Stars of sound and screen unite for Peace One Day with the Peace Day Playlist that showcases ‘One’ the Peace Day Anthem by Coke Studio Africa

PRESS RELEASE UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 20 SEPTEMBER 2015 AT 12:00 BST

Peace One Day supporters Olly Murs, Bonnie Wright, Michael Caine, Yoko Ono, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Snow Patrol, Eddie Izzard, Richard E Grant, UB40, Basement Jaxx, The Libertines, Stephen Merchant, James Morrison, Monique Coleman, Rag N Bone Man, Hurts, Jack Savoretti, and Stornoway curate the first-ever Peace Day Playlist.

LONDON, 18-9-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — The first-ever Peace Day Playlist, including ‘One’, the Peace Day Anthem by Coke Studio Africa and songs chosen by stars of sound and screen, will be available on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify from Peace Day, 21 September. The Playlist will be promoted across all relevant platforms on the day.

All proceeds from the sale and streaming of ‘One’, the Peace Day Anthem by Coke Studio Africa is supporting the non-profit Peace One Day to raise awareness and engagement of Peace Day, 21 September in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the world. The song is written by Grammy award-nominated South African musician Zwai Bala and sung by prominent African singers Ice Prince (Nigeria), Dama Do Bling (Mozambique), Maurice Kirya (Uganda), Alikiba (Tanzania) and Wangechi (Kenya). Peace One Day is grateful to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation for making our campaign in the Great Lakes region of Africa possible.

Peace One Day founder Jeremy Gilley said today: “I’m extremely grateful to every single artist who helped make the Peace Day Playlist a reality. I hope that as many people as possible visit the playlist and download or stream ‘One’, the Peace Day Anthem by Coke Studio Africa. Proceeds from every download and stream support Peace One Day to take the message of Peace Day even further.”

‘One’ the Peace Day Anthem sung by stars of the African music industry is available to pre-order now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/one-single/id1034465702. Other playlist songs include Imagine by John Lennon (Yoko Ono), Love’s in Need of Love Today by Stevie Wonder (James Morrison), Michael Jackson’s Heal The World (Olly Murs) and Bob Marley’s One Love (UB40). The entire Peace Day Playlist can be found at: http://www.peaceoneday.org/playlist.

On being asked why they chose their selected songs: Yoko Ono said of her choice Imagine sung by late partner John Lennon, “it gives a deep feeling of peace and also it’s a song that is such fun to sing for everybody.” Olly Murs said Heal the World has, “a great message behind it and it is about really uniting the whole world together to make it a better place.” The Libertines said of their song choice Daydream by The Loving Spoonful, “a song like that offers timeless asylum. Nothing can come between us and our freedom to dream.”

Peace One Day founder Jeremy Gilley responded, “music is an important vehicle for peace building and it is humbling to receive song selections from some of the biggest supporters of Peace One Day to help us raise awareness of Peace Day.”

Pre-order ‘One’, the Peace Day Anthem by Coke Studio Africa on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/one-single/id1034465702.

The entire Peace Day Playlist can be found at: http://www.peaceoneday.org/playlist.

Watch the Peace Day Anthem teaser here: https://youtu.be/Wlk5ypdlQsQ.

ABOUT PEACE ONE DAY
Founded in 1999 by filmmaker Jeremy Gilley, the non-profit organisation Peace One Day (http://www.peaceoneday.org) drove the initiative that led to the unanimous adoption by the United Nations member states of an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September – Peace Day. In 2007, Jeremy Gilley and Peace One Day Ambassador Jude Law travelled to Afghanistan to help develop and document preparations for life-saving activities across the country for Peace Day. As a result of this work since 2007, Peace Day agreements in the region have resulted in the immunisation against polio of 4.5 million children.

With the day well-established, Peace One Day’s objective is to institutionalise Peace Day around the world, making it self-sustaining. A 2014 report supported by McKinsey & Company estimated that over 1 billion people have been exposed to the Peace Day message. Further to this, 610 million people are now aware of the day, with around 10 million behaving more peacefully as a result of being involved in activities on the day. Peace One Day’s target for 2016 is to share the message of Peace Day with 3 billion people.

Thanks to the generous support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Peace One Day is focusing its resources on the Great Lakes region of Africa. We intend to bring local, regional and international attention to on-going peace efforts in the region and engage all sectors of society in a campaign with renewed focus on community engagement, education and humanitarian activity.

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Stars of sound and screen unite for Peace One Day with the Peace Day Playlist that showcases ‘One’ the Peace Day Anthem by Coke Studio Africa

MEDIA CONTACTS

Ben Carenco
Digital Communications Manager – Media and PR
+44 7479 065 688 | ben.carenco@peaconeday.org
Peace One Day +44 (0) 20 8334 9900