Press Release - 6 January 2000

One Love Concert - Okahu Bay - Auckland, 6 February 2000

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The annual One Love concert, held to commemorate reggae singer, Bob Marley's birthday, will be held this year at Okahu Bay in Auckland.

The free event will coincide with a Waitangi Day event being hosted by Ngati Whatua at their historic tribal site.

As in previous years, the One Love concert is set to attract thousands of Aucklanders and out-of-towners for a day of sunshine, music and carnival activity.

Catalyst Trust Inc., the organisers of the One Love concert, say many past reggae performers will be gearing up for this year's show. These include Unity, The Managers, Seedless, Dubhead and Tuffy Culture.

The One Love concerts were first held in 1995 at Auckland Domain in conjunction with a Bob Marley photo and memorabilia exhibition at Auckland Museum. Since then it's grown to be the most popular event on Waitangi Day. Two of the core organisers of the event have been Greens MP Nandor Tanczos and Catalyst Trust's Chris Fowlie.

Although run on a shoestring budget, the popularity of the One Love concerts has surprised Tanczos and Fowlie.

"In our first year we got a crowd of 4,000 at the domain," says Tanczos, "but then in 1996 we got 11,000 and the following year 15,000 people. We were blown away by the number of Bob Marley fans who came. Most come from out of Auckland, even as far away as the South Island."

New Zealanders make up the second largest consumers of reggae music per capita in the world after Jamaica. With the re-release of Marley's recordings on 'Chant Down Babylon' (a music collaboration produced by some of Marley's children and stars such as Lauren Hill and Aerosmith), organisers hope to attract a new generation of Marley fans.

"Reggae music appeals to people from all ages and groups," says Fowlie, "and it's unifying in both the music and the message. It's particularly appropriate that Bob's birthday falls on our national day - he's saying things that all of us can learn from."

The One Love concert will open on 6 February with a powhiri from Ngati Whatua at 11.00 am followed by the One Love concert from noon to 5.00 pm.

For more information, contact:

Chris Fowlie (09) 302 5255 w
(09) 360 2221 h
025 297 6843

Nandor Tanczos 025 246 5235

© Scoop Media