get involved, perhaps write and record a new song, and choose hope and compassion over hopelessness and stigma.
