| Subject: Timorese
want share of concert star-dust
The Australian 20 Dec 99
Timorese want share of concert star-dust
By BRIAN WOODLEY
EAST Timorese independence leader Xanana
Gusmao has sought guarantees from the producers of tomorrow night's $1
million concert for peace-enforcement troops that the people of Dili will
also benefit from the star-studded event.
Up to 8000 people, including as many as
3000 troops, are expected to attend the concert, headlined by Kylie
Minogue and John Farnham.
Networks Nine and Seven will
simultaneously broadcast the show and New Idea has bought the exclusive
magazine rights.
"I would hope that adequate
provision be made for the people of Dili and East Timor generally to
benefit from the concert, the proposed television coverage and sale of
merchandising associated with the concert," Mr Gusmao wrote to
promoter Glenn Wheatley.
Yesterday, Mr Wheatley was still trying
to meet Mr Gusmao's request to secure East Timorese involvement in the
performers' line-up and ensure that royalties from showbags, videos and
CDs was relinquished to local control.
While welcoming the concept of a
Christmas rock concert to maintain the morale of Interfet troops, Mr
Gusmao said he was concerned Mr Wheatley's company, Talentworks, had asked
the aid agency Care Australia to handle distribution of money from
sponsorships and merchandising in connection with the not-for-profit
concert.
"A more significant and meaningful
contribution towards the welfare of our people would be made if money
raised was donated to an East Timorese-controlled organisation," Mr
Gusmao said.
Mr Wheatley said he was not confident
that there would be any money to distribute anyway.
The Australian 22 Dec 99
Kylie opens new front
From CARMEL EGAN in Dili
KYLIE Minogue performed one of the
slowest stripteases in television history and John Farnham belted out his
old favourites, but last night belonged to Doc Neeson.
The Christmas concert for the troops in
East Timor has been the Angels frontman's passion ever since Australians
were deployed in September.
Just 24 hours after collapsing from
exhaustion and dehydration while singing for the troops stationed in the
Suai border region, Neeson a former army sergeant was back in action
in Dili and had the troops pumping with old hits such as Shadow Boxer.
After the rain that had been threatening
all afternoon came, the soccer stadium in the city's centre had turned
into a quagmire by the time the concert ended with the old Angels' number
Am I Ever Going To See Your Face Again with its now traditional crowd
response "no way, get f . . . ed, f . . . off".
"The lyric nazis didn't want us to
do this because of its cultural insensitivity," Neeson told his
cheering army fans. "But we're going to do it anyway."
A crowd of 10,000 had filled the stadium
in central Dili and, in surrounding streets, thousands more East Timorese
sat on rooftops or balanced on motorbike seats and tree limbs to catch a
glimpse of the three-hour rock concert.
Senior defence force staff and VIPs,
including Timorese Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta, watched the
concert from the relative comfort of the grandstand, while local children
and Australian soldiers cheered the entertainers from the front of the
stage.
The biggest cheer from the local crowd,
which stood silently throughout most of the concert, went to the Dili All
Stars, a reggae group made up of Australian and Timorese artists.
Formed three weeks before the August 30
independence referendum, the Timorese exile musicians and their Australian
friends were the first act on stage.
The Melbourne-based band's vocalist and
songwriter Paul Stewart is the younger brother of Tony Stewart, one of
five Australian journalists killed when Indonesia invaded East Timor in
1975
"Being here and being able to sing
for the East Timorese is an amazing, fulfilling experience," said
Stewart, who doubles as lead singer of the Australian band Painters and
Dockers.
The 10-member band became a smash hit
through the East Timorese independence underground when they smuggled a
recording of their liberation songs into Dili.
After the rapturous response to the All
Stars, the East Timorese stood and watched in bewildered silence through
most of the concert, including Minogue's striptease and John Howard's
Christmas message to the troops.
Interfet commander Major-General Peter
Cosgrove said the event reminded troops and Timorese that all Australians
were thinking of them at Christmas.
"Ninety days ago we went into the
unknown," Major-General Cosgrove said. "All we could do was our
very best to help these wonderful people of East Timor."
Back
to December Menu
World Leaders Contact List
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu
Note: For those who would like to fax "the
powers that be" - CallCenter V3.5.8, is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software
application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge!
Download from http://www.v3inc.com/ |
