The production will tell the story of the concert at Wembley Stadium on 13 July 1985, at which 70 global artists performed. More than 1.5 billion people watched the live broadcast. The concert, along with a second gig in Philadelphia, raised $127m for famine relief. Live Aid was conceived by Geldof after he was moved and angered by images of people starving to death in Ethiopia.
Read MoreGlobal performers including Angelique Kidjo, Laurie Anderson and José Feliciano will inaugurate the theater at ground zero. The series affirms the city’s diversity with an international lineup that includes Grammy-winning stars — Angélique Kidjo on Sept. 19, Common on Sept. 21, José Feliciano on Sept. 23 — along with lesser-known musicians dedicated to preserving and extending deep-rooted traditions. The program for Devotion: Faith As Refuge, on Sept. 20, includes klezmer music from the Klezmatics, electronic transformations of Afro-Cuban Yoruba incantations by Ìfé and Moroccan Sufi trance music from Innov Gnawa.
Read MoreFor a few hours Saturday, Smith was the leader of a band of merry time travelers, reaching back through her years spent as the spiritual connection between the Beat Generation and the proto-punks, playing her own songs and those by like-minded sojourners. Smith, one of the baby boomers who never gave up the good fight, still has plenty to scream about. Along with remembering the departed, she encouraged the audience to keep in mind the people around the world in need: those affected by flooding in Libya and the earthquake in Morocco, women fighting for human rights in Iran, and workers striking for fairness in the United States. She dedicated “Peaceable Kingdom” to Palestinians, singing, “I wanted to tell you that your tears were not in vain.”
Read MoreInterview with Warren Hayes about the latest Mule offering, "Peace…Like a River", an undulating sonic landscape blending elements of rock, blues, soul, funk and folk — all signature ingredients at the heart of what has made the band, and Haynes himself, one of the torchbearers of eclectic rock music. Wrangling an array of A-list musical talent like Billy F. Gibbons, Ivan Neville, and guitar phenom Celisse, Haynes crafted an album that doubles as a meditative journey along the river of life.
Read MoreEs gibt Alben, da ist die Geschichte dahinter fast so wichtig wie die Musik. Bei "Glory of Love" zum Beispiel, das der Gitarrist Carl Carlton mit der Schauspielerin Melanie Wiegmann aufgenommen hat. Und das zeigt, dass die Musik aus der Rebellen-Ära immer noch die Kraft hat, ein oder zwei Leben umzukrempeln. Bei Carlton hatte das als Teenager schon mal funktioniert, als er "Easy Rider" im Kino sah und The Band im Soundtrack ihre bibelschwere Nummer "The Weight" spielten. Er ging nach Amsterdam und New York, wurde Berufsmusiker und arbeitete sich bis in die erste Liga vor. Robert Palmer, Mink DeVille und Joe Cocker, wieder daheim dann Udo Lindenberg, Marius Müller-Westernhagen und Wolfgang Niedecken.
Read MoreEric Burdon, singer of The Animals, now 82, later pursued acting and wrote two highly entertaining books: I Used To Be An Animal, But I’m All Right Now; and Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: A Memoir. He still tours occasionally. This interview was conducted between gigs just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, parts of which ran previously.
Read MoreWhen Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier turned international hip-hop star and peace activist through his founding of Gua Africa, a London based non-profit which provides educational programs for those affected by war and displacement in East Africa offering education to refugees who have survived war and genocide learned about the urgent need to assist Sudanese refugees to flee to South Sudan and Kenya, he immediately began working to connect with others around the globe to help him. Emmanuel Jal, Mary Ann and Joshua had originally committed to intending to bring the first African location of The Memnosyne Institute’s “School Out of A Box” prototype, (the first is in the Yucatan) providing a space for students to pursue online high school and college education via online education, to be located next to where he had built a library for recovering child soldiers.
Read MoreTwo people have really sought and found each other. On "Glory Of Love", the musical global player Carl Carlton and singer Melanie Wiegmann do business together both privately and professionally. And their new interpretations of classics by Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground sparkle with wit, harmony and passion. How this dream pairing came about, the two tell in the musix interview.
Read MoreFolk icon and activist Joan Baez is ready for her close-up. At a Hamptons Film Festival’s SummerDocs screening in East Hampton Sunday night, August 13, she was joined by fellow music legend Laurie Anderson and director Karen O’Conner for a packed A-list screening and conversation about Joan Baez I Am A Noise (co-directed by Miri Navasky and Maeve O’Boyle).
