Alanis Morissette Dedicates Anthem to Female Costa Rican Coffee Growers
Do you ever wonder where your morning cup of java comes from or how many hands it took to cultivate it?
Well, if you haven't, you might be surprised to learn just how many of those hard-working hands were women's hands.
This realization came to light for director and producer of "Waiting for Superman" and "An Inconvenient Truth," Lesley Chilcott. Her upcoming documentary, "A Small Section of the World" focuses on the Asociacion de Mujeres Organizadas de Biolley (ASOMOBI) and tells the "inspirational story about a group of women from a remote farming region in Costa Rica whose ideas sparked a revolution in the coffee growing world."
While the men of their village left in search of work, the women gathered together and empowered themselves to create a better future for their families and the overall community. The documentary chronicles their impact, perseverance and how their hard work affects others on a global scale.
Also moved by their story is Grammy-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, who lent her voice to create the anthem for the documentary, called "The Morning."
The Ottawa-born alternative singer, whose "Jagged Little Pill" sold over 33 million copies worldwide, was a perfect fit, as her past songwriting has embodied female empowerment, strength, irony and love.
Morissette teamed up with renowned Costa Rican musician Carlos "Tapado" Vargas to create the moving anthem. Besides Morissette's rich yet delicate take on "The Morning," there's a unique approach to the song's background percussion. The song incorporates the authentic sounds of sifting coffee beans and other machinery used in producing coffee, which fill out the sound beautifully.
"I just basically live for the feminine being and beauty -- really talking about it and extolling the virtues of the feminine being celebrated in men and women alike," Morissette told The Hollywood Reporter of the collaboration.
According to the International Women's Coffee Alliance, "Of the world's estimated 1 billion poor, 70 percent are women. Women own less than 1 percent of the world's titled land. The World Bank estimates that more than 500 million people throughout the world are dependent on coffee for their livelihoods, and of that number, 25 million are coffee farmers. Unfortunately, coffee farmers typically live and work in substandard conditions, which are compounded by the fact that they receive only a small percentage of the actual price for which the coffee is sold to the consumer."
"Women, who represent a good majority of coffee farmers, face additional challenges," accoring to the International Women's Coffee Alliance. "Aside from the day-to-day struggles women coffee farmers face in order to maintain a respectable standard of living, they also struggle with the gender inequality prevalent throughout the world's coffee growing regions."
Morissette, who is an avid supporter of female filmmakers and recently attended the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, told THR that the song and video are telling the "subtle details of how women are every day."
"These women were built to serve; they're built to fortify the bond of a village, of a community, of a family," Morissette said. "So much of their intention behind this was to find ways to create income for their village to the point where people and family members wouldn't have to leave in order to bring home the proverbial bacon."
Morissette gave it her all in an effort to genuinely interpret the inspirational story of these hard-working, trailblazing women.
"I think they (producers Nick Davidge and Dominic Sandifer) were trying to see who might lend the voice and sing through the hearts and minds and soul of these women in Costa Rica, to tell their story and articulate something that might be a little challenging to articulate," Morissette added. "I was flattered that they saw me as the kind of person that can really get inside another person's experience and capacity, and articulate it for them as I could. It was an honor."
"A Small Section of the World" opens in Los Angeles on Dec. 5 and New York on Dec. 19. It will also be available on demand beginning Dec. 16.
Check out the video for Alanis Morissette's "The Morning" and the official trailer for "A Small Section of the World."
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