New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Rock against Poverty) Rock against Poverty (RaP), a grassroots movement mobilizing musicians and artists worldwide to inspire urgent action on fighting poverty and climate change, officially launched on Apr. 21 at a press conference with Grammy Award Nominee R&B artist Trey
Lorenz and American Idol Finalist ANWAR.
Rock against Poverty will host an Earth Day concert at New York City's Tompkins Square Park on Apr. 22 from 2:00-6:00pm. Lorenz, a long-time collaborator with singer Mariah Carey, will headline the concert with 10 other musical artists. Concert goers will enjoy diverse music from hard rock to blues and R&B and will learn simple ways to help protect the earth. The four-hour concert is open to the public and produced by Cila Management.
Through music and art, the RaP movement seeks to motivate individuals to take action and generate resources to support innovative and sustainable solutions to combat the two greatest challenges facing our planet today: poverty and global warming. Today, nearly 1 billion people worldwide do not have enough food to eat partly due to massive increases in drought, flooding, and changing weather patterns.
Rock against Poverty is the brainchild of Dennis Ramdahin, executive director of the Vihara Foundation, a nongovernmental organization addressing poverty and climate mitigation issues. Economist Albert Gyan and musician Dale Stephens are co-founders of RaP.
"Rock against Poverty through globally interconnecting art, music and culture, will support real science, real solutions, real-time intervention and real action to make this world a better place," said Ramdahin. "The world can do longer wait to decide our children's and planet's future. Urgent action must be taken now."
The first RaP concert took place in Kolkata, India in December 2010. Following the New York event, the concert series will eventually move to London, England; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Johannesburg, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo, Japan; Trinidad and Cochabamba, Bolivia.
The press conference followed a United Nations side event on "Innovative Resource Mobilization for a Green Economy," which featured a keynote address by Bolivian Ambassador Pablo Solon. Bolivia has advocated for respecting the rights of "Mother Earth" and achieving harmony with nature.
For more information on the concert, please visit www.rockagainstpoverty.com.