Read MoreThe Sunken Lands Songwriting Circle will be held in Riceland Hall at the Fowler Center, located at 201 Olympic Drive on Saturday, Aug. 12. This event will be hosted by Rosanne Cash, along with performers Rodney Crowell and Sarah Jarosz. “My father’s music began in the sunken lands in the Arkansas Delta and the gumbo soil stayed with him his entire life. I am excited to return to Arkansas to honor and continue his legacy,” said Cash. “I am especially excited to be joined by Rodney and Sarah, along with John Leventhal. They are masterful songwriters, and I look forward to an unforgettable evening.”
Read MoreBono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival this evening, where he accompanied the crew behind the U2-inspired Bosnian war documentary Kiss The Future, which opened the festival. Bono was joined by his U2 band member The Edge on the red carpet at Bosnia’s National Theatre alongside CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who also features in the doc, during which she recounts her time as a young reporter covering the Bosnian conflict.
Read MoreDescribing Jane Birkin an icon is a given. The British-born actress and singer appeared in countless films, wrote several albums worth of songs, acted on stage, and threw herself in political and social activism. Birkin passed away earlier this year at the age of 76, but she will forever be an inspiration.
Read MoreAfrican musicians and social activists Angélique Kidjo (Benin), Letta Mbulu (South Africa) and PJ Powers (South Africa) will be honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards at the 2023 Basadi in Music Awards (BIMAs). "I am very honoured to be receiving a Basadi in Music Award from South Africa,” Kidjo, a five-time Grammy Award winner, said. “South Africa has a special place in my heart since I first heard about Miriam Makeba when I was young. She was a role model and then a mentor. It is important to celebrate women in music so that many young singers can be inspired to pursue their dream.”
Read MoreIrish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard will share his first new music in four years this fall. His fifth studio album, All That Was East Is West of Me Now, is set for release on October 20 via ANTI Records. The nine-track project was born from five intimate, unpublicized concerts that the Grammy-nominated artist played in his local pub in November 2022. “I told no one. We set up in the corner and played to the locals, some of whom were only half listening,” Hansard says in a statement.
Read MoreUCAP board member Joan Baez & UCAP co-founder Karen Redlener in Warsaw at a program supporting refugee children from war-torn Ukraine [...] "Joan Baez meets dozens of children, mostly 5 to 15 years of age, in the sunshine of a beautiful summer’s day. They sing to her, and Joan sings to the kids. They are dancing and laughing – and finally surround Joan, enveloping her with hugs. An extraordinary moment." Karen Redlener said.
Read MoreThrowback on the interviews we did with the #ToastToFreedom artists for Amnesty International..
Here is #JaneBirkin :
"People have far more power if only they know it. I have always believed that if millions of people sent letters that chockablock the front doors of some ministers, some presidents, and just by the sheer weight of the letters, of the appeals, then they would have to look."
As part of the festival, the renowned Lahnstein Blues Prize, the “Blues-Louis”, which has been awarded since 1997, will this year be awarded to guitarist, singer and composer Carl Carlton. "For decades he has been the most popular German blues guitarist, both nationally and internationally," the organizers explain.
The laudatory speech will be given by the author, moderator and music journalist Volker Rebell.
Read MoreWord is out, tickets are out: Melanie Wiegmann & Carl Carlton - Glory of Love Tour 2023.
13 cities across Germany, from November to December 2023. Don’t miss your spot.
Jane Birkin graced the front pages of most French newspapers on Monday as France mourned the death of the late British actress and singer who enjoyed icon status in the country that she had called home since the late 1960s. “Our tears can’t change anything,” proclaimed Le Parisien newspaper, which first broke the news of Birkin’s death at the age of 76 on Sunday. Libération ran with the simple headline “Without Jane”, while regional newspaper Le Maine Libre referred to the late actress as “The Eternal English Bride of France”.
Read MoreRest in peace, Jane Birkin. We were so honoured to have you part of Amnesty’s Toast to Freedom.
“France’s favourite “petite Anglaise”, the British-born singer and actor Jane Birkin, has died at her home in Paris aged 76. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, paid tribute to Birkin, saying she “embodied freedom and sang the most beautiful words in our language”.
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