Musician Chris Brown. Photo by Kirsten Ritchie
Chris Brown as a Musical Activist
When Hugh Christopher Brown built a studio on Wolfe Island, in Ontario, Canada, he didn’t know the effects it would have. It was only after some time when he realized that it would inspire him to enter the nearby prison and even launch a groundbreaking prison music rehabilitation initiative. Chris spearheaded the amazing Pros and Cons Program that infuses the power of healing for inmates by making music behind bars in Canadian prisons.
It is a story he tells in a thoughtful TEDx talk. Chris says, “Human beings can change for the better against great odds with the emotional platform and patience that music provides.”
Artist Hugh Christopher Brown
Multi-instrumentalist Chris Brown has performed with Ani DiFranco, Barenaked Ladies, Crash Test Dummies, Joan As Police Woman, the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Kate Fenner, and many others. Chris also produced highly acclaimed debut albums for Suzanne Jarvie and David Corley. He will soon be releasing his newest solo record, Pacem.
I have listened to all of Chris’ CDs and would not hesitate to call him “The Canadian Van Morrison.” His songs and his musicianship are incredibly soulful, clever, and inspiring. In particular, I was blown away by his songs “Superior” from Burden of Belief; “Oblivion,” “Snow” and “Whoever Built This Would Never Live Here” from Other People’s Heavens; “Drive While You Sleep” and “The Lesser Amount” from Geronimo; and “Failed” and “Exquisite Corpse” from O Witness.
The Pros and Cons Prison Music Project
In addition to his work as an artist, Chris is also a passionate and committed social justice activist. As part of the Pros and Cons music rehabilitation program at Joyceville Institution, he produced an album of the prisoners’ songs called Postcards from the County. Chris continues to run music workshops there.
The David Rockefeller Fund awarded $75,000 to expand Brown’s program to more prisons over the next few years. Chair of the Fund Michael Quattrone said, “The David Rockefeller Fund is pleased to support the Pros and Cons Project. Hugh Christopher Brown is an artist who understands the power of music and mentorship to transform lives. We especially admire his passionate commitment to bring that healing force to those who need it most. Pros and Cons has the potential to be a standing government program at a far greater scale.”
The Yoga of Music in Prison
Chris told me that his program brings “a brief escape from the dominating identity of being an inmate in a prison.” He compares it to yoga because “it takes great humility and great courage to feel in a place where you have so much pain. When that pain is brought about by suffering that you have caused others, it is usually avoided. The music provides a platform for unyielding emotions the way yoga provides a platform for the unyielding body to find other ways of being.”
More than four years ago, Chris was inspired to start the Pros and Cons project after the closure of the prison’s agricultural program at the Joyceville Institution. His request to “go inside” and work with the inmates was granted. He began hosting biweekly music sessions at the prison. While doing so, Chris encouraged the men to sing and write music as well as to learn production, arrangement, recording, and engineering skills.
A Few Pros from Cons Involved in the Music Project
Some of the prisoners who wrote songs for, sang or played music on Postcards from the County have now been released or are out on parole. One parolee, Lloyd Ingraham, said, “In my 11 years inside the Federal Prison system, I have never seen anything touch the hearts and souls of so many.
Chris was able to reach out to the guys through the power of music. The music drew them out and sometimes it took a lot of encouragement to convince them to get involved. There is a great power to seeing the look on a man’s face as he listens to himself for the first time on tape and realizes this is an accomplishment and he is capable of doing more than he ever thought he could. This experience gave the guys a new sense of purpose that brought them out of the darkness that had been in their life for so long.
Another parolee, Adam Harris wrote, “Music has been the only way I could express myself in a positive way. However, I never developed any associated skills much beyond playing guitar and writing rudimentary songs on my own, but never in a collaborative effort. Throughout our recording sessions and time on our own, I developed strong social skills that are helping me during my current-day parole release. I fell in love with music again. By receiving the positive feedback from Chris and the other professional musicians, my self-esteem started coming back as I flourished under their guidance and encouragement.”
The Success of the Pros and Cons Program
Chris expressed that he is proud that the art of all the participants over the last five years is having such a profound effect. The work stands as an example to help so many others. Chris says, “The practice of restorative justice lowers crime and recidivism rates, reduces violence and promotes mental health in prisons. It also prepares convicts for re-integration into society upon release.”
More information: Chris Brown and the Prison Music Project
For more information about Hugh Christopher Brown and the Pros and Cons Program, please visit ProsandConsprogram.com
For more information about the music and Chris’ new album Pacem, visit http://wolfeislandrecords.com/hughchristopherbrown
