I can't believe it's nearly twenty years since this masterpiece of world music was made and aired on television. It is one of my favourite albums as it features so many of the world's greatest musicians all playing together to raise awareness of the planet's environment.
It doesn't seem that long ago I sat and videoed it from the tv, wondering what the world would be like in 20 years from then. Some of the artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Joe Strummer have long since departed the world, but it remains an innovative piece of cultural fusion which could have been made this afternoon and the message... remains just as powerful.
One World One Voice is a world music album intended to raise awareness of environmental issues, produced by Rupert Hine in 1990. A video of the entire album was produced for television. During the next couple of weeks I will post up all 12 sections of the album which can be found on YouTube. You may not want to wait that long to hunt it out for yourself. Just Google One World One Voice.
The music was created as a “chain tape” started by Kevin Godley. The multitrack tape was sent to various studios around the world where local artists added their contributions to it. Sections of the video were also filmed in the performers' home countries and edited together.
Artists participating were:
Afrika Bambaataa, Laurie Anderson, A Velha Guarda Da Portela, Bagamoya Players, Cedric, The Chieftains, Clannad, Johnny Clegg & Savuka, Cy Curnin, Terence Trent D'Arby, Dred, Marc Ducret, Peter Gabriel, Bob Geldof, Dave Gilmour, Egberto Gismonti, Kevin Godley, Eddie Grant, The Great Muungano Cultural Troupe, Richard Galliano, The Gipsy Kings, Rupert Hine, Chrissie Hynde, Howard Jones, Salif Keita, The Kodo Drummers, Helen Labarriere, Leningrad Symphony Orchestra (Conductor Alexander Dimitriev, Orchestration Simon Jeffes), Ray Lema, Roger Ludvigsen, Maria McKee, Milton Nascimento, Native Land & Themba, New Frontier, New voices of freedom, Nu Sounds, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Remmy Ongala & The Super Matimala Orchestra, Geoffrey Oryema, Hermeto Pascoal, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Mari Boine Persen, Courtney Pine, Hossam Ramzy, Enrico Rava, Lou Reed, Robbie Robertson, Michael Rose & Junior, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Clara Sandroni, Shakespear's Sister, Steve Stevens, Dave Stewart and The Spiritual Cowboys, Sting, Joe Strummer, Steven Van Zandt, Suzanne Vega, Venice, Christopher Warren-Green, Adam Woods and Guo Yue.
For me, if you ever need a solid argument for rejecting cultural hierarchism, political facism, blinkered nationalism, religious fanaticism or racial seperatism - look no further than this piece of music!
Here's parts 1 & 2:
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