The Concert for Ukraine is on Saturday night in Portland. Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock.com

As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Mainers have been offering their support, in big and small ways, and there’ll be another opportunity to do so Saturday when One Longfellow Square presents a benefit show featuring an eclectic mix of local musicians, with every cent going to the local nonprofit Partners for World Health.

The performers, whose range of genres should appeal to a wide audience, include Joe K. Walsh, Caroline Cotter, Dominic Lavoie, Angelikah Fahray, Jeff Beam, Clarisse Karasira and Jason Spooner.

Partners for World Health, based in Portland, collects medical supplies and equipment from health care facilities, manufacturers, other organizations and individuals. It sorts, evaluates, repackages and prepares these supplies and equipment for distribution to individuals, communities and health care facilities that need them, both locally and internationally, and recently launched a Ukraine-specific emergency appeal.

A message from CEO and founder Elizabeth McLellan on the organization’s website says that urgently needed medical equipment and supplies will be sent to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees in Poland, and some have already been sent. This is happening in real time and not some abstract concept littered with red tape and middlemen.

“We’re all frustrated with what’s happening on the international scene, but we can all take direct action as humanitarians,” said Paul Golding, director of development and communications at Partners for World Health, which is in contact with relief organizations in Ukraine and Poland and updated daily about what supplies are needed.

Programming director and venue manager Jeff Beam stands outside One Longfellow Square in Portland. Photo by Aimsel Ponti

Beam, executive director of One Longfellow Square, said the idea for the concert started with employee Fiona O’Grady, who told him she was tired of feeling helpless and wondered if there was a way the Portland music venue could help. A few years ago, Partners for World Health participated in the venue’s Music Helps program, which invited local nonprofits to set up at a table in the venue’s lobby and speak before performances. So it made sense to Beam to reach out again about the benefit show.

Advertisement

Beam enlisted the help of several musician friends and artists who had previously played at One Longfellow Square, and everyone who was able to participate said yes. Beam was unfamiliar with Karasira, a singer who is well established in her home country of Rwanda and has been living in Maine for about a year, but had been tipped off about her talent, so he invited her to perform and she agreed.

Jason Spooner. Photo by N. Barrett

Spooner hopes the concert encourages awareness and support for Ukrainians, whose plight has felt more personal to the musician because of his grandfather’s experience in World War II, specifically the Battle of the Bulge.

“He rarely spoke about the war, but as I got older, my father shared some of his photo albums from that period with me to give me some insight. The documentation of the devastation that he and his fellow soldiers witnessed, walking into destroyed cities and then prison camps in Poland toward the end of the war, will always stick with me,” said Spooner. “The images and footage that we’re seeing daily almost feel like we’re looking back into history books, but we are, sadly, squarely in the present.”

Spooner will be playing a few acoustic songs on Saturday and otherwise is putting the final touches on a new live record he’s releasing May 20 with a show at Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield.

You’ll also hear bluegrass tunes from Walsh, R&B from Fahray, psychedelic rock from Lavoie and Beam, and folk from Cotter, along with a few songs from Karasira. Her song “Gira Neza” is closing in on two million plays on YouTube.

So whether you’re familiar with a few of these artists or they’re all new to you, please consider going to this show, because you’re guaranteed to love at least some of what you hear, and you’ll be supporting a cause of extreme importance. If you can’t attend the show, you can still make a donation at support.partnersforworldhealth.org or text help4ukraine to 207-656-5261.

Concert for Ukraine: A Benefit for Partners For World Health
8 p.m. Saturday. One Longfellow Square, 181 State St., Portland, $15 in advance, $20 at the door. onelongfellowsquare.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.