Jason Mraz performs in Myanmar vs. trafficking

NASHVILLE (AP) — Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is believed to be the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the Asian country, which is emerging from decades of repression by a military regime. Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at the People’s Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.

The show includes local acts and is hosted by MTV EXIT, the music channel’s initiative to raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation.

“That’s pretty exciting,” Mraz said of the history involved, “and I’m going there with an enormous amount of gratitude and respect, and I hope we can actually make a difference.”

The show will be broadcast on Myanmar national television and will air on MTV’s international network in 2013. The 35-year-old Mraz hosted a similar concert in the Philippines last year. He first became interested in the issue about four years ago when he attended the Freedom Awards, an annual salute to those working against human exploitation put on by the organization Free the Slaves.

“I thought this was something that was abolished when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but all it did is become hidden from our view,” Mraz said in a phone interview from Switzerland.

Myanmar’s military junta ceded power to a new elected government last year, and President Barack Obama is scheduled next week to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country.

Mraz said there is concern that predators will prey on the vulnerable in Myanmar in this time of great change. The concert offers an opportunity to “educate, empower and engage,” he said.