Musicians’ album raises money to honour Ana

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This article was published 22/12/2012 (4662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A group of Manitoba musicians launched an album Friday to raise money to honour the memory of slain six-year-old Ana Márquez-Greene.

The album, called Little Hands, features 26 songs — one for each victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14 in Connecticut.

Money raised from the sale of the album will go to a music scholarship fund in memory of Ana, a former Winnipegger killed in the mass shooting.

The album was put together in less than a week.

“Seeing the tragedy on the news just struck me,” said Jean-Guy Roy, the album’s organizer and the singer-songwriter for the band Federal Lights.

The album features songs by several local artists, including Imaginary Cities, Les Jupes, Royal Canoe, Quinzy, Jordan St. Cyr, Keri Latimer, JP Hoe and Fred Penner, who donated their work.

Roy said there was an “overwhelming response” to a call-out for musicians.

“They all got on board right away, really quickly,” said Roy.

Before the family went to the U.S., Ana’s father, Jimmy Greene, was a jazz instructor at the University of Manitoba, and her mother, Nelba Márquez-Greene worked at the University of Winnipeg.

The music scholarship fund in Ana’s name will be at Western Connecticut State University, where Jimmy Greene, a Hartford native, now works.

Roy said the album’s name has particular meaning. It comes from a news clip mentioning children being led out of the school with their hands held and eyes closed after the shooting so they wouldn’t see the devastation, he said.

The album is available online at littlehands.bandcamp.com, and costs $12.99 for all 26 songs. Individual songs are available for $1.

Ana is being buried in Connecticut today. A live satellite feed of the service will be shown at 11 a.m. at Grant Memorial Baptist Church, 877 Wilkes Avenue.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca