The Healing Force, a popular Christian family act represented by Indie Extreme, has been awarded the Bunche Medal for “bridging and celebrating African-American and African culture with spirit-affirming universal values, sparkling creativity, and stunning music, dance and traditional story-telling.”

The international Bunche Medal was crafted in 2003 to honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, the first U.S. citizen and the first person of color in the world to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The medal has been given since 2003 to individuals who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of finding peaceful solutions to social problems through cultural education and enlightenment.

Founded in 1975, The Healing force features Joseph and Gail Anderson, their daughter Sonji Gardner, and their son Karim. The performing family uses traditional African music, drumming, dancing and storytelling to encourage positive behavior, provide creative opportunities, and enrich school curriculums. They have traveled the country, appearing at schools, colleges, churches, museums, festivals, family reunions and community events. The group turns every performance into a celebration of African culture and spirit, where audience participation is encouraged.

The North Carolina performers also are the first laureates to be named “Goodwill Ambassadors of the Arts”. Part of their new duties, in addition to continuing to educate and enlighten audiences around the world with African-based music, dancing and stories, will be to oversee the creation of “jeli” gardens — vegetable gardens grown by children to help feed the community.

“We are flabbergasted and delighted beyond words to receive this recognition,” said Gail Anderson, who received the medal with other members of the family quartet at The Blessings Project in Winston-Salem, N.C. “We are deeply committed to helping children. We’ve been raising funds to help the citizens of Zambougou, Mali, build a new school and vegetable gardens. We’ve received letters of appreciation from the governor and the mayor, and the city council has issued a special proclamation to honor our efforts.”

The Bunche Medal was designed by Alex Shagin, an acclaimed artist who designed medals for the Olympics in Moscow and has exhibited works at noted museums, galleries and private collections around the world. Other recipients of the medal include Nelson Mandela, a former president of South Africa, and Paul Rusesabagina, a courageous hotel manager who helped save more than 1,000 lives during the genocide in Rwanda.

For more information about the Bunche Medal, The Healing Force, or the group’s fundraising efforts, call (336) 767-2724, send an e-mail to thehealingforce@aol.com, or visit http://www.thehealingforceonline.com.

“We are very excited to hear that The Healing Force has received the Bunche Medal,” said Kathy Douglas, CEO for Indie Extreme. “Joseph, Gail, Sonji Gardner and Karim are doing incredible things to help others. We are honored to represent them.”

Indie Extreme, which is based in Brentwood, Tenn., represents musical acts ranging from folk legend Judy Collins to hit CCM artist Matt Brouwer. The firm provides administrative and managerial services such as correspondence, bookkeeping, CD/merchandise fulfillment, marketing, publicity, database development, web site development, management/maintenance, e-commerce management, and the coordination of vendor services.
http://www.indieextreme.com

Joe Anfuso is the founder and president of Forward Edge International (FEI), a relief and mission’s organization dedicated to mobilizing ordinary people to share God’s love in practical ways in the U.S. and around the world. Forward Edge specializes in disaster response work, providing health care in poor communities, and addressing the needs of at-risk children. Since 1983, Forward Edge has sent more than 9,000 volunteers from across America to many parts of the U.S. and 34 foreign countries.

I listened to this CD for the first time with no idea of what was behind it all with the exception that there was a Christian message in between the music. My first impression was Anfuso was a person that knew how to strum the guitar with a mediocre voice but had a defined purpose behind his music. What happens, just as it always does for me, I listened several times and with each listen, my perception became more open to looking and listening to the entire picture not just one aspect. Speaking of pictures, the CD cover is interesting. Go to CD Baby and download the cover and look at the size of the cover, it is very small and not too hard to distinguish that an eye is staring back at you, thus the title Meet His Gaze. Then take the cover and put it at around 2.07″ and what you see is a pixilated image. To be honest I did not even notice this until I went through that process. My point here is that we are looking through the world with clouded vision these days; we do not see the truth of our existence. If we see it for what it really is and live as the good lord had intended then the picture becomes clear. I do not want to go overboard and be philosophical or opinionated; I just want to point out my view of this project in its entirety.

Back to the music-Joe is not the best singer in the world but he can carry a tune good enough to get the job done, and has an ability to get his point across. Although I have to say on “On Our Own Down Here” he sounds very strong and adds some electric guitar and bass to make it a driving rhythm with some punch. He tones it down on the other tracks because of the acoustic foundation and it makes sense why he approaches each song this way. There is a very important message that needs a voice and sending it through your music is a very viable medium.

I have no doubt Joe lays his heart on the line in every track, which is a lot more than most people do when they record an album. If you are looking to party down and rock out this is not your ticket there, however if you choose to sit back, collect your thoughts, hear some simple folk music with words that make sense and have a positive message, then I would suggest giving this CD a chance.

Artist: Joe Anfuso
Title: Meet His Gaze
Genre: Christian Folk Rock
Label: Independent
Website
CD Baby Link

Tracks:
01. Meet His Gaze
02. Karen
03. Till Death
04. All I Need
05. On Another’s Sorrow
06. O, Rachel
07. On Our Own Down Here
08. Do Not Fear
09. Safely Home
10. Somewhere

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Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck