Peter Maybarduk is a Washington, D.C.-based songwriter and a human rights lawyer with Public Citizen.

Lawyer | Professional activity

Peter Maybarduk is Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program Director. Maybarduk helps governments and civil society groups around the world use flexibilities in patent and trade rules to promote access to medicines for all. For example, Maybarduk’s recent work with partners yielded major HIV/AIDS drug price reductions in Colombia and new state access to medicines policies enacted by the President of Ecuador. His work also focuses on protecting competition and access under intellectual property enforcement policies, and on appropriate policy responses to criminally adulterated or falsified medicines.

Social | Public | Studies

Maybarduk has co-founded and coordinated several volunteer-run advocacy and assistance groups, including International Professional Partnerships for Sierra Leone (IPPSL), dedicated to supporting public sector development in one of the world’s least developed countries. He studied law at the University of California at Berkeley and anthropology at the College of William and Mary.

Composer | Performer

Maybarduk is a composer and performer of music, currently recording his third album with producer J. Robbins. His second album No Hay Pueblo Vencido (No Defeated People), produced by J. Robbins, features Spanish guitar, electronic pop and post-punk rock. Two of the record’s songs, Darker Days and Siddhartha on his Raft won mention in this year’s Mid-Atlantic Song Contest.

Currently | This year | Everyday

Maybarduk performs regularly at district venues, including Black Cat, Busboys & Poets and the Red & the Black. He also maintains an odd tour schedule synchronized to his international work. For example, Maybarduk headlined World AIDS Day ceremonies this year in Bogotá, Colombia.
Maybarduk is currently recording his third album, slated for release in summer 2011.

Born | World | Indie rock

Born on July 4, 1979, to an American diplomat and a social worker in Mexico City, Maybarduk has since lived and worked in Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador, among other countries, and across the United States from a reform school in rural Maine to law school in Berkeley, California, where he fronted indie rock trio Last Clear Chance.

Dreams | Poetry

In Darker Days Maybarduk sings,

I only want to be of use. To protect a people or an idea.

Many of his songs wrestle with the challenges of creating both personal and political change.

Sound

Maybarduk’s sounds range from electronic sample-based compositions (Siddhartha on his raft) to conversations on Spanish guitar (Sundays) to full-tilt post-punk rock (Dom Helder Camara). He self-released his first album, Passengers a narrative of introspective songs bridged by field recordings, in 2007.