create i will if you will challenge
create i will if you will challenge

MUSICIANS MAKE CALL TO UNITE THE WORLD FROM ALL CORNERS OF GLOBE

World Music Takes On A Whole New Meaning with Earth Hour Celebrations

MARCH 7 2013, SINGAPORE: Earth Hour, the world's largest movement for the planet, is issuing a call out to artists around the world to use the universal power of music to inspire, encourage and empower people to take environmental action beyond the hour itself.

David Guetta and Usher heeded this call with their track “Without You” when it became the signature tune for the Earth Hour 2013 video. The video showcases some of the most engaging I Will If You Will challenges so far and the song fast-tracked to anthem status, undoubtedly inspiring the passion of the global Earth Hour 2013 celebrations around the world on Saturday March 23 at 8:30PM.

David Guetta and Usher join a long list of music industry supporters of Earth Hour, including Coldplay, Sigur Rós, The Temper Trap, Tom Jones, Nelly Furtado, Kylie Minogue and others. This Earth Hour, accomplished and up-and-coming musicians are joining a growing global playlist of artists spanning from Jamaica to Sweden, Malaysia to Uganda, who are all using music to spread awareness of environmental issues close to their hearts.

Reinforcing that Earth Hour has gone far beyond a lights out event, CEO and Co-Founder of Earth Hour Andy Ridley says the movement has always been about street party, not street protest, which has helped it reach hundreds of millions.

“The big difference from when we started in 2007 and now, is that the extreme effects on our environment are being seen in the daily lives of people all over the world. Musicians help us bring a far greater audience to the table to engage in the challenges that face our planet,” Ridley said.

UK pop band McFly has joined the Harlem Shake craze to raise awareness of Earth Hour by filming their own rendition in their now infamous “panda onesies”. They have pledged to do something special in their costumes for Earth Hour as part of their ‘I Will If You Will’ challenge if 10,000 people like the WWF-UK Earth Hour Facebook page.

Danish singer-songwriter Erann DD and rapper Shaka Loveless will be headlining Denmark’s Earth Hour 2013 concert, and are inspiring fans to go beyond the hour with ‘I Will If You Will’ challenges of their own.

Shaka Loveless will let fans decide two of the songs he will perform at the event if 130 Danes wash their clothes at 30 degrees, while Erann DD will drive 345 km from Copenhagen to Skagen in an electric car if he can get 100 Danes to try one of their own.

Swedish hip-hop artist Lazee is also taking part in the I Will If You Will campaign, and wants to see his colleagues and friends give up the high life of limos, cars and taxis for one month in favour of public transportation. He has committed to wear pink shoes, socks up to his knees, pants to his armpits and glasses for 24 hours if they accept his challenge.

As the Earth Hour movement spreads throughout the Caribbean, some of the freshest names in Jamaica’s music scene, including Protoje, Conkarah, Jah9 and Sky Grass, are set to perform for the first time at the country’s Earth Hour celebration which will be held at the lights off event at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre in Kingston on March 23. The acoustic concert is free of charge but people can also donate US$5 to the Jamaica Environment Trust Fund.

"Our participation in Earth Hour goes without question. We are from the land of wood and water, so of course a cause to preserve the natural resources of the Earth is close to our hearts,” said Alex Morrissey, the Founder and CEO of the online Jamaican music site www.jamaicansmusic.com and organiser of the acoustic concert.

“And what better way to spread a message of this kind, than with a universal language such as music. We think it’s a part of our obligation as human beings to cherish the 'natural mystic' that surrounds us," he added.

Hugely popular singer Alejandro Sanz has called for his massive fan base in Spain and Latin America to take part in ‘Hora Del Planeta’ by tweeting to his 8.5 million followers to join the global community. “Earth Hour will be on Saturday, March 23 at 8:30pm (local time). Let’s switch off our lights for an hour. Join in,” he tweeted.

Heading to Sri Lanka, one of the country’s biggest music artists Bathiya and Santhush (BNS), will participate in the campaign in a big way. BNS is pledging to create an Earth Hour song if 10,000 Sri Lankans sign up for earth hour at www.earthhour.lk. They are hoping their song will inspire artists to collaborate to create the world’s first global Earth Hour album.

Not to be outdone, up and coming musicians in Malaysia are taking part in a band contest in a crowd-sourced campaign to find an original composition that evokes the call to action of the Earth Hour message. The finalists will battle it out for a cash prize at the official lights off event, and will join alternative rock band Kyoto Protocol in the performance at Sunway Pyramid in Kuala Lumpur on the night of Earth Hour. A local Earth Hour album is being produced with the band contest participants and other local Malaysian bands.

Other countries are getting into harmony with their music-related Earth Hour initiatives include the Netherlands, where Dutch singer songwriters will host a Rooftop Concert on the top floor of the largest and most sustainable building in the city of Rotterdam; and Uganda, will engage World Music artistes to collaborate to compose an Earth Hour song to help to raise awareness of the Earth Hour Forest, one of the largest beyond the hour projects to date.

 

Earth Hour 2013 will take place at 8.30pm – 9.30pm on Saturday 23 March

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See the Earth Hour 2013 Official Video at www.ehour.me/2013ViD

Press images of Earth Hour can be downloaded at www.earthhour.org/media-centre/images

Downloadable video footage of the global event will be available in four B-rolls for media, covering major regions at www.earthhour.org/media-centre/videos

Media enquiries:
Benjamin Vozzo, Earth Hour Global E: benjamin@earthhour.org Ph: +65 8223 1728
Mai Tatoy, Earth Hour Global E: mai@earthhour.org Ph: +65 9017 7411

To join the global community head to:

 

About Earth Hour
Earth Hour is a global environmental initiative in partnership with WWF. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 23, 2013 at 8:30 PM to show their support for environmentally sustainable action. In 2013, Earth Hour’s I Will If You Will concept invites individuals and organisations to challenge others to an ongoing environmental commitment beyond the hour. Earth Hour began in one city in 2007 and by 2012 involved hundreds of millions of people in 152 countries across every continent, receiving reports as ‘the world’s largest campaign for the planet’.

About WWF
WWF is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations, with almost five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world’s biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.