We are The World, We Are The Future

Music Forum

A concerted effort - 18may04

NEARLY two decades after music greats recorded the fundraising hit We Are The World, a new generation of stars came together on Sunday for a follow-up concert to aid children in war zones.

Oprah Winfrey welcomed tens of thousands to the We Are The Future concert in Rome and reminded them it was just weeks after the world marked the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, "where it seemed the world turned its back".

"But that's all changing tonight because we are all here," she said. "We are all here to stand up for the children."

Musicians Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Andrea Bocelli and Eve performed.

Boxing great Muhammad Ali, actor Angelina Jolie, model Naomi Campbell and tennis star Serena Williams also appeared.

Quincy Jones, who produced the 1985 We are the World recording, organised Sunday's four-hour concert, which will raise money for childcare centres in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Rwanda and the West Bank.

The concert was free, but proceeds from broadcast rights, donations and related sales will fund the centres.

In an interview last week, Jones lamented that trying to pin down the stars for Sunday's concert was like "trying to saddle a rat".

ROME (Reuters) - A star-studded cast assembled by "We Are the World" producer Quincy Jones rocked Rome's ancient chariot track on Sunday in a concert to raise money for children in war-scarred cities.

Nearly 20 years after recording his hit charity album, Jones hopes his latest venture, broadcast live on the Internet, will jog the global conscience.

"We all know the world is a total mess at the moment and doing nothing is not an option," Jones told hundreds of thousands of fans as dusk fell over Rome's Circus Maximus.

"We're asking you to be in the army of right and goodwill to help these kids get on their feet and create a life that is worth living," he said, before making way for Iraqi singer Kazem Al Sahir to set the tone for the multi-ethnic, four-hour show.

Among other performers lined up for the concert were Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock, tenor Andrea Bocelli and the cast of the musical stage show "Stomp."

Oprah Winfrey and Naomi Campbell helped compere proceedings along with sports stars such as Brazilian soccer great Pele and former boxing heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

Organizers hope the concert will raise up to $10 million through sponsorship, music sales and charitable donations -- money that will be used to finance the children centers.

"But it's not just about money and it's not just about a concert either. The concert is... a global outcry, it's a scream, you know, to pay attention," Jones told Reuters Television in a recent interview.

GRASSROOTS

The child centers are the brain child of the Glocal Forum -- an organization created three years ago to forge grassroots links between world cities that circumvent national governments.

The first child center has already opened in Kigali, Rwanda, and the others are due to start later this year in Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and the West Bank.

Uri Savir, a chief negotiator for the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo peace accords and a leading light in the Glocal Forum, says first world cities will be twinned with the six cities in developing countries to help them overcome their turbulent past.
"There is no guarantee that the Glocal Forum is going to succeed but everything else is failing so badly it's worth a go," Savir said.

Sunday's open air concert will raise the group's profile, and Savir hopes a single unveiled during the event will have the same success as the 1985 hit "We Are the World."

That song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and recorded by them and 40 other performers including Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner and Billy Joel.

None of those names appear on Sunday's bill in an apparently conscious effort to break with the past.

"Everybody says let's do another 'We are the World'," Jones said. "I'm not interested in that because it's just repetition, so you try to find something which is different and which has more impact."

The concert was broadcast live on Italian MTV and will then be screened at a later date in 42 other countries.

i only saw the end but even the little part i saw was good i would pay to see it live and i hardly pay for any thing at all