The ISU chapter of Students for a Free Tibet are sponsoring a music festival tomorrow evening at 9 p.m. in the Maintenance Shop. Minneapolis’ Colfax Abbey are headlining the concert which will include performances from Bottledog and Canary In The Mine.

The event is following a larger level freedom festival for Tibet held last summer in San Francisco, organized by Beastie Boy MCA and featuring the Smashing Pumpkins among others.

“We were talking about it before the Beastie Boys thing this summer,” ISU Chapter treasurer Ryan Bergman said. “We didn’t have anyone from our group there, but once it happened we knew we wanted to do something here.”

ISU’s Chapter of Students for a Free Tibet was formed last February by president Carrie Ohlendorf. “She had been to Northern India and was talking about it,” Bergman said. “I was amazed she decided to start a chapter and I joined.”

Bergman ran into some problems in finding talent for the concert, but with the help of M-Shop coordinator Rusty Poehner, they were able to get Colfax Abbey.

Colfax Abbey formed a few years ago in Racine, Wis., and have since settled in Minneapolis. They are known for their rare mixture of ambient and grunge guitars. Colfax Abbey’s trance inducing guitar pop is captured on their latest CD release, Drop.

Bottledog and Canary In The Mine are both making their Ames debut on Saturday.

“Canary In The Mine is Dan Rodman’s new band,” Bergman said. Rodman was the singer and founder of the Ames band Pawn Broker Pipe Dream.

Both Bergman and Ohlendorf will speak at the festival, along with outspoken Tibetan activist and Des Moines native Aaron Jorgensen. “He’s been big into it for other schools,” Bergman said.

The festival admission charge of $5 will go towards the Students for a Free Tibet movement. Tibet was invaded by the Republic of China in 1949, resulting in over 1.2 million Tibetan deaths.

ISU’s chapter of Students for a Free Tibet are focused on getting the University to pull investments they have in businesses working with China.

“One of the ways Universities make money is through investing in businesses,” Bergman explained. “Through the U.S.-China Business Council, we want to find out which of these businesses invest in China and push for Iowa State to drop them.”