HUMAN  
"This is also a song for Yeonmi Park, who escaped from North Korea. Her story is beyond anything most of us can imagine. She believed that Kim Jong-il could read her mind. In North Korea there were no stories, no songs, no movies that would depict anything other than the love for the dear leader, for the king. Western movies and information on thumb drives are now being smuggled in and a black market generation is emerging.
Please buy Yeonmi Park's book, In Order to Live. Also all money from downloads of this song will go to the organization in South Korea who helps refugees from North Korea find their way in a new life where they are finally treated like human beings." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34m5C8CyLms

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“When your mind is being read, it’s hard to draw a blank.” The simplicity of Vopnfjord’s lyrics that evoke such complex concepts is all over this song about Yeonmi Park, a refugee from North Korea. It’s Vopnford’s talent to write poetically but profoundly about topics of injustice and oppression and to carry the story through beautiful sounds. In this combination, he’s an artist who can use his art to educate. About Park’s new-found freedom, he cheers: “You’ll learn to be human / So follow that star to freedom / ‘Till you become that star / That leads to books! / to songs! / to news! / to movies! / to speak to who we are.” Through his songs, Vopnfjord entertains and teaches us how to understand ourselves and the world around us.

Lindy Vopnfjord
Acoustic Guitar and Vocals, Wurlitzer Piano on track 4

Rick May
Bass Guitar, Engineered by Garnett Betts at Coast Road Recording, Victoria, BC

Örn Eldjárn
Electric Guitar on track 2, engineered by Snorri Helgason at Snossgæti, Reykjavik, Iceland

Bob Egan
Pedal Steel Guitar

Ian LeFeuvre
Electric Guitar on track 2, Percussion and Drums on track 2, Violele on track 12

Stephen Krecklo
Lap Steel Guitar on tracks 6 & 7

Simon Miminis
Drums and Percussion

Luke Doucet
Electric Guitar on tracks 5 & 11

Todor Kobakov
Vibraphone, Rhodes Piano, Percussion and Drums on tracks 5, 6 & 9

Engineered by Jeremy Darby and Julian De Corte at Canterbury Music Company Toronto

Engineered by Todor Kobakov at Kobakov Sound Toronto

Mixed by Todor Kobakov at Kobakov Sound Toronto

Mastered by Steve Fallone at Sterling NYC

Produced by Todor Kobakov

Lyrics

HUMAN
When you think you are free But you’re still not free to think
When your mind is being read
It’s hard to draw a blank

When everything is new
It can change your whole world view
So how do you see it  When you know you’ve been lied to?

You’re learning to be
Learning to be
Learning to be human

You would die for the regime
When you’re born to love the king
Like a puppet on a string
Believing they could do anything to you

A fish is not aware of water And will drown out in the air
In a world that is your prison  They say it’s way worse way out there

If you learn to count your money
You won’t need to go to school
People pushed against a cage
Will learn to bend the rules

If you start to speak your mind
You’ll be target number one So become so famous they cannot hurt you
And keep on keeping on

So follow that star to freedom
Till you become that star
That leads to books, to songs, to news, to movies
To speak to who we are