Silence of the Day: An Austrian's Noiseless Track Has Topped That Country's Charts à la Pootie Tang

In an attempt to aid the flood of refugees entering Austria, as well as protest the government's policies regarding them, one musician dropped a pretty unique single Aug. 21. And his countrymen and women are listening.

Those escaping Middle Eastern conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan have run into some pretty unwelcoming European governments and Raoul Haspel wanted to do something about it.

He 'recorded' a minute of silence, released it and it quickly over took Austria's charts.

According to Reuters:

Proceeds from Raoul Haspel's track Schweigeminute ("Minute's Silence"), which beat German DJ Robin Schulz to capture top spot through pre-orders alone earlier this week, will go toward aid for people in the asylum processing center in Traiskirchen.

More than 2,000 refugees in Traiskirchen have been sleeping in the open for weeks, braving heat of around 40 degrees Celsius and rainstorms wrapped in blankets on the grass, and Amnesty International last week called their treatment "scandalous".

Children who had fled alone from countries like Afghanistan and Syria have been offered no psychological care, women have had to use mixed showers, and a baby with a concussion was left next to a bus on a parking lot, the human rights group said.

Haspel futher explained his usage of silence for the protest/charity song:

"I chose silence because everybody has such a strong opinion on the situation, and the debate just gets louder and louder each time... arguments and protests are not being heard anymore, people are becoming fed up and not paying attention as before."

This is all very inspiring and a righteous cause, but it also completely, totally reminds us of this:



Pootie done did it again.

Haspel's track is available at at iTunes, Google Play and at Amazon.