Six Degrees sponsored a six-hour concert extravaganza in White Plaza Saturday in an effort to raise human rights awareness, with campus groups manning informational tables as bands Jazz Mafia, K23 Orchestra and Albino played under the Birdcage for a crowd of students, tourists and local residents.

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Becky Wright

Bay Area "Afrobeat" band Albino performs for the Six Degrees human rights and environmental awareness concert

Dozens of passing students stopped to talk with the various groups during the course of the afternoon, and several students lounged on the grass, chatting or reading as the bands performed, lending the concert a low-key air.

“I thought it was a really friendly, chill atmosphere,” said senior Brian Pfeiffer. “The good weather definitely helped.”

Six Degrees president Bradley Heinz, a junior, said the concert served a dual purpose.

“It was both a celebration of activism and an event to encourage collaboration between different student groups, NGOs and the general public,” he said. “We wanted to create a large audience so that groups could hand out petitions and talk to people. Basically it was about bringing together a lot of people and groups working similar causes.”

According to Heinz, Six Degrees originally focused itself to solely publishing a quarterly journal that provided students a venue to describe their experiences with activism and cover issues ignored by the mainstream press. Recently, the student group introduced an advocacy branch, which was designed to encourage student discourse about human rights by attracting speakers to campus and organizing events like the recent concert.

Matt “Smitty” Smith, a member of the band Albino, expressed enthusiasm about the melding of music and activism.

“We tend to be very active in progressive causes across the board,” Smith said. “Just this week we played for the Rainforest Action Network. We try to support a good cause when we can. I think it’s almost a necessary thing to do.”

“A lot of our songs have an activist component to them,” he continued. “We try to keep them rooted in the issues of the day. It’s a lighter way to get people’s ears open. Since they’re often so mired in the day to day, it’s a lot better than standing in a street corner with a bunch of fliers.”