2018's biographical movie " Bohemian Rhapsody ", the male lead Rami Marek highly restores the classic performance of Queen's lead singer Freddy Mockley in the "Save Life" charity performance in charity in 1985. (Data photo/photo)
In the minds of the public, most rock musicians in the 1970s were a group of very rich but corrupt and degenerate people. They seemed to be a group of people outside the entire social moral system. By the 1980s, rock music became very commercial. Until "Save Life", these "decadent" rock singers became positive energy again. They united and participated in a major event related to the fate of mankind and had an influence.
music keeps people together.
A special thank you concert kicked off online at 2:00 am on April 19, 2020 Beijing time. There is no gorgeous stage or dazzling special effects. Hundreds of musicians from all over the world use a guitar, a piano, or a cappella at their homes to express their respects to the medical staff fighting on the front line of the fight against the new coronavirus, as well as teachers, couriers, firefighters and other cities, using their singing to express their respect.
These musicians who usually wear bright clothes have taken off their heavy makeup at this moment, exuding the atmosphere of life. For example, American pop singer Kesha, who sat in front of the piano at home, looked like she had just washed her hair, and her hair was still a little wet and she didn't have time to put on makeup. The child called his mother in the next room vaguely. She smiled slightly and continued to sing.
Eason Chan participated in the concert of "Go to Family in the World" and played and sang the Cantonese song "I Have Nothing". (Data photo/photo)
"One World: Together at Home", this charity concert jointly initiated by Lady Gaga, the World Health Organization and the public welfare organization Global Citizen, sparked heated discussions around the world as early as April 6 when the live broadcast was released. People see it as version 2.0 of the famous LIVE AID concert in 1985. On July 13, 1985, a special rock charity performance called "Save Life" was held simultaneously at the Wembley Stadium in the UK and the Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia in the US. It was hailed by the media as the most important cultural event in the 20th century and "the greatest performance on the earth."
"Collapse your wallet." Lady Gaga told audiences all over the world. This time, the "Four Seas Gathering One" concert did not undertake the fundraising task - they had raised tens of millions of dollars in donations a week before the concert. This concert is just a simple tribute, "Thank you for your bravery and sacrifices" and the power of music to allow people who are isolated at home due to the new coronavirus to see hope and make them no longer lonely.
Compared with the grand scenes of the "Save Life" concert 35 years ago, the scenes of the "Go to One in the World" concert this time are simple, but they are another shock and touching. This is a "historic moment". Because of a virus, human beings have become a community of shared destiny, and music has magical appeal, bringing people of different skin colors together.
At 2:56 am, Chinese pianist Lang Lang became the first Chinese face to appear. He and his wife Gina Alice played in four hands to present piano music to audiences all over the world. At 3:29 am, Eason Chan held the guitar and sang the Cantonese song "I Have Nothing"; at 4:15 am, Jacky Cheung appeared in front of the camera, he sat in the room covered by blinds at home, warm yellow light shone in, and he sang his English song "Touch of Love".
After the live broadcast of the online broadcast lasted for six hours, the live broadcast of the TV officially started at 8:00 in the morning. Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney , Elton John... more heavy stars appeared in the next two hours of live broadcast of the TV.
former member of the band " Beatles " and famous musician Paul McCartney took the lead in the show. In the 1985 "Save Life" concert, McCartney sang the Beatles' classic song "Let it be". This time, he brought "Ms. Madonna".McCartney specifically introduced that his mother was a nurse who saved many lives during World War II and he knew the greatness and sacrifice of nurses' work. "Thank you, I love you." McCartney said in the face of the camera.
After "Save Life", almost every major disaster occurred on the earth. Musicians, pop music singers, and rock singers will unite to record disaster relief songs and hold concerts. The picture shows the stills of the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody". (Data photo/photo) The birth of
"Save Life"
The appeal of music has been confirmed in the 1985 "Save Life" special rock charity performance.
This is a charity concert aimed at raising funds for the famine in Ethiopia - the worst famine in the 20th century, with more than 400,000 people dead in Ethiopia. At that time, more than 160,000 people in the United States and Britain watched the performance live, and broadcast live to more than 140 countries through global communication satellite networks, attracting nearly 1.5 billion TV audiences in total, raising 80 million US dollars.
It sets many records that cannot be surpassed so far. It took a long time and lasted 16 hours of uninterrupted performances; it gathered many celebrity bands, and more than 100 famous rock singers and bands around the world participated, including Bob Dylan, David Bowie , Queen Band , U2, Madonna, Paul McCartney, etc. After thirty-five years, it has been constantly discussed and imitated. In 2018, the biography of Queens lead singer Freddy Mockley's Bible Rhapsody was released. One of the important reasons for the film's sensation was that it reproduced the shocking 28-minute performance of Queens in the "Save Life" charity performance.
Because of "saving lives", the initiator of the concert, Irish rock singer Bob Geldorf, was nominated for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.
Before Christmas in 1984, Gerdorf accidentally saw reports on the Great Famine in Ethiopia in BBC News. He was touched. He quickly co-wrote the song "Do They Know It's Christmas" with Midge Ure of the British Electronics Group (Do they Know It's Christmas?), and convened popular British singers and bands, such as Paul Young, the lead singer of the Cultural Club George Boy, the Duran Duran Choir, Sting , etc., to form the temporary super group Band Aid to sing together. The initial expectation was to raise 75,000 pounds to help African refugees through a single.
They originally invited David Bowie to record the first lyrics, but because they only booked the recording studio on Sunday, David Bowie failed to catch up because there were other things in the same time, and the last first verse was sung by Paul Young.
