Peter Gabriel Live 8 At Eden Africa Calling

Dorrie Williams-WheelerBellaOnline's 1980s Editor

Peter Gabriel is an artist who has clearly been influenced by African music. This was evident since the 80's. For the video for his song "In Your Eyes" he was joined live on stage by African singers and dancers. It was no surprise when Peter Gabriel organized Live 8 At Edden Africa Calling.

Some may recall there was a bit of an outrage when the line-up for the Live 8 concerts were announced. Many complained that there were not enough African, or African-American music artists on the roster for an event that was to benefit Africa. Bob Geldof expressed that this was due to the fact that he didn't want to lose viewers, Peter Gabriel even recalls a conversation he had with Gabriel about the topic. The statement in the booklet reads, "I telephoned Bob Geldof to see if we could increase the African element on his show. Bob's reply was that their job was to gurantee that billions of eyes around the world watched their programme and heard all of the messages, and that any unfamiliar names whether they come from Africa, London, or Tasmania might well lose viewers."

Obviously, Peter Gabriel disagreed. The Live 8 at Eden event was organized and included in the Live 8 fold. The concert was recorded on July 2nd, 2005. Peter and the events organizers decided that all of the performers should be African. Therefore, unless you are familiar with African musicians you may not recognize the names of many of the performers on the set list. The two disc CD includes performances from the artists and a speech from Nelson Mandela. The booklet includes the text of Mandela's speech.

It's a really great DVD for people who may be interested in African music. Artist featured on the DVD include Thomas Mapfumo, Mariza, Moudou Diof Beyeza Shishka, Youssou N'dour, Geoffrey Oryema, and many more. The DVD also includes a 28 minute documentary. You can view more about the DVD at here. In other Peter Gabriel news, Still Growing Up: Peter Gabriel Live & Unwrapped, a two-DVD set, from Rhino Entertainment arrives in stores on November 22nd.

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