Live Earth

Scott McDermott/Corbis

It’s being called a cultural merger. Live Earth, the marathon music event that featured over 150 artists – including Madonna, Kayne West and the Black Eyes Peas ”“ last year, is slated to turn into one of the biggest musical events that India will see this year. Scheduled to be held on December 7, and poised to be not just a showcase of international musicians but a collaborative effort with Bollywood stars, Live Earth India hopes to draw an audience of 30,000 people to Andheri Sports Complex in suburban Mumbai, the chosen venue. Interestingly, after a seven-continent affair last year, Live Earth will only be held in India this year. Talk of bringing Live Earth to India came up last year when Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri shared the Nobel Prize for Peace. Kevin Wall, the founder of Live Earth and Executive Producer, Live Earth India added that India has been on the Live Earth map since the beginning.

Considering entertainment is synonymous with Bollywood in India, it’s only natural that big names such as Amitabh Bachchan and Shekhar Kapur have been roped in to support the event. “We’ll have Bollywood creatives and the entire show here will be produced by Indians,” said Wall when he was in India last month to announce the show.

“I don’t know whether it’s really worth to be singing and dancing when you’re 66,” said Bachchan, “But when Live Earth wanted me to come on board I immediately accepted.” Jon Bon Jovi, who also performed at Live Earth last year will share the stage with Bachchan. Film maker Kapur added that his primary concern was water, a subject which is fuel for his film-in-the-making Paani as well. “My concern is what we’re doing in the places we live. We’re running out of water and are looking at a future where water will be a privatised commodity. We’ve forgotten that it’s part of the ecosystem and belongs to a community,” says Kapur. Wall added that it would be “most of these international artists have never been to India so they’re all quite eager to be here.” But the organisation is yet to finalise the performance line-up. “I had eight weeks to plan Live 8, six months for Live Earth 2007 and not a lot of time for this one but what will be exciting is that it will be an India-oriented event.”

Wizcraft International, the event management agency which will produce Live Earth India aims to reduce, recycle and reuse all of the production material. When asked whether the concert could be powered using renewable energy Wizcraft’s director Sabbas Joseph said that it would be a “bigger hazard to set up a source of renewable energy for the venue.”

Proceeds from Live Earth India will go to Pachauri’s Light a Billion Lives Campaign that aims to provide 200 million solar lanterns to Indian villages and Climate Project India.