African leaders and musicians back record-breaking Live 8 concerts
-02/07/05
Ten Live 8 anti-poverty concerts, from Tokyo to Toronto, are taking place today and tomorrow to coincide with the start of a one-week long protest while the G8 leaders gather at the Gleneagles Hotel, 40 miles northwest of Edinburgh, from 6-8 July.
Taken together, the gigs constitute the biggest ever global satellite-linked event.
The African leader of the United Nations, African church leaders and African musicians are among those lending their support, even as the worldís media turns its attention almost exclusively to the white celebrities who form the bulk of the stage acts.
Over two billion people will see the Live 8 events across the world, which are aiming to tell the richest countries that ordinary people want to ìmake poverty historyî.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in London to give his support, declared: ìThis really is a united nations of the people. The whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor.î
Iconic South African ex-Archbishop Desmond Tutu has also given his backing. And Nigerian Anglican leader Peter Akinole was in London earlier this week to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury and British chancellor Gordon Brown to reinforce the message.
In the UK, a concert featuring African artists is taking place at the Eden Project, an ecological centre in Cornwall. Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour will perform here, as well as in London and Paris.
The Eden Project event – organised by Peter Gabriel – was announced after criticism that other concerts had excluded performers from Africa.
Gabriel told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that he thought there should have been more African acts in Hyde Park.
ìBob Geldof’s point of view is that the principal job of this event is to get billions of eyes all around the world to watch and any unfamiliar artists, whether they come from Africa, London or New York, may cause people to channel-switchî, he said.
Gabriel, the ex-Genesis star who has worked extensively with African musicians, added: ìI don’t agree, but I am very happy we have Live 8’s blessing and Bob’s blessing and I think now we have been brought into the family and we are going to have a very special event today.î
African leaders and musicians back record-breaking Live 8 concerts
-02/07/05
Ten Live 8 anti-poverty concerts, from Tokyo to Toronto, are taking place today and tomorrow to coincide with the start of a one-week long protest while the G8 leaders gather at the Gleneagles Hotel, 40 miles northwest of Edinburgh, from 6-8 July.
Taken together, the gigs constitute the biggest ever global satellite-linked event.
The African leader of the United Nations, African church leaders and African musicians are among those lending their support, even as the world’s media turns its attention almost exclusively to the white celebrities who form the bulk of the stage acts.
Over two billion people will see the Live 8 events across the world, which are aiming to tell the richest countries that ordinary people want to ‘make poverty history’.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in London to give his support, declared: ‘This really is a united nations of the people. The whole world has come together in solidarity with the poor.’
Iconic South African ex-Archbishop Desmond Tutu has also given his backing. And Nigerian Anglican leader Peter Akinole was in London earlier this week to meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury and British chancellor Gordon Brown to reinforce the message.
In the UK, a concert featuring African artists is taking place at the Eden Project, an ecological centre in Cornwall. Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour will perform here, as well as in London and Paris.
The Eden Project event – organised by Peter Gabriel – was announced after criticism that other concerts had excluded performers from Africa.
Gabriel told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that he thought there should have been more African acts in Hyde Park.
‘Bob Geldof’s point of view is that the principal job of this event is to get billions of eyes all around the world to watch and any unfamiliar artists, whether they come from Africa, London or New York, may cause people to channel-switch’, he said.
Gabriel, the ex-Genesis star who has worked extensively with African musicians, added: ‘I don’t agree, but I am very happy we have Live 8’s blessing and Bob’s blessing and I think now we have been brought into the family and we are going to have a very special event today.’