Trying to sing the pain away

COLOMBIA is a country known for both terrific music and terrible violence.

Now a group of artists led by Juanes, the country’s international pop superstar, are joining forces for a Los Angeles concert to try to use music to help relieve the suffering caused by Colombia’s 40-year-old civil war.

The Colombia Sin Minas (Colombia Without Mines) Concert, scheduled Wednesday at the Gibson Amphitheatre, brings together an unusual combination of artists from various Spanish-speaking nations to help raise money for the victims of land mines in Colombia. The all-star roster features Juanes along with Carlos Vives, his Colombian colleague and leading exponent of vallenato music; Alejandro Sanz, Spain’s preeminent contemporary singer-songwriter; and Juan Luis Guerra, the acclaimed Dominican singer-songwriter, in a rare local appearance.

“Right now, the most important thing we can do is to help alert the world about what’s happening in Colombia,” Juanes said. “The idea is to use music as a form of mass communication to say, ‘Hey, we’re here and we need help.’ ”

Colombia ranks second in the world behind Afghanistan for the number of land mine victims, according to statistics cited by event organizers.

An estimated 120,000 land mines have been deployed in the country just in the last six years, claiming three victims every day. The buried bombs are used by guerrillas and drug traffickers, who are often allied, to protect coca fields and guerrilla encampments.

All proceeds from the concert, which sold out in five hours, will go to aid the victims, most of whom are from poor, rural areas. Half of all civilian victims are children, according to UNICEF.

One of them is Monica Paola Ardila, who was just 7 when a land mine shattered her life and her body, costing her a breast and a hand, plus her remaining five fingers and her sight.

It happened four years ago when Monica, along with her father and little brother, was walking home from school, a one-hour trek in her rural region in the northern part of the country.

At one point, the girl stepped off the road to relieve herself behind some trees. When she had finished, Monica tried to lift her underwear but slipped and fell to the ground. Her hands came down on a land mine, which exploded in her face.

“Despite all that tragedy,” says freelance television reporter Claudia Bahamon, who just returned from Colombia, “this little girl loves to dance, and you always see her with a smile on her face. That’s what most impressed me about her. She’s the happiest girl I’ve ever met.”

Monica’s story is one of several such cases to be featured on the Univision network’s nightly Spanish-language news as a lead-up to next week’s concert. Univision stations will start airing Bahamon’s reports on the victims starting tonight. Univision radio stations will also support the fundraising campaign.

Juanes acknowledges the fundraising effort will not put an end to the problem of land mines in his country. But it can help restore victims to some level of health and self-sufficiency, through prosthetics for lost limbs, physical and psychological therapy and job training.

Money is also needed for education campaign to teach civilians how to avoid the deadly booby traps that surround them.

THE award-winning singer-songwriter says he got involved in the cause almost unintentionally after the release of his debut solo album in 2001, “Fijate Bien,” roughly translated as “Mind Your Step.”

The title song alluded to the unexpected dangers of hidden land mines, sparking many invitations for the artist to appear and perform for soldiers and other affected groups.

The concert is being produced by the Mi Sangre (My Blood) Foundation, a charitable agency Juanes recently launched, named for his smash 2004 album release. Juanes invited his colleagues to participate in the show, which will feature a pared-down acoustic format, mostly guitars and piano.

Rounding out the lineup will be Luis Fonsi, Puerto Rico’s recent breakout pop star, Ana Gabriel, Mexico’s husky-voiced pop-ranchera singer, Laura Pausini, Italy’s bilingual pop diva, and singer-producer Ricardo Montaner, who was born in Argentina and reared in Venezuela.

“The beautiful thing about it is that we’re not all from Colombia,” says Fonsi, who is now a friend and neighbor of Juanes in Miami. “It doesn’t matter where we’re from, we all have to stick together and help each other out as performers and as human beings.”

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Colombia Sin Minas

Where: Gibson Amphitheatre, 100 Universal Plaza, Universal City

When: 8:15 p.m. Wednesday

Price: $49.50 to $204.50

(sold out)

Info: (818) 622-4440