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Star-Packed Event Boosts World AIDS Day
12/06/2003 3:04 PM, Reuters
Nigel Williamson
Organizers of the Nelson
Mandela-inspired "46664" AIDS -awareness and fundraising
campaign are claiming the biggest TV and radio audience for any
single music event.
Former EMI Records U.K. president/CEO Jean-Francois
Cecillon executive-produced the event, along with Queen manager
Jim Beach. The star-packed concert took place Nov. 29.
Cecillon is now chairman of U.K. marketing firm the Music
Matrix. He estimates that the show would have reached 2 billion
viewers and listeners when an edited version was broadcast Dec.
1 (World AIDS Day) by MTV, the BBC World Service and others
across 166 territories.
The show was also Webcast live on the 46664.com site by
Italian Internet communications company Tiscali and through a
string of online partners across the world.
"The concert is just the start," Cecillon says. "In
February, we'll release a double live CD and a DVD of the event
in Cape Town. Then in June, we'll follow it with an album of
new tracks specifically recorded for the 46664 campaign."
Cecillon says a label deal for the releases will be
announced shortly.
Among the 42 performers who waived their fees to appear in
Cape Town were Beyonce, Bono, Bob Geldof , Eurythmics,
Anastacia, Peter Gabriel , Ms. Dynamite, the Corrs and members
of Queen.
Their contributions will appear on the live CD and DVD,
along with Mandela's speech to the 40,000 concert attendees.
The show took place at Greenpoint stadium, in sight of Robben
Island, where Mandela was incarcerated for 18 years under South
Africa's former apartheid regime.
The 46664 campaign takes its name from Mandela's prison
number. The day before the concert, he accompanied the stars of
the show to the island and showed them his old cell.
"Musicians played an important part in the campaign to
liberate our country," Mandela said at Greenpoint. "This time,
I am asking them to join forces to free our world from HIV /AIDS
and bring hope for the new century."
The veteran politician added that AIDS was no longer just a
disease. Like apartheid itself, it had become a human-rights
issue.
According to Cecillon, 14 tracks have already been recorded
for the second "46664" album. It may grow to a double CD, he
adds.
The album has been overseen by Eurythmics' Dave Stewart .
Among those who have written and recorded new tracks are Bono,
Sting, Queen, the Neptunes, Ms. Dynamite, Anastacia, Paul
McCartney , Timbaland and South African star Johnny Clegg.
Among the tracks on the album will be the campaign's theme
song, "46664 (Long Walk to Freedom)." Co-written by the late
Joe Strummer , Stewart and Bono, the track is available for
download at 46664.com and by calling various premium phone
numbers in more than 50 territories around the world.
Stewart says, "The concert is important, but it's only a
start. For me, what matters most is the way Nelson Mandela gave
us his prison number and invited us to turn such a negative
image into something positive and how we take that forward."
African artists on the bill included Baaba Maal, Youssou
N'Dour, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Angelique Kidjo and local
South Africa stars Clegg, Bongo Maffin and Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
"Africa's image in the rest of the world is one of war,
poverty and disease," N'Dour says. "It was important for us to
hold the concert in Africa, show the world we are fighting to
do something positive about it -- and invite them to join us."
Queen guitarist Brian May paid tribute to his late
colleague, Freddie Mercury . "We lost Freddie to AIDS, and that
fired our desire to help," he said at a media briefing.
On World AIDS Day, all of Queen's studio and live albums
were made available for digital download for the first time.
The 18 albums (as single tracks or full albums) can be found at
online retailers in the U.K. and Europe.
All record royalties for the first week of sales are being
donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the charity that raises
awareness and money for AIDS relief in Mercury's memory. EMI
says it will match that donation.
Reuters/Billboard
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