Do They Know It’s Christmas?
In 1984, a group of high-profile pop stars known as Band Aid came together to record a fund-raising single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to fund hunger relief efforts in the famine ravaged areas of Africa. Featuring popular singers including George Michael, Phil Collins and Duran Duran, it was the first gathering of musicians for this charitable purpose.
It’s still a favorite christmas song, and I was reminded of how much I loved it when the video was a feature on yahoo a few days ago. So then I started searching for more info about Band Aid, and lo and behold, I discovered a new version of this song has been recorded. A short clip of the song can be heard on bandaid20.com. (Eventhough it’s an annoying loop, be prepared to hit mute if you stay very long!)
The single will raise money for food aid in Darfur, Sudan, and in only three weeks has sold more than 600,000 copies. If a million copies of the CD are eventually sold, about £3 could be raised for charity. Recently Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter has offered to match money raised by the CD, up to £6 million.
While the song has been out since November, it’s no wonder that I hadn’t heard of it, as it was not released here in the US. One of the reasons is that with the exception of Bono and Coldplay, the singers on the record are virtually unknown here.
Bob Geldof’s desire to recreate this effort is certainly fueled by an intense passion for the cause, and the time is right to focus the world’s attention on the crisis in the cradle of civilization. However, after 20 years, the world has gone through an enourmous shift. Now instead of famine fueled by drought, AIDS, war and geneocide are the issues.
Wouldn’t it have been more appropriate to create a new song to reflect the current situation? One that’s a little more globally aware? As Greeba of Band Aid Delimma says “Of course there won’t be any bloody snow in Africa this Christmas time… except maybe atop Kilimanjaro.”
One pop song certainly can’t change the world anyway, but it can start a change. The original Band Aid single was the first in a series of relief efforts by various organizations: Live Aid, We Are the World, and Hands Across America just to name a few, benefited relief efforts in Africa and around the globe.
If Band Aid 20 rekindles the fire for hope and action, just as the original did 20 years ago, that will be accomplishment enough.
