AT 4.15AM Japanese time on August 6th, 1945, the world changed forever.
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, of the USAF 393d Bombardment Squadron and named after the pilot Colonel Paul W Tibbet’s mother, operating under call sign Dimples 82, arrived over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and discharged the world’s first atomic strike.
An estimated 70,000 to 80,000 people either died immediately in the blast or in the resulting firestorm. Suddenly, humanity had stepped up several levels of self-destruction.
To mark this infamous anniversary, passionate anti-nuclear campaigner, Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciaran has announced he will take to YouTube with a six-hour live stream, beginning at 2.15pm today, August 6th – the time (adjusted to British Summer Time) that Enola Gay took off from an otherwise utterly obscure Tinian in the North Mariana Islands.
Ciaran will symbolically track the flight of the bomb, “Little Boy”, on board the Enola Gay, to match the six-hour flight time to Hiroshima.
By inviting listeners to spend some or all of those six hours in contemplation, he hopes to affect moments of calm consideration as part of a global community of people still dealing with the effects of that horrific act of war.
He says: “That humanity sank so low as to use its scientific ingenuity to cause such devastation and suffering on such a mind-blowing scale in August 1945 is worth a moment of pause.
“But what’s the difference between now and then, when we still invest in nuclear warheads we’ll never use and nuclear power that threatens, rather than builds, communities?
“When there are so many alternatives, we should ask why politicians and industry still put fear and self-interest above people.”
The six-hour stream will be based around his new track appealing for the might of collectivism, “Are You Down With Me?”, which features the collaborative, scything wordsmithery of Jehst and Cardiff’s Wibidi. The question is simple: are you with them; or are you with us?
Cardiff-based artist, Wibidi, jumps on board for a bright, melodic track with dark undertones riven with evidence of Ciarán’s enduring fascination with electronic music, where the simple questions is asked: are you with them or are you with us?
Released on Ciarán and fellow Furry, Dafydd Ieuan’s Strangetown Records, more music from Hero Leader God is scheduled to appear in a monthly cycle, leading to the full physical and digital releas
Join Ciaran for Are You Down With Me, Six Hour Version (Hiroshima Anniversary Event) at https://youtu.be/isa_2UIaEz0 and think, remember, reflect; reach out, organise.
