RHYTHMS OF THE EARTH SINGLE FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

In 1987 renowned record producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven (The Jam etc), musician Nick Glennie-Smith and composer/producer Kenny Young formed the group Gentlemen Without Weapons. Together they recorded the album 'Transmissions'. It used natural sounds from the environment instead of standard musical instruments and was picked up by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) as a theme for many of their conferences. Shortly after this the three men founded the Earth Love Fundand in 1992 they created and released 'Earthrise', a compilation album to support the first Earth Summit in Rio. This official UN Album went straight to No 1 in the UK charts selling over 400,000 copies and raising funds to support over 400 community-based conservation projects worldwide.

Earth Love Fund is now orchestrating a global collaboration, the Rhythms of the Earth project, which is combining world-wide talent to create a single in support of World Environment Day 2012 on June 5th and the International Earth Summit Rio+20 on June 20th- 22nd. Already part of the music has been used for World Environment Day commercials by top model Gisele Bundchen, Don Cheadle and Ian Somerhalder (see YouTube link below).

The project was conceived and initiated by Vic and his son Josh who are working closely together on the creation of the single. The School of Oriental and African studies in London is helping further to create the individual recordings for the website. Recordings have already taken place with Congolese guitarist Fiston Lusambo, Senegalese percussionist Seckou Keita, the Brazilian/UK group Saravah Soul, horn players from Fanfara and the UK-based Swing Ninjas. The most recent additions to the project are Brazillian percussionist Adriano Adewale and Indian percussionist Sirish Kumar. Master Japanese percussionist Joji Hirota has also contributed his spectacular Taiko drumming tradition to the mix.

Crucially the project also includes an interactive website where people will be able to listen to and mix together their own cross-cultural selection of rhythmic ensembles. They will also be able to learn about musical traditions and most importantly concerns of global environmental situations. The Rhythms of the Earthsingle is endorsed by the United Nations and is scheduled for late spring release by download. Some sponsorship opportunities are still available for aspects of the project. For full details please go the websites:

www.rhythmsoftheearth.com

http://www.sponsume.com/project/rhythms-earth

www.earthlovefund.co.uk