Noted Asian Musicians Join Hands for Poverty Concert Rahul Kumar OneWorld South Asia 01 September 2005
NEW DELHI, Sept 1 (OneWorld South Asia) - Indian development organizations have successfully roped in noted Bollywood musician and composer AR Rahman, also called The Mozart from Madras, for a poverty concert this weekend. Rahman will perform in Old Delhi on Saturday for a host of Asian and Indian non-governmental organizations (NGO) that hope to raise money for fighting poverty. Rahman, who is also a goodwill ambassador for the STOP TB partnership for the World Health Organization (WHO), has been associating himself with development issues like health and poverty for the past few years. He will be joined on stage by popular Pakistani pop band Junoons lead guitarist Salman Ahmed. Salman is the UNDP's Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS issues in Pakistan and has been working on spreading awareness about the disease. The two follow in the global footsteps of U2 lead singer Bono and Irish musician Bob Geldof, both of whom have been lobbying with international activist organizations for an increase in developmental aid to African countries. They had recently performed at a global concert, organized to get more aid to fight poverty, just before the G8's meeting in Gleneagles in Scotland. The concert is part of a two-day Asia-level Peoples Summit Against Poverty (PSAP) on September 3-4, which is being organized by diverse groups and peoples' movements. The PSAP is linked at the international level to the Global Call for Action Against Poverty (GCAP) that had organized similar concerts in ten cities all over the world in July to increase awareness about poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The PSAP will also hold a peoples rally and release a shadow report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The organizers expect nearly 10,000 people from all over Asia to turn up for the summit. The idea behind the summit is globalization and its disastrous consequences for the marginalized communities. ActionAid India director Babu Matthew says: "The summit will raise awareness amongst people and draw the attention of government to poverty. The existing neo-liberal global philosophy has created a hype that globalization can remove all problems of people. Even the media has been taken in by the hype. On the contrary globalization has given people a raw deal." http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/118132/1/1893 "We neglect our cities at our peril. For, in neglecting them, we neglect the nation." -John F. Kennedy ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Life without art & music? Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/iuUuID/dnQLAA/n1hLAA/iyUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Explore, Experience, Enjoy A.R.Rahman - The Man, The Music, The Magic. Only at arrahmanfans.com - The definitive A.R.Rahman e-community. Homepage: http://www.arrahmanfans.com Admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arrahmanfans/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