Gerdorf's move has attracted social attention to the issue of famine in Africa, but also attracted some doubts. At that time, most rock stars were "millionaires". A group of "millionaires" said they wanted to sing for people from faraway Africa. Some people think that this is "seeking fame and reputation."
These doubts inspired the Irish person Geldorf, who became more serious. He personally followed the charity to transport the income and materials they raised through the records to Ethiopia. It was also after that trip to Africa that he saw the cruel reality of Africa with his own eyes and found that the money raised by recording a song could not relieve the thirst of the African people, so he had the idea of making a larger-scale live concert.
At about the same time, in the United States, Michael Jackson collaborated on a charity song "We Are The World" (We Are The World) to assist African refugees. The two gathered 45 top singers including "Worker Emperor" Bruce Springsteen, country music superstar Kenny Rogers , Bob Dylan, and formed the temporary super band "USA for Africa". The single was released at the same time in Britain and the United States, and soon topped the Billboard Top 100 singles chart, dominated the chart for four consecutive weeks, and eventually raised at least $60 million in charitable donations for Africa.
At the initiative of Geldorf, musicians from Britain and the United States decided to continue to burn the charity flames ignited by two singles, and finally the "Save Life" concert was born.
The superstars of the 20th century pop music that people can think of have almost all showed their faces at that concert. Some bands squeezed into that performance, but because of their performances, they were eventually cut off the camera during live TV. For example, the famous Zeppelin. The popular British band disbanded after the drummer died in 1980. Five years later, the band members reunited because of that charity performance, but because of a long time of neglecting cooperation and no rehearsal, they took the stage temporarily and lost their performance. They had to pinch off their shots during TV broadcast and replaced them with advertising clips.
"We Are the World" performed by the superstars of the times led by Michael Jackson finally became the theme song of the "Save Life" concert. It sang everyone's common wish: "We are the world, we are the children of the world, we are the people who create light, let us extend a hand of rescue, we are saving our lives." The song continued by
The well-known Chinese radio station DJ Zhang Youwei believes that "'Save Life' can be said to be an important watershed in the history of music." After "Save Life", almost every major disaster occurred on the earth, such as the Estonian earthquake, the Haiti earthquake and tsunami, the "911", etc. Musicians, pop music singers, and rock singers will unite to record disaster relief songs and hold concerts, which are actually influenced and inspired by "Save Life", and this form has been continued.
is a highly influential Chinese DJ recognized by the industry in the domestic and foreign countries, and a disseminator of Chinese rock, jazz and electronic music culture. In the early 1990s, he hosted China's first European and American pop music radio program - "One Hour of Foreign Music" by Central People's Radio . The year when "Save Life" was held, Zhang Youwei had just started college. At that time, there was no television broadcast in China. He watched the performance through videotapes recorded on foreign TV.
"It can be said that it is music that brings people together." Zhang Youwei told the Southern Weekend reporter that the performance really made people feel that mankind is a community with a shared future.
One of his most impressive performances was his favorite British legendary singer David Bowie singing the classic "Heroes" (Heroes), and he said, "I want to dedicate this song to my son and their generation. At least after they grow up, they can remember all the heroes who have given their efforts to their happy life today." Two years later, David Bowie gave another concert under the Berlin Wall. At that time, the Berlin Wall had not fallen yet. While he was doing this concert by the wall in West Berlin, many of his fans gathered under the wall in East Berlin to sing the song with him. After David Bowie passed away in 2016, the German government also sent a special tweet to thank him: "Because the "Heroes" that year inspired the unification of the humanities between East and West Berlin and the fall of the Berlin Wall." After "9/11", David Bowie, who had been living in New York for a long time, also sang this song again at a charity fundraising concert, this time dedicated to the firefighters in New York, "You are my heroes."
"For every music fan who likes rock music, these actions of the musician you respect will make you proud of him. This kind of thinking and morality is higher than that of an ordinary singer. He is not just a pop song or an artist, he also plays an important social role." Zhang Youwei said. When Gerdorf initiated "Save Life", he said that every singer has his own thousands of fans. If they use their appeal to influence or call on fans to pay attention to a topic together, it will exceed the results that any international organization can achieve.
"Save Life" is also of great significance to rock singers. Zhang Youyou should introduce that since the 1960s, rock music has gradually become an important part of popular music. The audience of rock music is basically young people. Although this group of people is not politicians and does not have the strength to dominate society or the country, they are a group of people with consumption power. They are willing to spend money on their own culture, and rock music is part of it.Therefore, rock music has a very strong say among young people, and it can glue young people who are not familiar with each other. Therefore, rock music has always been closely related to the development of the entire society, social events and movements. In the anti-war movement in the 1960s, Bob Dylan and the Beatles, both practiced anti-war and advocated peace.
But after the 1970s, in the minds of the public, most rock musicians, or rock singers, were actually a group of people who were very rich but had a corrupt and degenerate life. They seemed to be a group of people outside the entire social moral system. By the 1980s, rock music became very commercial. Until "Save Life", these "decadent" rock singers became positive energy again. They united and participated in a major event related to the fate of mankind and had an influence.
After "Save Life", many musicians who participated in this performance devoted themselves to public welfare. British rock singer Sting began to call on society to strengthen protection of the rainforest, and U2 band lead singer Paul participated in many human rights movements. Later, the concert of Nelson Mandela's against apartheid held in South Africa was also a replica of "Save Life".
In 2020, the "Four Seas Gathering One" concert ended, Lang Lang, Lady Gaga, Italian blind singer Andre Pocelli , Celine Dion, and John Legend jointly sang "The Prayer". Five artists sang duets at the same time, and the music connected humans together.
Jacky Cheung sang the English song "Touch of love" at the concert of "Go to Family in All Seas". (Data photo/photo)
Southern Weekend reporter Li Yilan
