LONDON (Reuters) - Queen, Annie Lennox, Simple Minds, Amy Winehouse and some of Africa's top singers are among the stars expected to perform before Nelson Mandela and nearly 50,000 fans at a London concert on Friday.
The tribute to the elder statesman as he approaches his 90th birthday coincides with a disputed election in Zimbabwe, and the crisis in the southern African nation has overshadowed Mandela's visit to Britain.
The former South African president has been urged to speak out against Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe, and four words of criticism in a speech at a dinner late on Wednesday -- "tragic failure of leadership" -- made headline news.
Mandela officially retired from politics nine years ago, but he is still a moral authority admired the world over.
Emmanuel Jal, a Sudanese hip-hop artist based in London who is also singing on Friday, said Mandela was "unique" among African leaders.
"He did not love power so much, and left it and gave it to someone else," he told Reuters.
Mugabe has pushed ahead with the vote despite international condemnation and a boycott by the opposition leader prompted by a wave of deadly attacks on his supporters.
Mandela will hope to be able to concentrate on the celebrations on Friday evening, when 46,664 people will join him for a charity concert to raise funds for his HIV/AIDS organization 46664 named after his prison number.
The event, in London's Hyde Park, comes 20 years after a tribute gig at Wembley Stadium to honor Mandela when he was still behind bars for his stand against apartheid.
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Dirty Pretty Things, Ne-Yo, Zutons Added To T4 On The Beach
Dirty Pretty Things, Kelly Rowland and Ne-Yo will all be playing at this year's T4 On The Beach, Angry Ape has learned.
Also newly added to the line-up for the televised beach event are The Zutons, Black Kids, One Night Only and 5 O'Clock Heroes - who will be performing with supermodel Agyness Deyn.
T4 On The Beach is held at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset on July 20th.
Other names that were previously confirmed include Guillemots, Duffy, The Ting Tings and Robyn.
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Acen
Artist: Acen
Genre(s):
Drum & Bass
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75 Minutes
Year:
Tracks: 12
Author of 2 club hits and one of the few rave artists privileged enough to even record an LP, Acen Razvi produced tracks with dense breakbeats and all matter of sampled, sped-up vocalists, from rude-boy chatters and divas to Jim Morrison. Released on the hardcore label Production House, "Head trip II the Moon" likewise sampled James Bond's You Only Live Twice and hit the British Top 40 in 1992; "Shut down Your Eyes" likewise charted. Soon afterward the release of 1993's 75 Minutes record album, however, Acen had practically disappeared. He resurfaced 2 age later, recording for the new-school electro label Clear Records as Spacepimp. By the late '90s, Acen had likewise reappeared on F-111 with singles
Thornton Denies Slamming Jolie & Pitt
Joop Wolters
Artist: Joop Wolters
Genre(s):
Rock
Discography:
Out of Order
Year: 2007
Tracks: 16
Speed Traffic and Guitar-Accident
Year: 2004
Tracks: 17
Workshop
Year: 2003
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Model Bruni marries French president
AR Rahman
Artist: AR Rahman
Genre(s):
Folk
Other
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Swades
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Vande Mataram
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Kandukondain Kandukondain
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Desam
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Anne Hathaway's Embarrasing 'Happy' Relationship Interview
Pete Wentz Explains Why He Denied Ashlee Simpson Is Pregnant: Exclusive
In recent months, there's been an epidemic of celebrities playing coy with the media about big, personal news. Whether it was,Jay and Beyoncé, Mariah and Nick, or just about anything regarding Pete and Ashlee, the no-straight-answers, keep-'em-guessing approach has been the rule more than the exception. And fair enough: Celebrities aren't obligated to share personal news with the media.
But last month, Pete Wentz denied to MTV News that his now-wife Ashlee Simpson was pregnant. However, rumors continued to swirl, the couple immediately backed off from directly answering the question, and late Wednesday, the newlyweds finally announced on friendorenemies.com (as they did with their engagement) that she actually is pregnant.
Somebody had some 'splainin' to do. Here's what Pete told us via e-mail on Thursday (May 29).
"Every woman, no matter who they are or what they do for a living, has the right to wait at least 3 months before sharing this very personal news," he wrote. "We wanted to wait until after the first trimester and get a clean bill of health from our doctors before confirming anything, just like any other couple.
"Being a boy I have no idea how to respond to such things and my first instinct was to protect her and the baby.
"It's insane that you can't let happy news brew in Hollywood. This wasn't about press or anything. It was about the health of the baby and trying to find a way to be happy with what should be the most happy time of our lives in the middle of a press blitz. I apologize to anyone who felt misinformed but the truth is, the person and growing baby is who I felt most loyal to protect and defend."
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New York ‘Times’ Editorial Board Weighs In on Rumored Beatles Video Game
Photo: Getty Images
Possible proof that all the world's newsmakers are on vacation this week: The New York Times editorial board has, at last, weighed in on the possible Beatles video game (actually, they did yesterday, but we missed it since we don't typically get our news about Beatles video games from the Times' editorial page). So far, the game itself is just a rumor; Apple Corps are reportedly in talks with Activision and MTV Games about the possibility of bringing the Beatles catalogue to a version of Guitar Hero or Rock Band (though, according to an MTV Games spokesman, "We are talking to virtually every major rock artist all the time about ways we might get them involved in Rock Band"). But the Times apparently felt strong enough that they wanted to have their say while it still might make a difference.
For fans of a certain age, those of us who literally grew up with the Beatles, the idea [of a Beatles-themed video game] produces a certain sense of loss" they write. "When it comes time to script this new game, we hope the developers will notice that the Beatles' two early movies … embed the band's music in action that's nearly as frenetic and sweetly fun as anything a frenetic kid with a game controller could ask for. We would like to hope that it might also be about the extraordinary musical chemistry of Lennon and McCartney, those long, long hours at Abbey Road and the unreal sense of discovery and freshness that came out of that studio.
That's fine, we guess. But we just hope the developers will consider how badly we want to rock out to "Helter Skelter" and "Glass Onion."
Let It Be [NYT]
Beatles seek to join video game revolution [FT]
Possible proof that all the world's newsmakers are on vacation this week: The New York Times editorial board has, at last, weighed in on the possible Beatles video game (actually, they did yesterday, but we missed it since we don't typically get our news about Beatles video games from the Times' editorial page). So far, the game itself is just a rumor; Apple Corps are reportedly in talks with Activision and MTV Games about the possibility of bringing the Beatles catalogue to a version of Guitar Hero or Rock Band (though, according to an MTV Games spokesman, "We are talking to virtually every major rock artist all the time about ways we might get them involved in Rock Band"). But the Times apparently felt strong enough that they wanted to have their say while it still might make a difference.
For fans of a certain age, those of us who literally grew up with the Beatles, the idea [of a Beatles-themed video game] produces a certain sense of loss" they write. "When it comes time to script this new game, we hope the developers will notice that the Beatles' two early movies … embed the band's music in action that's nearly as frenetic and sweetly fun as anything a frenetic kid with a game controller could ask for. We would like to hope that it might also be about the extraordinary musical chemistry of Lennon and McCartney, those long, long hours at Abbey Road and the unreal sense of discovery and freshness that came out of that studio.
That's fine, we guess. But we just hope the developers will consider how badly we want to rock out to "Helter Skelter" and "Glass Onion."
Let It Be [NYT]
Beatles seek to join video game revolution [FT]
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