It’s not easy to express just how long the people of Afghanistan have been plagued by war. We can say “31 years of continual warfare” or that next month, in April of 2009, the country and its people will enter a 32nd year of conflict (the Afghan war began with the Communist coup of April, 1978).

How about looking at it in a completely different way? What if we try measuring "the catastrophe” against a milestone of popular culture, like pop music?

Now we’re talking epochs.

When the Afghan war began, the Bee Gees were in the charts with Night Fever, Stayin’ Alive and How Deep Is Your Love.

If you were on your feet when those catchy tunes hit the airwaves, dancing under some disco's mirror ball, you were born when Lyndon Johnson was president of the United States.

The point is: we outgrew our bell bottoms, but warlords still reign in Afghanistan. The Kalashnikov endures, while John Travolta's white suit has been consigned to history.

Discouraging? Maddening, even? You bet – enough to make a bunch of musicians from three continents reach for their microphones and guitars, and let loose. This is Electric Caravan, 18 players and singers from Canada, Afghanistan and Britain.

The track is Countryman (Freedom From War), a song of encouragement, empowerment and hope.

Have a listen and a look above, and get Countryman into your own MP3 player at www.countrymansong.com 

All proceeds will support women’s education and journalists’ rights in Afghanistan.

Help Countryman rock the warlords, and roll hope into the hearts of the people of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan, the past is done,

deliverance will surely come

when the world stands back and lets our

own country's will be done...