[afro-nets] African Artists Record "We Are the Drums" to Fight HIV/AIDS

[Janet Feldman <kaippg@earthlink.net>]

Top African Artists Record "We Are the Drums" to Fight HIV/AIDS
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New Vision (Kampala)
Sebidde Kiryowa

Eighteen top musicians from across Africa have collaborated on a
song to fight HIV/AIDS. The artists -- who include Salif Keita
(Mali), Angelique Kidjo (benin), Ismael Lo (Senegal) and Koffi
Olomide (Democratic Republic of Congo) -- hope that it will in-
duce action against poverty and HIV/AIDS on the continent. They
also intend to involve members of society so that they can act
as a "tem-tem" drum to pass the message to those who have not
yet heard it.

The song, titled "We Are the Drums", is part of the Africa 2015
initiative led by the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), to mobilise support for the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) adopted by governments in 2000. The MDGs cover eight ma-
jor commitments to be achieved by 2015. They include halving
poverty and hunger, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, and ensuring
full access to primary education.

Other musicians and artists are Boncana Maiga (Mali), Achien'g
Abura (Kenya), Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopia), Didier Awadi (Senegal),
Chiwoniso (Zimbabwe), Jaojoby Eusebe (Madagascar), Coumba Gawla
Seck (Senegal), Habib Koite (Mali), Ismael Lo (Senegal), Baaba
Maal (Senegal), Cheb Mami (Algeria), Malouma (Mauritania), Mei-
way (Ivory Coast), Saintrick (Congo) and Youssou N' Dour (Sene-
gal). The song was recorded in Dakar and Paris.

Song writers Manu Dibango and Yves Ndjock (both from Cameroon)
are on saxophone and guitar respectively. The lyrics urge Afri-
can people to stop being "victims of poverty, victims of hunger"
and to take individual responsibility to halt the spread of
HIV/AIDS so that the generation of 2015 will not be affected by
the disease.

Djibril Diallo, director of UNDP's Communications Office in a
press release, said: "Unless a special effort is made, Africa
will not be able to attain the goals before 2145, whereas the
rest of the international community is talking about 2015. The
presence of these artists shows that this is not inevitable as
far as Africa is concerned, and that there is a commitment to
turning the situation around - a commitment at the level of each
man and woman in Africa, and a commitment on the part of the in-
ternational community."

Algerian artist Cheb Mami said: "We cannot accept that AIDS and
poverty should create such ravages and be so widespread in our
societies. This is an opportunity to bring together Africans
from the North, South, East and West... We can and must take our
destiny into our own hands."